"That mattered enormously. Then a team had to test it, correct the problem, and verify the repair. Good work doesn't become less impressive when people do it together. It becomes safer."
The teenagers asked questions about the Ferrari and wanted to know whether Greg felt embarrassed by being corrected by a nine-year-old. He answered honestly. "Yes, I did. I was very embarrassed. For a few minutes I cared more about not looking foolish than about fixing the car.
That's the wrong priority in any trade." A student near the back raised her hand. "What if your boss had punished you for saying you didn't know?" Greg glanced at Victor, who was standing behind the group. "Then the boss would have had some learning to do too," he said, and Victor nodded.
Word about the repair reached the local press after a technician mentioned it to a friend. Within days, the estate received calls from reporters eager to photograph the boy who had defeated million-dollar experts. One producer proposed a segment in which Noah would stand beside the Ferrari and explain the failure while Victor presented a scholarship check. Another wanted him to compete against adult mechanics in a televised challenge. Victor nearly agreed to the first proposal, imagining how much attention it could bring to the institute, but Angela called him before anything was arranged.
"Noah is nine," she said. "He's doing well in school, and he's happy at the workshop. I don't want him turned into entertainment for people who enjoy seeing experts embarrassed." Victor looked at the proposed schedule on his desk. She was right, and the ease with which he had almost forgotten Noah's age troubled him.
"Then we won't do it," he replied. "I can explain the program publicly without putting your son in front of cameras. And if there's a story about the garage, it should include Greg and the others who did the work." Angela thanked him, but she did not praise him for honoring a boundary she believed should have been obvious.
A month later, Victor organized an open afternoon at the estate for students from the institute and their families. The event included supervised demonstrations and tours of the restoration facilities, with no cameras except those parents used for personal photographs. The Ferrari rested in the main bay behind a protective barrier, its red body gleaming under the lights. Greg explained its history, Edward's purchase, and the work that had preserved it across decades. On a display near the car stood a photograph of Marcus Carter beside Edward Langston in the old downtown garage.
Angela had chosen the picture herself. Marcus was laughing, his head tilted back, one hand resting on an engine stand. He looked young and alive in a way that startled her whenever she studied it. Beside the photograph was a short account of his work as a restoration mechanic, written jointly by Angela, Noah, and Victor.