It was a few minutes past seven. Another grueling day selling cars under Jim Ray's roof. This was a time before the second lawsuit.
http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/49479/angry-customers-take-nissan-dealer-jim-ray-to-court
I headed to the sizzler, right up the road to grab some grub & meet up with my buddy Deaton. It was the usual muggy summer night in the river valley. The humidity was so high you could drink the water out of the air & mosquitoes were so damn big they'd take the paint off your nose faring at speed. I walk in & sit down at our usual table. I used to cook there so I knew most the employees & didn't have to go through the line. I got a paper & brushed through the classifieds. I really like reading the classifieds.
I noticed a girl sitting at the break table. She was horribly sad looking. Like she just witnessed the most tragic thing you could ever imagine. It mad me sad & I was drawn to her.
It sounds way too stereotypical, especially for me. But honestly, if I thought I ever saw a goddess plucked from the heavens, it would have been her. She was petite, blonde locks a bit past her shoulders & alabaster skin. She looked like she was literally getting ready to ball her eyes out & it bothered me to no end.
I folded the paper on my table & approached the other side of hers wondering what I was doing.
'Mind if I sit down?'
She looks up, as I startled her from her depressive concentration & I thought for a millisecond I saw the glint of a smile from the corner of her lips.
'Okay.'
To this day, I honestly can't remember what we talked about. I remember talking about the usual shit when you meet a stranger. I remember telling her I couldn't stand to see her appearing so sad. Even though I had no idea who she was, how it bothered me. I remember I talked the most, rarely able to elicit a response from her. I remember somehow though, knowing, she was listening to my blabber. I remember asking her if she was till or close.
'I just have to roll my silverware.'
'Have you ever been on a motorcycle ride?'
She looks oddly past me. Like the blank stare across the barren desert but the only thing beyond my shoulder was the nicotine stained, razorback wall paper. It used to be white. It was yellow now.
'I just bought a new 636.'
I didn't figure she knew what a 636 was.
'No, I haven't... ...but I think I'd like to tonight.'
'I'll wait for you outside.'
She walked off to the line. I noticed how long I had been sitting there with her. Much longer than the allotted break time. Then I was concerned she'd get in trouble for staying too long. The myriad of possibilities I had just stepped into was swirling through my head when I realized that I had never gotten around to order my number 14. No tomato. Grill the onions please.
No one had come back to ask what I wanted for dinner. That never happened.
Deaton didn't show up & hadn't gotten a hold of me. That never happened.
It was very strange.
I lingered around the remaining time talking to the employees I knew, catching up & inquiring about the next big party. The current siz employees were known for having great parties. The kind where you wake up in a ditch in another county. You might wake up in someone else's clothing, you might not be clothed at all. They were great.
It wasn't long after I stepped outside to have a smoke when she came out.
'Oh wow. That's. That's a lot of green.'
'Oh yeah. It looks like she's screaming down the road sitting still.'
'She?'
'Yeah. She'
'Well, does SHE have a name?'
I think at that point I had noticed the first smile come from her face. I was excited.
'Welp, not yet, but she'll let me know what it is in time.'
She looked at me curiously, as most people do when I try to explain myself.
'All my motorcycles are girls. It's the way I honor them, my gratitude for what they've done for me. I look up to them.'
She laughed at that a little. But, she laughed & I was happy to see her mood lift.
'Girls, or motorcycles?'
'I never thought of that. both I suppose. The most influential people in my life are women & I'm deeply grateful for them. My motorcycles become a personality over the years.'
'You're silly Ray.'
'HA! I'm a lot more than silly.'
We headed south on Towson under the bypass onto 252. Or maybe it's 152. Been too long. Exit 14, I know it's that one. A little windy two lane old highway twisting into some nice hills south of the Fort.
I take it easy when I have someone else's life in my hands, especially if they're an inexperienced passenger. I keep a spirited pace in the torque, around 8 to 12,000 rpm. On any late model machine, that's usually enough to exhilarate your senses unless you're of the highest percentile of mentally deranged, self destructive, sausage creature seeking speed junkies. Such as myself.
'Where are we going?'
I could hardly hear her voice over the roar of the silent night engulfing us. That road was a nice one. Hardly any traffic (law enforcement) & good pavement. The farther south you went, the better it got. The farther south you went the closer you got to places that'd make deliverance look like a metro. Don't believe me? Start exploring the ribbons of asphalt through the Ozarks. Get off the beaten path a ways... I learned those roads fast & well. Spooky stuff kids.
'A place I know. It's nice.'
Buuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Bonnie's stock pipe burbled up an increasing radius left hand turn I'd usually take well past 100. It's just south of Bonanza.
As you crest the rise, the road whips, very suddenly into a ridiculously tight right hand. The ones where theres a sign that says something like 30mph. I usually took that around 60. On your right, it's solid rock. On you left it's a few trees covering the side of the cliff they cut the road into. There's a quarry right down the road where dump trucks are always coming & going. Had to look out for gravel on that one. It was sketchy. I liked it.
Soon as you straighten out, the trees clear & you catch a glimpse of the lake behind Hackett. At a regular pace, around double the speed limit, you'd never notice the little two track going off behind there. Only reason I knew about it, or the neat thing at the end of it, was because of the crazy dishwasher guy I met at the siz. He had a house on the other side of the lake & we used to smoke dope on the end of his dock.
I click into first & keep steady, light pressure on the rear brake as I banked off the highway. She was the first passenger on Bonnie & I had noticed what little extra weight she added barely upset the attitude of the bike. I was almost completely unhindered, even off pavement.
I think I startled her a bit.
'These aren't made for this are they?'
'Well, that depends on the way you look at it. I think in most cases, anything's capabilities are only restricted by the user's experience & willingness to push the limits.'
I'm not sure what the path was for. Maybe maintenance to the back of the lake. It's relatively hard, so it was easy going. The tall grass along each wheel track would whip against your legs as you went by. It felt nice.
I make my way to the end & there's a clearing with a gate. The gate was a very large one & it had a security pad thing to open it. This was a pretty high end joint, I tell ya.
Right next to it, there was an opening in the fence. Two big posts separated one side of the gate & the fence. It made absolutely no sense. But what I can tell you, is I bet the guy who built it never thought some whack job would come along exploring one day & figure out that it was just wide enough to squeeze a supersport motorcycle through...
Once through, you could get on the access road to the back of the lake & get down the docks.
As we pulled on to the dock, it swayed a bit in the water & I felt her squirm a bit behind me, tensing up. I gave her thigh a reassuring pat.
'I got this.'
I pull us right up to the end & park Bonnie. I didn't know how many other times I'd pull a bike up to the the end of a dock at that time. And I firmly believe this night in my life started my strange love hate relationship with water.
She hops off & exclaims,
'I never expected this! How do you know about this place?'
'I like to explore around.'
She sat down, took her shoes off & put her feet in the water.
'This is a nice place.'
The ripples emulated from her feet swirling in the water. I took off my sport jacket, loosened my tie & undid my top button. Wearing a suit in the river valley, in the summer was worse than a sauna. Much worse. I don't do well in the heat. The sky was clear as glass. It looked like you could reach up & grasp the stars out by the handful. Blackening out what little comfort there is in our daily cubes of hell we so desperately need to escape.
'I want to get in.'
'Well, go.'
She was full of giddy now. I was sitting at the end of a dock, pretty girl to talk to & a smoldering fast death machine by my side. I guess I might have been a bit giddy myself.
'Well, come on already!'
'Hehe, I'd love to, but I'm not getting wet in a suit.'
'Well, you're supposed to take that off.'
I had set myself up. I could have totally taken this as far as I wanted but I had to say it. I had stuck myself.
'I can't swim.'
'WHAT?'
'Yeah, never learned.'
Most people react the same way. Basically astonishment. No. I can't swim. So that's that.
'How does that happen?'
'I don't know, just theres not like a lot of lakes where I'm from.
'Well I'm not getting in by myself, that's no fun.'
She pouted a bit, I felt bad.
'My appologies, wish I could help.'
'You have helped.'
She smiled again, I felt good.
We sat there, letting the motion of the lake rock us, the dock, Bonnie & the whole world around us. It was pretty cool, hadn't really done anything like that before. If I should know anything by now, I should let my more adventurous side take the controls more often. The results are spectacular.
Now, I'm sure you're thinking by now you know what's going to happen. Well, no. Or at least not right then, on the dock. My mother did try to raise me to be a gentleman & sometimes, just sometimes, I get told she was successful. God bless my mom, I love her.
'This is great. But I need to get home.'
'Okie dokie.'
Happened, that she lived on the blacktop just south of us, towards Greenwood. I was vaguely familiar with it. We pull up & theres a three car garage & then a big house on a hill.
'Wow, nice place.'
'Oh I live in the garage.'
'You live in the garage?'
Now that, I didn't see coming. Really.
'Yeah, I'm going to school, my dad built me an apartment inside there. The house is my parents, they're not home..'
'Ah.'
It was really one of the coolest things I seen. The perfect haven for a motorhead, literally, living in your garage.
The light rushed through the window after what seemed like a few minutes of sleep. It gouged it's way through my eyelids like a million candlewatt sword. She was curled up in my arms, sound asleep & stark naked as the day she was born.
'Well good morning'
She smiled again, I felt great.
Ya'll have a good one.
http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/49479/angry-customers-take-nissan-dealer-jim-ray-to-court
I headed to the sizzler, right up the road to grab some grub & meet up with my buddy Deaton. It was the usual muggy summer night in the river valley. The humidity was so high you could drink the water out of the air & mosquitoes were so damn big they'd take the paint off your nose faring at speed. I walk in & sit down at our usual table. I used to cook there so I knew most the employees & didn't have to go through the line. I got a paper & brushed through the classifieds. I really like reading the classifieds.
I noticed a girl sitting at the break table. She was horribly sad looking. Like she just witnessed the most tragic thing you could ever imagine. It mad me sad & I was drawn to her.
It sounds way too stereotypical, especially for me. But honestly, if I thought I ever saw a goddess plucked from the heavens, it would have been her. She was petite, blonde locks a bit past her shoulders & alabaster skin. She looked like she was literally getting ready to ball her eyes out & it bothered me to no end.
I folded the paper on my table & approached the other side of hers wondering what I was doing.
'Mind if I sit down?'
She looks up, as I startled her from her depressive concentration & I thought for a millisecond I saw the glint of a smile from the corner of her lips.
'Okay.'
To this day, I honestly can't remember what we talked about. I remember talking about the usual shit when you meet a stranger. I remember telling her I couldn't stand to see her appearing so sad. Even though I had no idea who she was, how it bothered me. I remember I talked the most, rarely able to elicit a response from her. I remember somehow though, knowing, she was listening to my blabber. I remember asking her if she was till or close.
'I just have to roll my silverware.'
'Have you ever been on a motorcycle ride?'
She looks oddly past me. Like the blank stare across the barren desert but the only thing beyond my shoulder was the nicotine stained, razorback wall paper. It used to be white. It was yellow now.
'I just bought a new 636.'
I didn't figure she knew what a 636 was.
'No, I haven't... ...but I think I'd like to tonight.'
'I'll wait for you outside.'
She walked off to the line. I noticed how long I had been sitting there with her. Much longer than the allotted break time. Then I was concerned she'd get in trouble for staying too long. The myriad of possibilities I had just stepped into was swirling through my head when I realized that I had never gotten around to order my number 14. No tomato. Grill the onions please.
No one had come back to ask what I wanted for dinner. That never happened.
Deaton didn't show up & hadn't gotten a hold of me. That never happened.
It was very strange.
I lingered around the remaining time talking to the employees I knew, catching up & inquiring about the next big party. The current siz employees were known for having great parties. The kind where you wake up in a ditch in another county. You might wake up in someone else's clothing, you might not be clothed at all. They were great.
It wasn't long after I stepped outside to have a smoke when she came out.
'Oh wow. That's. That's a lot of green.'
'Oh yeah. It looks like she's screaming down the road sitting still.'
'She?'
'Yeah. She'
'Well, does SHE have a name?'
I think at that point I had noticed the first smile come from her face. I was excited.
'Welp, not yet, but she'll let me know what it is in time.'
She looked at me curiously, as most people do when I try to explain myself.
'All my motorcycles are girls. It's the way I honor them, my gratitude for what they've done for me. I look up to them.'
She laughed at that a little. But, she laughed & I was happy to see her mood lift.
'Girls, or motorcycles?'
'I never thought of that. both I suppose. The most influential people in my life are women & I'm deeply grateful for them. My motorcycles become a personality over the years.'
'You're silly Ray.'
'HA! I'm a lot more than silly.'
We headed south on Towson under the bypass onto 252. Or maybe it's 152. Been too long. Exit 14, I know it's that one. A little windy two lane old highway twisting into some nice hills south of the Fort.
I take it easy when I have someone else's life in my hands, especially if they're an inexperienced passenger. I keep a spirited pace in the torque, around 8 to 12,000 rpm. On any late model machine, that's usually enough to exhilarate your senses unless you're of the highest percentile of mentally deranged, self destructive, sausage creature seeking speed junkies. Such as myself.
'Where are we going?'
I could hardly hear her voice over the roar of the silent night engulfing us. That road was a nice one. Hardly any traffic (law enforcement) & good pavement. The farther south you went, the better it got. The farther south you went the closer you got to places that'd make deliverance look like a metro. Don't believe me? Start exploring the ribbons of asphalt through the Ozarks. Get off the beaten path a ways... I learned those roads fast & well. Spooky stuff kids.
'A place I know. It's nice.'
Buuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Bonnie's stock pipe burbled up an increasing radius left hand turn I'd usually take well past 100. It's just south of Bonanza.
As you crest the rise, the road whips, very suddenly into a ridiculously tight right hand. The ones where theres a sign that says something like 30mph. I usually took that around 60. On your right, it's solid rock. On you left it's a few trees covering the side of the cliff they cut the road into. There's a quarry right down the road where dump trucks are always coming & going. Had to look out for gravel on that one. It was sketchy. I liked it.
Soon as you straighten out, the trees clear & you catch a glimpse of the lake behind Hackett. At a regular pace, around double the speed limit, you'd never notice the little two track going off behind there. Only reason I knew about it, or the neat thing at the end of it, was because of the crazy dishwasher guy I met at the siz. He had a house on the other side of the lake & we used to smoke dope on the end of his dock.
I click into first & keep steady, light pressure on the rear brake as I banked off the highway. She was the first passenger on Bonnie & I had noticed what little extra weight she added barely upset the attitude of the bike. I was almost completely unhindered, even off pavement.
I think I startled her a bit.
'These aren't made for this are they?'
'Well, that depends on the way you look at it. I think in most cases, anything's capabilities are only restricted by the user's experience & willingness to push the limits.'
I'm not sure what the path was for. Maybe maintenance to the back of the lake. It's relatively hard, so it was easy going. The tall grass along each wheel track would whip against your legs as you went by. It felt nice.
I make my way to the end & there's a clearing with a gate. The gate was a very large one & it had a security pad thing to open it. This was a pretty high end joint, I tell ya.
Right next to it, there was an opening in the fence. Two big posts separated one side of the gate & the fence. It made absolutely no sense. But what I can tell you, is I bet the guy who built it never thought some whack job would come along exploring one day & figure out that it was just wide enough to squeeze a supersport motorcycle through...
Once through, you could get on the access road to the back of the lake & get down the docks.
As we pulled on to the dock, it swayed a bit in the water & I felt her squirm a bit behind me, tensing up. I gave her thigh a reassuring pat.
'I got this.'
I pull us right up to the end & park Bonnie. I didn't know how many other times I'd pull a bike up to the the end of a dock at that time. And I firmly believe this night in my life started my strange love hate relationship with water.
She hops off & exclaims,
'I never expected this! How do you know about this place?'
'I like to explore around.'
She sat down, took her shoes off & put her feet in the water.
'This is a nice place.'
The ripples emulated from her feet swirling in the water. I took off my sport jacket, loosened my tie & undid my top button. Wearing a suit in the river valley, in the summer was worse than a sauna. Much worse. I don't do well in the heat. The sky was clear as glass. It looked like you could reach up & grasp the stars out by the handful. Blackening out what little comfort there is in our daily cubes of hell we so desperately need to escape.
'I want to get in.'
'Well, go.'
She was full of giddy now. I was sitting at the end of a dock, pretty girl to talk to & a smoldering fast death machine by my side. I guess I might have been a bit giddy myself.
'Well, come on already!'
'Hehe, I'd love to, but I'm not getting wet in a suit.'
'Well, you're supposed to take that off.'
I had set myself up. I could have totally taken this as far as I wanted but I had to say it. I had stuck myself.
'I can't swim.'
'WHAT?'
'Yeah, never learned.'
Most people react the same way. Basically astonishment. No. I can't swim. So that's that.
'How does that happen?'
'I don't know, just theres not like a lot of lakes where I'm from.
'Well I'm not getting in by myself, that's no fun.'
She pouted a bit, I felt bad.
'My appologies, wish I could help.'
'You have helped.'
She smiled again, I felt good.
We sat there, letting the motion of the lake rock us, the dock, Bonnie & the whole world around us. It was pretty cool, hadn't really done anything like that before. If I should know anything by now, I should let my more adventurous side take the controls more often. The results are spectacular.
Now, I'm sure you're thinking by now you know what's going to happen. Well, no. Or at least not right then, on the dock. My mother did try to raise me to be a gentleman & sometimes, just sometimes, I get told she was successful. God bless my mom, I love her.
'This is great. But I need to get home.'
'Okie dokie.'
Happened, that she lived on the blacktop just south of us, towards Greenwood. I was vaguely familiar with it. We pull up & theres a three car garage & then a big house on a hill.
'Wow, nice place.'
'Oh I live in the garage.'
'You live in the garage?'
Now that, I didn't see coming. Really.
'Yeah, I'm going to school, my dad built me an apartment inside there. The house is my parents, they're not home..'
'Ah.'
It was really one of the coolest things I seen. The perfect haven for a motorhead, literally, living in your garage.
The light rushed through the window after what seemed like a few minutes of sleep. It gouged it's way through my eyelids like a million candlewatt sword. She was curled up in my arms, sound asleep & stark naked as the day she was born.
'Well good morning'
She smiled again, I felt great.
Ya'll have a good one.
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
kawasakifreak77:
Thank you. Not only am I a bad ass mother fucker, but I love to cuddle.
arroia:
Okay, I actually went 'awwwww' at the end. Love this!