Life After Death Ch. 01

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About 6:30 I stopped at a small greasy spoon on my way back into town. I wasn't super hungry but needed something to hold me over until breakfast. I ordered a burger, onion rings, and a Dr Pepper and kept an eye on my bike from the diner's window.

Everyone, and I do mean everyone, gave it at least a second glance. Then three girls, pulling into the spot next to my bike looked at it for about five minutes before one threw a leg over it. That was a no, no.

"How would you like it, if I opened up your car, and sat in it, with my feet up on the dash?" I asked as I snuck up behind them.

Startled, two of them jumped back, almost falling into me as the one on the bike asked if it was mine.

"Yes it's my bike, and didn't your mom ever tell you it's not polite to sit on someone else property?" I asked.

"Never knew my mother, and my dad would have all ready tried to hot-wire it," she said not batting an eye. How does it handle, and how in the hell is someone suppose to sit on that pathetic rear seat," she asked.

"It handles just fine and I really don't give a shit about the rear seat because I've got no one to put back there anyway," I told her starting to get more than a little annoyed with her. "So if you don't mind, get your butt off my bike."

"Excuse me, like my 105 pounds is going to wreck your shinny new toy," she spat back at me. "I wouldn't go for a ride now, even if you got on your hands and knees and begged me," she said walking past me and into the diner.

"Takes all kinds," I said to myself as I walked into the dinner and back to my table.

The three girls sat at the counter, and every once in a while one or the other would look back at me.

"Looks like I'm the object of their conversation," I thought to myself as I finished my meal.

I had all ready put on my jacket, and was paying at the register when the skinny brunette walked up to me.

"I've decided to give you another chance," she told me. "I usually don't do this, but you look like a lost puppy, and I love puppies. I assume you live in town, and letting you give me a ride home can be your way of saying how sorry you are for being such an ass. Give me a minute to get my jacket, out of the car, and we can blow this place," she told me as she walk out of the diner.

"If I wasn't so shocked, I probably would have told her to kiss my ass, but five minutes later, there we were, heading towards town, two up on my bike. The faster I went, the harder she held onto me. When we finally got into town, she gave me directions to her place.

"Well, that was fun, but you're going to have to do something about that seat if you expect me to go riding with you again," she told me. "My ass may not be very big, but that damn seat is way too hard and small. Here's my cell number," she said handing me a slip of paper. "Call me when you want to do this again, but like I told you, dump the seat," she said walking up the stairs of the apartment complex not even bothering to look back at me.

Just before walking through the door she turned around. "By the way, my name is Pam, if you're interested," she said as she walked through the door.

"Good looking, nice ass but what a pushy bitch," I said to myself as I slipped her number in my shirt pocket.

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Month end went better than expected, and when I got two vendors to lower their price by 5%, the company thought I could walk on water.

"Keep this up, and we might still get a bonus yet this year," Ken told me. "Also with Bill leaving, I put your name in for his company car. You can leave it in the garage, but if you need it, it's available."

I thanked Ken, and told him it would come in handy, on the weekends, when the snow started to fly. For now however, I enjoyed my morning walks into work.

The dealer changed out the seat on my new bike with a gel filled one, and with a new mono-shock on the rear tire, the bike was almost as good as my Road King had been.

"You got any bolt on seats for my rear fender," I asked.

"What are you looking for?" he asked.

"Something a little more plush than the pee pad that's on there right now," I explained to him.

"I have a seat that's pretty decent, with quick release, mounting bolts. You can leave it in your saddle bag, and put it only on when you need it," he told me.

It cost me a mint, but so did everything else with the Harley Davidson nametag.

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I played with that stupid slip of paper Pam gave me for about a week. I had been on only three dates in the last year, and one of them was when I took a female customer out to dinner. Usually marketing took care of those duties, but this one couldn't be avoided. The other two were nice, but I had little in common with either one of them. Damn, I hated blind dates.

"Hello Pam," I began, "this is Steve," knowing fully well she probably wouldn't remember me.

"Steve? Steve who?" she asked.

"Let me give you a hint, green chopper," I told her.

"I'd given you up as a lost cause. What took you so long to call?" she asked.

"Works been a little crazy lately, and I needed to get a few things done to my bike," I explained to her. "There's a ride this Saturday, and I was wondering if you'd be interested in going?"

"You replace my seat yet?" Pam asked.

"Well let's put it this way, your butt cheeks won't spill over on the new seat, if that answers your question," I replied.

"Well, in that case, yes. What time are you going to pick me up?" she asked.

"About 9:30, and make sure you're dressed warm. They're forecasting temperatures in the lower 50's for highs. Do you have a leather jacket and boots?" I asked.

"Don't worry about me, just don't be late. Do you still remember where I live?"

"I know the address, but what's your apartment number?" I asked.

"Not so fast. I'll just meet you out front at 9:30, and we can take it from there," she told me in no uncertain terms.

After that I was struggling with small talk and was bombing badly. Finally she mercifully ended our conversation telling me she would see me on Saturday morning. It was like I was sixteen all over again, and asking my first girl out on a date. I was pathetic.

When Saturday finally came, I put on my heavy leathers, my mid-calf boots, and grabbed a warm pair of gloves as I headed out. After about a mile and a half, I stopped and put on my stocking cap. Damn, it was cold. After about ten minutes the heat from the engine finally started warming my cold body.

"Thank God for the bolt on windshield," I said stopping at a light. It deflected just enough wind so I wasn't freezing to death this morning.

"You're late," is the first thing Pam said to me.

"It's only 9:35," I replied looking down at my watch.

"Late is late. Now let's see what kind of seat you've got for me," she said walking over to my bike.

I bolted on the new seat, started up the engine, and told her to hop on. The dealership was twenty minutes away and I could feel her arms around me, and her face pressed against my back.

"Wow, that's cold," Pam, said as she got off the bike. "My damn face is numb." She said rubbing her cheeks.

We went inside to warm up and get a cup of coffee as the rest of the group started arriving.

"Here," I said tossing her a neoprene full mask. "This will keep the wind off your face and keep you a lot warmer," I told her as she tried it on.

"It's got the picture of a skull on the outside," she complained.

"It's for warmth, not style," I told her getting a little annoyed.

"Thank you," she finally said. "I really appreciate it."

The ride finally started about 10:00 and lasted for about two hours. There were only about thirty bikes and most were single riders, I guess not too many wife's or girl friends wanted to go out in this weather. We got back to the dealer, just before noon. They brought out a few cold, meat, trays, and munchies but it wasn't anything I was interested in.

"You want to go out to lunch?" I asked.

"Yes, but just make it some where I can get something hot," Pam replied.

We stopped at Denny's. We grabbed a booth in the back, and the waitress brought us a pot of hot coffee. Pam was using the hot cup of coffee to warm her hands as she looked at the menu.

"Warming up?" I asked.

"I am now," she said taking small sips. "That was fun, cold but fun," she told me. "Do you do this often?"

"Not as much as I used to," I told her. "I used to ride to Sturgis every year for the rally, but I haven't been back there in almost three years. Maybe this summer," I told her.

"I've seen pictures. Are there really that many bikes?" she asked.

"They're every where, and it's one huge non stop party that lasts for almost two weeks. My buddy, Nick and I did the trip non-stop, and lived in a two-man tent for three days ... never again. I guess I've gotten used to the comforts of home, and sleeping on the ground and eating cold food, is not where it's at for me anymore," I told her. "But I do like to take off for a long ride once in a while. It clears my mind, and I just feel free."

"What do you do for a living? That is, when you're not playing easy rider," she asked.

"Purchasing manager for a manufacturing company in town," I replied.

"And you?" I asked.

"I teach art and do free lance work," Pan told me. "There's not a lot of money in it, but at least I like what I do ... not like most people I know."

"Are you seeing anyone right now?"

"Why, are you applying for the job?" she said laughing as I started squirming in my seat. "Relax, I had someone once, but he wasn't satisfied with me, so he moved on. Since then, a few guys here and there, but no one right now. How about you?" she asked.

"About the same. Had someone special, but she ruined it for us. Haven't seen anyone for the last year, if that's what you're asking."

"So in other words, you're a born again virgin, so to speak. Good, I like that. This way I won't be afraid of catching any cooties or anything else, unlike from the hot shot players out there who will screw anything that is breathing," she told me.

"What makes you think I want to take you to bed?"

"With a hot body like mine, why wouldn't you want to," she said with a laugh. "Now that we got all the personal items out of the way, let's see how much we really do have in common."

That started a two day discussion on each of our likes, dislikes, and as much history as we were both willing to share. I don't think she was happy that I wouldn't tell her anything more than I'd been married once, and it had ended very badly.

Over the next three weekends, I got to know Pam pretty well. We both liked the same kind of foods, and where I ran, she roller bladed. She thought my workout room was over the top, and I told her that her favorite band sucked. We finally agreed to disagree.

"Do you want to go to a club Saturday night?" she asked on Thursday. "A few friends of mine are going, and I want them to meet you."

"I'm not a big dancer," I said almost apologetically.

"No problem, most guys can't dance anyway. Just be like everyone else, move your feet around and fake it," she said with a smile.

"Well, I gave you fair warning," I told her.

Besides kissing, we hadn't gone any further. She asked me to stay over one night, and I politely refused saying I wasn't quite ready for that step just yet.

"Don't worry, I'll be gentle," she said stroking my arm.

"Funny, very funny," I told her.

She drove Saturday because as she put it, "I'm not going to freeze my ass tonight on your damn crotch rocket. So, unless you want to see my nipples sticking out like two Christmas lights, we're taking my car."

I really did want to see her nipples, and was planning on making my move that night, back at my place.

The club was crowed but we did manage to find a decent table just off the dance floor. I'd been to this club once before, and it held no fond memories for me. Pam's friends seemed nice, and we were all having a great time when I came face to face with one of my worst nightmares ... again.

"Hi wimp," is how he started it. "Remember me? I see that you've got a new girl, did the other one drop you, after that night?" he said with a laugh. "Maybe this one needs more than a pretty boy to please her," he said moving up to my face.

"Pam, meet shit head Dan. He's a body builder whose brain has been fried by steroids," I said with a smile as his buddies tried to pull him away. As he turned to walk away, I said in a voice, loud enough for everyone to hear. "I understand, that after the gym closes, all the faggot body builders blow each other and tell one another how great they are."

Dan screamed and rushed at me, knocking over our table and everyone sitting there. The bouncers immediately came over and kicked Dan, his two buddies, and me out of the club.

"Pam, stay in the club," I told her. "You don't want to be a part, of what's going down tonight. I'll call you later," I said as I was escorted out of the club.

Outside the three of them started pushing me as we moved around to the side of the building.

"Afraid of little old me?" I taunted Dan. "Need your two buddies to fight your battles for you? I guess you really are nothing more than a big faggot."

Dan swung at me, as his buddies cheered him on. I easily ducked and moved away from all his wildly thrown punches while slapping him in the face, mocking him. He finally rushed me. That was a big mistake.

I sidestepped his lunge. My first kick took out his left knee with a loud crack. Dan was on his way down when my spin heel kick caught him in the middle of the chest driving all the air from his lungs. As Dan struggled to sit up, I front kicked him on the right side of his jaw shattering it along with his nose.

Just as I was about to hit Dan again, one of the other guys grabbed me from behind and yelled for his buddy to punch me. I stomped the top of his right foot as hard as I could breaking at least half the bones while driving the back of my head into his face, shattering the bridge of his nose. He released me as he screamed out in pain and covered his now bloody face with his hands. As I watched him dropped to the ground, I looked for his other buddy. He was nowhere to be found.

I walked over to Dan who was lying on the ground moaning for someone to help him.

I pulled his head up by his hair and whispered in his ear, "You can tell your friend, Tom, if I ever find him, what I'll do to him will make this look like a paper cut."

I release his head and watched it hit the ground with a thud. Standing up I adjusted my clothes, and before walking away, I kicked Dan full force in the groin. That put him out.

As I turned to walk away, I saw Pam. She was just standing there with her mouth open looking at the two men lying on the ground.

"I told you not to come out here," I said grabbing her arm and pulling her around to the front of the club. "We need to leave before the police get here," I said as I guided her along the sidewalk. "Come on, Pam, we have to go."

We hurried to the parking garage and found her car. I opened her door and pushed her into the passenger seat. Getting in, I floored it and drove out onto the street and headed for my condo.

It was a silent drive to my place, as Pam just stared at me.

"Steve what the hell was that all about?" she started to say as I cut her off parking in front of my building.

"Not tonight. We will take about it later, but not tonight," I told her holding up my hand. "Are you ok to drive?"

"I'm ok, it's just that..."

"Damn it not tonight I shouted," taking her by surprise. "I'll call you," I said getting out of the car, and walking into my building. I looked back once, to make sure she was all right before I walked in. I opened my condo door, locked it, and threw the keys against the wall.

"God damn it Carol, I hate you," I screamed as I ripped off my jacket, throwing it to the floor. "I want you to fucking die, do you hear me? I wish you were fucking dead," I yelled hitting the wall with my fist, again, and again and again.