Chapter 34

[the re-write]

the sound: Gary Wright – Dream Weaver, Rush – Closer to the Heart, Steve Miller Band – The Stake, Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, The Animals – House of the Rising Sun, Billy Paul – War of the Gods, The Byrds – 8 Miles High, The Doors – Riders on the Storm

Just when I get to the point where I am sure my back will break, or we will fall over which will break me in half for sure. The door opens and Rosie growls, “Jed! What the fuck do you think you are doing?”

Jed stops moving, and with a small shudder lets me go to fall to the floor.

“aw come on Rosie…what’s a little fun between friends?”
Rosie begins slowly and quietly, her voice rises slightly as she builds up a head of steam.

“You get your loppy arse outta this room…you were told to knock on the door and ask her if she wanted to come to the Dump.

Nothing more.

What do you suppose would have happened to you had it been Robert coming to investigate? Do ya suppose you’d be standin here discussin friendship then asshole????”

“she cussed me out Rosie, she’s gotta learn.”

“Ya she likely does…but don’t you suppose Robert’ll be the one doing the teachin you moron? Now get the fuck outta here!”

I lay on the floor where I’d fallen, watching this exchange with some sort of delayed reaction. As soon as Rosie told him to get going I started to shake and by the time she turned back to me I was trembling and crying like the scared fool I was.

Rosie reach out to me and then stopped herself just before she touched me. “Clean yerself up and get dressed little girl…we’re going to the Dump” she said as she turned and headed out the door.

By the time I did just that she was back with my helmet and a leather jacket, holding it out for me to shrug it on. I looked at her and she said, “it gets cool on these roads in the night”. She cocked her head to follow her and we headed out the door through the living room and out the front door. As we got closer to the door I heard the unmistakable sound of motorcycles running and found a group of 15 Harleys followed by BarnYard and Boomer in the convertible.

The first thought that crossed my mind when I realized that Robert was in the lead was that his big fully dressed bike looked exactly like a dinky toy under him. He turned and looked at Rosie who lead me over to Jed’s bike…”you’ll ride with Jed and there’ll be no more trouble” she advised.

As Rosie ran to jump in the backseat of the car, Jed turned to look at me and I saw the beginning of a fat lip like someone had hit him. “she’s enough trouble all on her own” he muttered as I swung my leg over the backrest to settle on the pee-pad…thinking “hey…it’s not like I get a vote.”