Blue Velvet Ch. 02

"Why?" I yelled into the wind over the roar of the engine.

"I need to pee." Mom said simply.

"Ok." I responded and started looking for an off ramp.

The next ramp came up within seconds and I guided the bike onto it and off of the Interstate. At the bottom of the ramp was a gas station and I pulled into the parking lot and up to the premium pump.

Putting down the kickstand and leaning the bike onto it, I shut down the engine and swung my leg out of the saddle. Mom dismounted carefully and walked gingerly toward the office and the restroom as I opened the tank and took the gas nozzle out of the cradle.

I was just finishing wiping gas off of the tank when Mom reappeared from the office. "I paid for the gas. It's the least that I can do for my date." She said as she remounted the bike.

"Great." I said, and then I asked, "How do you like the ride so far?"

"It's fun!" She responded enthusiastically. "But why did you slow down? I was really enjoying the speed. How fast were we going anyway?" She carried on hurriedly.

"Didn't know if you liked it so I slowed it down a bit. And we were going around one ten when I wound it down." I replied.

"Great! Lets do it again! Faster even!" Mom said with child like enthusiasm. Then she added as she settled onto the seat, "My hands were getting a bit cold though. Mind if I slip them under your jacket if I need to?"

"No problem, be my guest." I replied, "I guess that I should have told you to do that anyway, sorry."

"No problem. Now lets go. Pedal to the metal!" she said eagerly.

I chuckled at the pedal reference but didn't correct her, "Ok you asked for it." I replied as I kicked the bike to life once more.

I pulled the bike onto the interstate, this time heading toward home. I twisted the wick and the bike came up on one wheel again. This time I let it stay up for a much longer stretch before putting it back down. I kept the speed fairly high the whole trip back, I never scraped bottom on the power but I cruised down the concrete at between one ten and one fifteen over most of the return trip slowing down only occasionally when we ran into stretches of traffic.

We were only about a minute into the run when I felt Mom slip her hands under my jacket. The feel of her hands against my stomach felt good and right. I twisted the throttle a bit more and coaxed the bike up to one fifteen and felt her pull me tighter against her body followed by the pain of her nails digging into my flesh through the thin fabric of my t-shirt.

Thinking that the nails digging into my stomach meant that I had scared her, I slowed the bike to a relatively sedate ninety and settled in to a cruise. Mom leaned her head forward placing her mouth as close to my ear as possible and yelled over the wind and roar of the engine, "Why are you slowing down?"

Having no real reply at the moment I roughly twisted the throttle and the speedometer shot up once more to one ten. "Mmmm, I love the feel of the speed baby." I heard my mother yell into the onrushing wind as she pulled herself even tighter against my back and raked her nails across my stomach.

About five miles from home I noticed a little unevenness in the throbbing of the engine, "Must have gotten some bad gas back there." I thought to myself. I dropped the speed down to seventy-five and started to look for the exit nearest to the place that I worked.

"Are we stopping?" Mom yelled into my ear.

"Yeah, I need to tune the engine some. I'm going to stop at the service station for a minute or three." I yelled back as I guided the bike onto the off ramp and down toward the light at the bottom.

Stopped at the light I could really feel the engine struggle. When I rook off and leaned into the turn while turning the throttle I heard the engine backfire. "Damn, got a fouled plug." I thought disgustedly.

The station was only two blocks off the interstate and as we pulled into the lot I noticed that the place was already dark. "Jim must have closed early." I thought as I pulled the bike up in front of the bay doors and shut the engine down.

I stepped off the bike and fished the key ring from my pocket. I walked to the front door, disarmed the alarm and then opened the door. I stepped in, turned on the lights and walked toward the garage. "Can I help?" I heard Mom ask from directly behind me.

"Just make yourself comfortable and relax. This won't take long." I replied over my shoulder as I pulled the chain to open the bay door.

Once the door was open enough for me to walk under it I stepped into the dark night and pushed the bike inside of the well-lit repair bay. Setting it on the kickstand once more I turned to the workbench and retrieved a spark plug wrench and a welding glove.

Bending to my work I quickly removed the offending plug and dropped it into the welding glove. Turning around I put the plug into the plug cleaner and pushed the lever, compressed air and sand blasting sand quickly cleaned the plug. I replaced the plug in the engine and pulled the other plug and ran it through the same sequence.

I rose from my repair work and turned toward the office. When I walked in I found Mom sitting in the swivel chair with her feet up on the desk. She smiled at me and asked, "Can a girl get a drink in this joint?"

"Sure." I replied, "There's a bottle of Jack in the bottom drawer and Coke in the fridge."

Mom smiled, opened the drawer, and pulled out the half full bottle of bourbon. "Not my usual drink, but it will do in a pinch."

I walked to the fridge and pulled out a can of Coke, then turned and pulled a plastic cup from the stack on top.

"Here ya go Mom. Knock yourself out." I said as I handed her the cup and the coke.

I walked back into the garage and went to the lube area. I kept a fifty-five gallon drum of aviation fuel in the back for my ride. I grabbed a jug and pumped a gallon of gas into it. Taking it back to the bike I poured it into the tank then stood the bike up and moved it from side to side to stir the mix.

Replacing the cap on the tank I pushed the bike out of the bay and rolled the door down. Then I walked back into the office just in time to see my mother finish her drink.

"I don't know about you." I said, "But I could use something to eat right about now."

"Me too baby." She said with a grin. "Where to?"

"Well there's a MacDonald's down the street a bit." I offered.

"How about that place over there?" She said pointing down the street at a sign that read Sonny's Bar & Grill.

Sonny's was my normal hangout, but I didn't figure it would be a place to take my own mother. "I don't know Mom. It might not be your kind of place." I said slowly.

"Sure it is." She responded lightly. "You might be surprised by your old mother."

I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Okay, sexy. It's your call."

"Ooooooh, I love that sexy comment." She said brightly as grabbed me by the shoulder, pulled me close, and planted a brief kiss on my lips before she walked past me out the door.

I closed the station down once more and strode to the bike. Mom was already nestled into her seat and I straddled the bike and kicked it to life.