Read Online Lucky Seven by Matt Christopher - Free Book Online Page A

the motor onto the mount that was cut out in the exact shape to
     hold it. He pushed the motor down gently, careful to mesh the pinion gear of the motor and the crown gear on the rear axle
     without stripping the teeth. Thenhe placed the metal clip over the motor and forced its ends underneath the brass tubing on both sides to secure it.
    He turned the rear wheels a little. The gears felt tight. With his alien wrench he loosened the set screw on the crown gear,
     pulled the gear back slightly, and retightened the screw. He turned the wheels again. The gears meshed smoothly.
    He pushed the free end of a green wire, the other end of which was soldered to the lower left-hand post of the motor, through
     the left-hand hole in the guide and forced a copper pickup brush into a slot at the end of the guide. He stuck the free end
     of the red wire, the other end of which was soldered to the upper right-hand post of the motor, through a right-hand hole
     in the guide and forced a second pickup brush into the slot next to the first one. The two brushes held the wires tightly
     in place.
    “Let’s see that,” said Jack. He took the chassis and brushed out the copper strandssmoothly with a small bristle brush. “The brushes will make better contact this way.”
    He pushed them flat against the bottom of the slot guide unit with the guide sticking down between them.
    “Thanks,” said Chick. Heck, he knew that. Jack didn’t have to tell him. But, then, you can’t be sore at a guy for wanting
     to be helpful.
    Chick cleaned the front and rear tires thoroughly by placing drops of model car tire cleaning fluid on a cloth and rubbing
     it over the tires lightly with his forefinger.
    “What’re you going to do with the body?” asked Jack, curiously.
    Chick picked it up. It was plastic and looked pretty crummy. “I’ll get some lighter fluid from Dad, take off the old paint
     and give it a new paint job. Then I’m going to glue in a seat and a driver.”
    “Man, you think you can do all that?”
    “I’m going to try,” said Chick with confidence. “Dad, do you have some lighter fluid?”
    “It’s upstairs in the cupboard,” replied Dad.
    Chick ran up the stairs two at a time. Jack followed him. “See you tomorrow, Chick,” he said. “I’ve got to leave.”
    “Okay. Thanks for helpin’!”
    Chick found the fluid, took it to the basement and soaked up a little of it with a piece of cloth. He rubbed the paint on
     the inside of the body till it was all off, leaving only the clear plastic.
    He painted the body with bright red paint, being careful not to get any on the windshield, the side windows or the rear window.
    On Friday, after supper, he painted the headlights a bright yellow as well as a ring around the red tail lights. He painted
     the seams around the doors, the hood, the windows, the rear fenders, the front grille and the parking lights with black India
     ink. Then across the seams he rubbed a cloth dampened with lighter fluid, leaving a black pin stripe over all the places he
     had painted.
    “It’s shaping up beautifully,” observed Dad, smiling. “When’s the Concours?”
    “Tomorrow afternoon.”
    “Are you going to race it?”
    “Sure! But I won’t depend much on it. There might be bugs in it and I won’t have time to get ‘em all out. I’m going to put
     in my driver and paste on the decals tonight, then try it out on Ken Jason’s track tomorrow morning. If there’s anything wrong
     with it I’ll fix it then.”
    “Good!” Dad ruffled his hair. “Go to it, son. And good luck.”
    “Thanks, Dad.”
    “I was surprised to see Jack Harmon here last night. Seems like a nice kid.”
    Chuck shrugged. “Guess he can be if he wants to.”
    Dad chuckled. “Guess anybody can be if he wants to. Huh, son?”
    Chick smiled, and nodded. He knew what Dad meant, all right.
    “I don’t think you’ll need any help from now on,” said Dad. “If you do, let me know.”
    After Dad went upstairs Chick