My New Motorcycle?

201206070035 - My arm was awake when I fell asleep.

 

I awoke in a panic thinking I had made a mistake in buying the motorcycle.  I slowly made my way downstairs and out the front door, blinking back the bright, early morning sun. 

 

There she sat, the motorcycle I had purchased from my neighbor across the street the day before.  A flat, battleship gray with three wheels and an emblem on the gas tank that I couldn't quite make out.  The clutch was a small pedal mounted to the front, left handlebar grip and the foot pegs were mounted on the front tire. The gear shift lever and brake lever were mounted where the foot pegs usually sit.  The front tire was slightly off from the alignment of the bike.  Needless to say, I was apprehensive about riding it.

 

I spotted my neighbor across the street.  He was a tall man wearing a wide-brimmed hat, a long dark coat, with camo pants and boots.  He claimed to be a Viet-Nam veteran but I know he was to young to have been in-country.  He waved and then shouted across the traffic to me that he wanted the bike back.  He started to walk towards me.  I panicked and jumped on the bike.  I started it up and put it into first gear.  I eased out of my front yard and turned left into oncoming traffic.  I was afraid I would tump the bike over, so I kept my feet just barely off the ground.  (dear reader:  "tump" is a word.  It is used in the dialect of the Southern parts of The United States.  It means: to tip something over accidentally and dump the contents on the ground.)  My neighbor started to run after me yelling incoherently.  I turned left onto Pennsylvania Avenue and thought, "If I go straight, he'll catch me at the first stop sign."  So, I turned left onto Racine Street.  The huge Magnolias, Oaks, and Pecan trees in the well established Robertsdale neighborhood blotted out the sun giving a feeling of dusk in the mid morning.  I looked behind me and my neighbor was nowhere in sight.  

 

I decided to go the the VA office downtown to ask the councilor her opinion.  She was ex-military and a wannabe fashion designer.  As I sat in her office, she railed on and on about how it wasn't a real motorcycle; however, I could not focus on what she was saying because there was a huge display case mounted on the wall over her desk with a full-length, dark navy, wool, poncho with silver piping and silver letters embroidered on the collar.  I wanted to ask her if she really thought the VA was going to invest in her design, but decided it was best if I just said nothing.  Sometimes it's better that way.  She didn't like the idea of the motorcycle, but what does she know?  She's fashion designer working at the VA.  I just went home, hoping that my neighbor wasn't there. 

 

I woke slowly, realizing that I had just had the most incredible dream and thinking, "I have got to write this in my blog and send it to people."  The computer is right next to the bed and if I start typing, I will wake up Karen.  I decided to take my motorcycle across the bay to my Dad's house and use his computer.

I quietly crept down the stairs, out onto the front lawn, straddled my new motorcycle and pushed it out of the yard.  I turned right and into the Wallace Tunnel, but it didn't look like the tunnel.  It looked more like a dimly lit warehouse, so I turned the headlight on.  It didn't help.  I remembered the headlight wouldn't work unless the engine was running, so I crunk up the bike.  (dear reader:  "crunk" is a word and will soon be accepted by Merriam and Webster - if they're cool).  I eased up the hill in the tunnel and out onto the Bay-Way but I still couldn't see very well even with my headlight on high-beam.  I was surrounded by an immense white light but for some reason still couldn't see the road.  It was then that I realized there was car behind me with the high-beams on and I was still in first gear.  I pulled to the shoulder of the bridge, still in first gear, to allow the car to pass.  I didn't stop because I had to make it across the bay to tell my story.

My arm fell asleep and I fell awake at 12:35 AM CDT