I could give you all the details of where they were and how I found them, but it can be summed up pretty well in a single sentence:

Some boy had them.

Thank you, Kehla, for filling in for me during my stupidly busy time. Between my sister visiting and that station event Wednesday, I�ve barely had time to do that crazy little thing called News, let alone write here.

Yeah, I�m still not a race fan. I really, really tried, but the draw seems to be �the excitement,� and cars and trucks driving around and around very fast several hundred times just doesn�t do it for me. Harry Potter? Exciting. Really good guacamole? Exciting. A truly excellent pair of shoes on clearance? Exciting.

Nascar?

Not so much.

Not to say I didn�t have a good time. My sister and her friend SS arrived Tuesday night for the talk show, on which I embarrassed SS by making a cheesy crack about her sitting on Tony Stewart�s lap during the race, but the need to be careful when she goes to shift. Ba-dum-dum, but you should have seen her blush. We went out for a bit that night, then went to a racing event the next night, to which I scored us VIP closed-area passes. I didn�t recognize any of the celebs, but SS sure did. My sister said before I arrived, SS just sat there all wide-eyed, going, �They�re just walking around like REAL PEOPLE.�

They met a bunch of the race types, and called some famous guy � Sterlin Marling? � from his crew manager�s cell phone. They also went to tour a zillion-dollar bus, which I wasn�t interested in. Well, I wasn�t, until 20 minutes later, my little sister still had not returned from her �tour of the bus.�

When I finally tracked them down, SS was chatting animatedly, while Mollie was sitting around looking bored and annoyed. It turns out one of the creepy guys had tried to hit on her really, really hard. She lit up when she saw me, though.

�Hey, Jamie!�

�Yeah?�

�Look around. What does this bus remind you of?�

I looked around. It was lit strangely, and full of that gold chrome stuff. The rest of the d�cor was pastel and very, very shiny. I also noted the liquor bottles everywhere. It seemed familiar, but I couldn�t quite place it.

�I give up � what?�

Mollie cried out with glee: �Grandma�s house!�

And I�ll be damned if she wasn�t right.

We took it easy Thursday night, then went to the first race Friday. I learned a lot.

�Who are those guys?�

�They�re the spotters.�

�What�s a spotter?�

�They watch the race and tell the drivers when it is and isn�t a good time to pass.�

�That seems like cheating!�

�They all have them, Jamie.�

�Oh.�

Partied like idiots Friday night. Woke up for a long day at the races the next morning, which I opted out of.

For a break, I decided to go to the horse races, instead. Apparently, I�m a race junkie. But you can gamble on the horsies, and there are crazy people to look at everywhere! I liked the horse races.

The girls were already back by the time I came home. We were all so tired that night, I was in bed by 10 p.m.

I can�t tell you how long it�s been since I turned in that early on a Saturday night.

Sunday was the last day of races, and the last day of SS and Mollie�s visit. I was sad all day, but still no more interested in races. I passed the time reading a book.

Kissed Mollie goodbye then caught an early ride home with a DJ, after we found his lost van in the parking lot.

Riddle: Guess how many white vans there are in a speedway parking lot?

Answer: LOTS.

I thought we were going to die there.

But we didn�t.