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Oct. 1st, 2012
Finally the rain rolled in and feeling restless I took my Baby for a ride through it. The downpour was light but steady. We rolled down empty Sunday streets. Clouds gray as memory's absence wiped the skyline from the horizon behind us. We were soaked and I rolled us to a stop under the bridge of the overpass. I laid a loving hand down on her.
"You know we got time, right?" I asked. "No one out here but us. You wanna give it a go? Quick as a heist and just as nasty. 'Cause I won't lie to you. We're gonna hit it rough. But you're built for rough aren't you?"
Baby didn't say a word.
"Alright, you dirty bitch..." I whispered ready to ride. "... play it cool."
"Excuse me, young man!" A voice boomed down the overpass. A man's, one with a slight accent floating in a gravelly voice. "But are you talking to your bicycle?"
I looked up. A man in layers of disheveled hand-me downs was walking up the kudzu swallowed buttress that runs just off the Freedom Parkway bike trail down to the new beltway loop still under construction beneath. He didn't look so much as intimidating as baffled. I looked down at Baby. Baby, being a Scott 21 speed mountain built for off-road recklessness and not conversation, stared forward with her one good eye of a reflector glittering off the dampened sunlight filtering through.
"She's not a bicycle." I smiled looking out past the opening of the tunnel with a veil of rain crackling on the fresh Autumn wind.
"Excuse me?" the man repeated ambling up closer.
"She's a land-speeder," I looked over at him with a wag of my brows, "will powered and imagination fueled. Y'know, like a Green Lantern ring."
"Uh-huh." He said rubbing the back of his head and checking out Baby's curves. "Ain't you a little too old for land-speeders and magic rings."
I shrug.
"Don't you have someone to talk to like that instead of a bike?"
"I do and I don't."
"Okay, boy... when's the last you got laid?"
"I don't know... how many days in a month of sundays?"
"Uh-huh." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and bobbed it at me. "Don't s'pose you got a cigarette?"
"Yeah. I might even have two." I fished the pack out of my pockets. I offered him one and nabbed one for myself. Lit us up and we took a deep breath of silence to savor the smoke.
"So you do have options." He spoke finally, "That is 'sides your bi... excuse me your land-speeder?"
"Don't sound so surprised." I snorted. "I have my 'good' days and sometimes I have much better nights."
"But not in awhile?"
I shrug.
"So what's the problem?"
"I'm all fucked up with nowhere to go." I smile and take another drag. I blow it out the overpass and watch it ghost hover in the soft wet light before dispersing. "Guess I'm just a shadow of the man I used to pretend to be."
"Ha!" the man laughed with a bark of his timeless face and coughed for a few seconds before composing himself. "Then you're guessing wrong, boy."
"Yeah." I nod with a polite laugh. "How you figure?"
"You know better. You're not a shadow of the man that you pretended to be. The man that you pretended to be was a shadow of the man that is to come. But first you got to stop staring at shadows while you still got time to be standing in the light."
I closed my eyes and nodded.
When I opened them there was no one there of course but nevertheless a cigarette butt burnt off the ground and I flicked mine down to join it. I mounted Baby with a vent from puffed cheeks and took her by the handle bars. With a push off the pier of my daydreams I sailed gently forward into the rain.
"You know we got time, right?" I asked. "No one out here but us. You wanna give it a go? Quick as a heist and just as nasty. 'Cause I won't lie to you. We're gonna hit it rough. But you're built for rough aren't you?"
Baby didn't say a word.
"Alright, you dirty bitch..." I whispered ready to ride. "... play it cool."
"Excuse me, young man!" A voice boomed down the overpass. A man's, one with a slight accent floating in a gravelly voice. "But are you talking to your bicycle?"
I looked up. A man in layers of disheveled hand-me downs was walking up the kudzu swallowed buttress that runs just off the Freedom Parkway bike trail down to the new beltway loop still under construction beneath. He didn't look so much as intimidating as baffled. I looked down at Baby. Baby, being a Scott 21 speed mountain built for off-road recklessness and not conversation, stared forward with her one good eye of a reflector glittering off the dampened sunlight filtering through.
"She's not a bicycle." I smiled looking out past the opening of the tunnel with a veil of rain crackling on the fresh Autumn wind.
"Excuse me?" the man repeated ambling up closer.
"She's a land-speeder," I looked over at him with a wag of my brows, "will powered and imagination fueled. Y'know, like a Green Lantern ring."
"Uh-huh." He said rubbing the back of his head and checking out Baby's curves. "Ain't you a little too old for land-speeders and magic rings."
I shrug.
"Don't you have someone to talk to like that instead of a bike?"
"I do and I don't."
"Okay, boy... when's the last you got laid?"
"I don't know... how many days in a month of sundays?"
"Uh-huh." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and bobbed it at me. "Don't s'pose you got a cigarette?"
"Yeah. I might even have two." I fished the pack out of my pockets. I offered him one and nabbed one for myself. Lit us up and we took a deep breath of silence to savor the smoke.
"So you do have options." He spoke finally, "That is 'sides your bi... excuse me your land-speeder?"
"Don't sound so surprised." I snorted. "I have my 'good' days and sometimes I have much better nights."
"But not in awhile?"
I shrug.
"So what's the problem?"
"I'm all fucked up with nowhere to go." I smile and take another drag. I blow it out the overpass and watch it ghost hover in the soft wet light before dispersing. "Guess I'm just a shadow of the man I used to pretend to be."
"Ha!" the man laughed with a bark of his timeless face and coughed for a few seconds before composing himself. "Then you're guessing wrong, boy."
"Yeah." I nod with a polite laugh. "How you figure?"
"You know better. You're not a shadow of the man that you pretended to be. The man that you pretended to be was a shadow of the man that is to come. But first you got to stop staring at shadows while you still got time to be standing in the light."
I closed my eyes and nodded.
When I opened them there was no one there of course but nevertheless a cigarette butt burnt off the ground and I flicked mine down to join it. I mounted Baby with a vent from puffed cheeks and took her by the handle bars. With a push off the pier of my daydreams I sailed gently forward into the rain.
Scenes from my real life
Oct. 1st, 2012 03:00 amFriday. Down, angry and riding a mood zero. Then a quick drink with a friend turned into several drinks with several friends. Then an hour hatched into a night out. Then we rolled laughing from bar to bar. Through East Terminus - where a stray anecdote waited to guide us to an adventure that strictly for legal reasons I'll say no more of. Then my mood swung hard and hit it straight out of the park. Fireworks shot out of empty whiskey bottles and popped magnificent across the brain. Epiphanies arrived; hard as the shots on the house lined up on our table. Later, much, much later, at ten in the morning without a drop of sleep I left my friend's house in my other friend's car. The roads were packed. The sky miserable. A horrible sleep dep hang-over burned deep beneath the eyes. I rolled down the window. I lit up a cigarette. Somehow I knew it was going to be alright. Even if the situation is hopeless... I am not.
And for now that'll have to do.
And for now that'll have to do.
