The un edited report of an old man that use to be young
Saturday, August 20, 2011
SORTA' KINDA' FAST, MAYBE
I think I was ten or eleven when my dad bought a surplus Harley Davidson Motorcycle. I can not say for sure but I think it was a ''left over cycle from WW2 and as I remember it was painted Army Green. Dad took the bike apart and repainted it black or dark blue as I also remember. My Uncle Paul was still a kid at heart and he loved to ride the Harley. He would come up to our house and ask mom if it was ok to take me and the Harley out for a ride before supper. She always agreed but she always said ''You children be careful on that ''thing''..... Mom didnt like the Harley because she said she got bugs in her teeth every time she and dad went for a ride. Thus it was one evening when Paul pulled up in the driveway in his Henry J.
''Wanna go for a ride kid''??????/
''Shux yeah Uncle Paul, I'll ask mom''
He went in and had coffee with mom and asked for the use of the Harley and she said sure but he had to get me back home in time for supper. He came out and rolled the Harley out of the wood shed, turned it around I got the leather helmets out of the saddle bag. Dad had bought two of the ''kamakozie style'' leather pilot helmets with goggles attached at the surplus store because the Harley did not have a windshield on it. I thought they really looked cool but they actually looked really stupid......... Paul checked the oil in the bike and put down the ''helper springs'' on the buddy seat. He fired the engine and said ''lets to have some fun. We can go down on the that new super highway and ride the smooth pavement before they open it to traffic''.
Uncle Paul was a massive person. Well over six feet tall and a mountain of muscles with a kid trapped inside. I felt very safe in his presence.
We headed down Kivette road to the new super highway, eased around the barriers and down on the new smooth road. We eased out and ran the Harley up to about fifty m.p.h. We sailed along listening to the leaking exhaust and the ratteling valves and life was good......... We headed over toward Greensboro occasionally dodging barriers. We did a turn around over at Greensboro and headed back toward home. I slid up close to Paul and said.......''Recon how fast this thing would really go?''....... Paul said ''If you promise not to tell your mom, we will wring its ear and find out.''..................... I promised and he twisted the grip and the wind increased rapidly. The pipes were screaming and the bike was literally flying along the road. The speedometer was clocking from 95 to 100 M.P.H. …........
Paul held it there for what seemed like forever but it was actually only about a minute at most. He closed the throttle and we came back to earth with very large grins and bugs in our teeth I guess.
''WOW, DOUBLE WOW.... In my whole life I have never gone that fast.'' I confessed to Uncle Paul.
We cruised along and eventually got back to my house in time for supper. Mom invited Paul to supper but he said he had to get home. We both were still wearing the ''big grins'' when he left for home.
I walked him to the back porch and he winked at me and whispered ''Our secret?''.....''Yep, our secret''
Now it should be known that my mother could hear a whispered conversation thru a wall that was concrete and 10 feet thick. She had an extra eye in the back of her head, she could read your mind and she knew what you were thinking before you started thinking the thought. She could detect a lie before you told it and she knew everything............
''WHAT SECRET?''................ ''Well?''.......''Anything you need to tell me young man?''......... ''I am waiting''....................
''Uh, duh, (shuffel shuffell), Uhhhhhhhhhh, Duuuuhhh.''
''Well,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Uh,,,, Me and Uncle Paul went for a ride down to the new road to Greensboro and we wasn't suppose to be on it because it is not open yet, but we didn't get caught by the cops''....................
''AND?''......................
''Uh,,,,,,,,,, and there ain't no speed limit signs on the road yet, soooooooo Me and Uncle Paul did not know how fast the speed limit was and we went kinda fast on the bike but nothing happened.''
''HOW KINDA FAST?''....... I can go look at the speedometer on the bike and look at the ''tattle tail'' on the speedometer that you guys probably forgot to reset to zero''.................. The bike had a red hand on the speedometer that showed your top speed until reset. ''I'm going to go look while you think about this''........
I am glad that I was not my Uncle Paul at that time because Mom was not nice the next time she saw him. It was a long time before me and him got to go for a ride on the Harley again.
It was an adventure that we shared and I cherish it to this day. I still can not figure out how my Mom knew what we had done.
Mothers know stuff that you dont think they know....... I would give a lot of money for the ability she had and probably you would also.
God bless our troops and bring them home soon and safe please
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