CANDY APPLE HOT RODDIE AND BETHANY

Bethany was a young lady who lived on the edge of the large city of Atlanta, Georgia.  She had always been very athletic and had the ability to doing almost any activity she tried.  Right now she was practicing her skate boarding.  Watching and trying right along with her was one of the things she loved the most, Candy Apple Hot Roddie.  Candy Apple was a cute little hot rod her father had owned since she was new and he was a college student.  When Bethany graduated high school, her father gave Candy Apple to her for a graduation gift.

When Candy Apple found out she was staying in the family and would now belong to Bethany she was so excited she was spinning on her nose.  After all she had driven Bethany and her mother to the hospital the night she was born.  She had driven her to school, the malls and friends homes.  Everywhere Bethany went as she grew up.

Candy Apple helped drive Bethany to grade school where she   learned to read and became smarter all the time.  Bethany was very good in school.  You could always count on her to do extra special home work, like on her volcano for science class.  She had the whole class surprised when it actually erupted!  That was Bethany, always doing just a little extra!

She was also a very good athlete.  There were not many    things Bethany couldn't do.  Her best friend Tina was also a talented young lady.  She was in a rock band and played guitar and sang.  Tina thought her friend Bethany was good at most everything because there wasn't much she was afraid to try.

Tina was a great singer and everyone believed she was going to be a big star one day.  Tina had an older car also.  The only problem was it was not in very good condition and had not been cared for like Candy Apple.  One of Bethany's favorite spare time things to do was work on old cars and make them pretty again.

Bethany had gotten a job in construction road finishing. She loved the work.  She felt she was learning a lot and loved working in the outdoors.  On weekends and her days off she was working on Tina's car.  Presently, she was putting primer on it to get ready to paint it.  Tina was so excited she couldn't wait to see it when Bethany was finished.  Tina had seen many other cars Bethany had worked on and they all looked great!

At work, Bill, the foreman was showing Bethany what the   next part of the job was going to be.  She was such a good worker, Bill had come to depend on her help a lot.  The back hoe came rolling up and Jake, it's operator, was ready to go.  The sun was shinning and it was going to be another great day.  They should get at least a big part of the old concrete removed today.

As Bethany stopped for a moment to watch the work    getting started, she thought what a great new road they were going to have when it was finished.  Harry, the concrete truck driver, pulled up to pour the new concrete for the section they had ready from yesterday.  The days were long and sometimes hot.  When Bethany headed back to the parking lot at the end of the day to Candy Apple she was usually pretty tired.

  That day something was terribly wrong.  Candy Apple looked   very scared and then Bethany saw a man with a ski mask over his face looking inside Candy Apple.  He was a robber trying to take Candy Apples stereo equipment and other things he could sell to get money!  Bethany called for John the forklift truck driver who happened to be near by.  When he headed toward that robber, he took off running as fast as he could go.

A fork lift can crush a person very easily!  Candy Apple was    burning rubber in her rush to get out of the parking lot.  Bethany called the police when she got home.  She later found out they had caught the robber trying to steal from another car.  He was going to jail for awhile and wouldn't be bothering Candy Apple anymore!

When Candy Apple heard the news that the robber had been caught she was jumping up and down with excitement!  Bethany got on her cell phone and told Tina all about it.  She and Candy Apple were going down to an open air concert that night to hear Tina sing.  It was held once a year at the city park nearby.

Candy Apple sat idling outside waiting for Bethany.  You   know how girls are, she took awhile to get ready to go.  Bethany listened to her iPod music as she got ready.  She finally ran out jumped in Candy Apple and off they went to hear Tina's concert.  Tina was as great as ever and the whole crowd had a great time!

  While Tina sang, Candy Apple had her favorite sign to keep    people from getting into trouble driving.  She wanted to see everyone safe.  Candy Apple was a very special little car with a lot of personality!  That weekend Bethany helped another friend wax his '57 Chevy.  Then she got back to work on Tina's car.  It was coming along very well!

College was starting and Bethany had a lot of studying to do.  She loved books so she actually enjoyed school.  She was a good student and was going the have a wonderful future.  One of Bethany's dreams was to visit Europe.  She hoped to spend the next summer traveling around there.  She was saving as much money from her job as she could in hopes of making the trip.

That weekend was the annual drag strip race and Bethany   had been choose as the Queen of the race which meant she got to jump up and start the race cars.  It was a big honor.  Everyone knew how Bethany loved cars and voted for her.  Candy Apple was so proud of her she just sat and jumped up and down with her front end.  It was a great day and lots of fun!

Candy Apple was really impressed when she saw the final job Bethany had done on Tina's car.  It was a beautiful deep purple color and looked brand new!  When Tina first saw it, she got big tears in her eyes.  She couldn't believe what a beautiful job Bethany had done.  She would keep this car all her life and maybe hand it down to her daughter someday.

Bethany went out and did some of her famous roller blading.  She was so good she could even do rail blading.  As you can see there isn't much Bethany can't do.  Summer was coming and she had to decide if she was going to make the Europe trip or not.  She knew she was going to miss a lot of people and most of all Candy Apple.  She would get covered in her Dad's garage until she returned.

Bethany thought and thought.  Finally she     decided that she had saved enough money and should go now while she had the chance.  Some of her special friends got all painted up and gave her a big going away at the airport.  Bethany was going to miss them a lot but summer wasn't that long and she'd be home soon.

As Bethany waved goodbye she knew she'd miss Candy    Apple most of all.  Her dad promised to take good care of Candy Apple and keep her all covered in the garage.  Candy Apple did her special little turn and gave Bethany a big smile so she would know Candy Apple would be waiting when she returned.  Great friends always are!

ALWAYS KEEP YOUR HOPES ALIVE!  A WISE MAN ONCE TOLD ME, " IT ISN'T LUCK THAT GETS YOU WHERE YOU ARE, IT'S TALENT."