Chapter 2
Finally Richard broke the silence and asked about taking the rented bike on the road. "We can do it Saturday morning." Kate said enthusiastically. "We can get on the Expressway and drive to Montauk. That should take us about two hours, if the traffic is good. It's beautiful out there. The ocean is nearby and there are plenty of countryside to ride on. Is that okay with you?"
Richard nodded his agreement saying it sounded great. They made plans to meet at the motorcycle shop Saturday morning. After leaving the coffee shop, he walked her home and said he couldn't wait until Saturday. She nodded, saying she felt the same way.
Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day. It was in the 70's and not a cloud in the sky. They were both on time, laughing as they approached each other in front of the shop. She was also wearing a leather jacket with a pair of jeans. Richard thought she looked beautiful.
They rented their bike and she got on in front. She told him how to hold onto the bike, either hold her waist or hold on in back. He wanted to hold on to her waist, but thought better of it and placed his hands in back holding onto each side of the bike.
Kate started the engine and off they went. At that time of the morning, there wasn't much traffic, they were able to get through the tunnel in no time. The expressway 495 was fairly empty too, it being a Saturday and most people seemed headed into the city instead of away from it. The ride felt wonderful.
Richard was really enjoying himself. He felt such freedom! It
felt even better than riding a horse, almost. He was determined to learn how to ride a motorcycle and eventually buy one That would be a lot of fun! He was grateful to Kate for showing him what fun this could be.
Kate was having a good time too. She hadn't been on a motorcycle for quite some time and it felt good to ride one now. She was hoping that Richard was enjoying himself too. He hadn't said anything since he got on the bike.
She decided to get off the expressway, stop somewhere and ask him if he was okay. When she finally did stop, Richard asked her if she was okay. "I'm fine," she said. "I was getting concerned about you. Are you enjoying the ride?" Richard nodded with a big grin. "I most certainly am!" he exclaimed. "I don't think I've ever had so much fun. It's great! Let's continue!" She smiled at him and said, "I'm glad. We'll stay on the expressway til we get to Hwy 24, heading for Montauk. Okay?" "Okay, let's go." Richard cried.
Back on the expressway traffic was getting a little heavy. Kate had to weave in and out of cars. At this point, Richard decided it was safer to hold onto her waist. She looked at him sideways. "I hope you don't mind," he yelled. "It makes me feel safer." She nodded her head and he could see she was smiling. That made him feel good.
They finally reached the exit for Montauk. She got off onto Hwy 24. Up ahead was a diner. "Are you hungry?" yelled Kate. "Yes," ciried Richard, "Let's stop there." Kate nodded and slowed down.
They stopped at the diner and saw that there were about five motorcycles parked there. "Must be a favorite spot for bikers," said Kate. "I guess so," said Richard. "I hope there's room for us. Well, lets go see." They went inside.
Both were met with half darkness, black, greys, glare of a single bulb hanging over a pool table, reflecting off a full wall mirror behind the bar. Along side of it were several neon signs advertising which foamy broth was being served at this watering hole of humanity.
Bar stools were empty except for two, which were straining to near collapse due to their overweight maleand female occupants. She with purple, white, pink hairdo, he with a face full of beard, wet through with sloppy drinking habits.
Chairs at three tables unoccupied, chairs at two remaining tables being filled with what definitely could easily be termed "bikers". Black leather jackets, trousers, trimed in zippers, metal snap bottons, yes bikers, all 8 of them, 4 males, 4 females of the species.
Behind the bar, slouched over it, both arms dangling accross it,
a very heavy set human form. The remains of a Camel, no longer lit is proturding from his oversized lips, bouncing in rythum to sound emitting from a 1950 Wurlitzer.
Kate and Richard looked at each other. Neither of them liked what they saw. Richard, afraid that Kate would think he was being offensive again if he suggested they leave, said "Why don't we take a table by the window?" She nodded and they walked over to an empty table.
As they sat down, she whispered to him, "I don't think we'll get good service here, or good food for that matter. Why don't we just leave and find another place?" "I think you're right," whispered Richard. "Let's go."
As they got up to leave one of the bikers, yelled across the room at them, while glancing out the window. "Hey, is that your bike out there?" Richard nodded and tried to propel Kate out of the diner. "Wait a minute, where you going? That's a great bike out there. Where'd you get it?" We rented it," Kate responded, trying to sound friendly. "Yeah? No kidding, how much does it cost to rent one of those babies?"
At this point, both of them realized they couldn't just walk out so they headed toward the two tables, each grabbing a chair and sat down between the two groups. Richard told him how much it cost, and they got into a conversation about the mechanics of the motorcycle. Kate did most of the talking because Richard knew nothing about this.
While they were talking, the others joined the conversation and the whole atmosphere changed. These people were nice and interesting. Richard listened to the conversation and found himself fascinated by their conversation. One of them asked him why he was so quiet. He told them he was a newbie and was still learning a lot about motorcycles. He also said he loved riding it. When they heard this they all tried to give him hints and ideas about what he should know. He found he was enjoying himself.
The only ones not joining in the conversation were the couple at the bar, who kept looking at them with disdain.
After awhile, Kate and Richard said they had to leave. They told the others they were on their way to Montauk. "Yeah?" said one of the bikers. "That's where we're headed. We stopped here for a bite, but he doesn't have any decent food. Maybe we can all go together and try to find a place that has something good to eat."
Richard said that he and Kate were looking for a place to eat also, and if it was okay with Kate it was okay with him. Kate
nodded and said it was fine with her.
The couple at the bar got up, heading toward the tables, said they wanted to join them. Kate and Ricard realized that these two were not with this friendly group. They all looked at each other not knowing what to say.
The missing link (at least hat's how he looked to them) placed a hard hand on Richards' shoulder, almost pushing him back against a wall and said, "I said we want to join you guys. We eat good food too. Don't we, sweetie?" He asked his girlfriend.
"Yeah," said Sweetie. looking at Kate, daring her to say anything. Before Richard could do or say anything, one of the bikers reached out with his right hand, wrapped it around Link's wrist, twisting it inward. A scream of pain bellowed forth as the villain cried in agony, backing away to the corner.
His girlfriend, taken by surprise, stood still, then suddenly lunged at Kate, grabbing her around the neck and yanking at her hair. Having had brothers to fight with, this was not new to Kate who grabbed the girls hair also pulled her sideways and bit her shoulder causing her to crumble to the floor in pain.
"Quick, let's get the hell out of here!" yelled one of the bikers, heading for the door. The sounds of chairs flying, tables being pushed back, sound of agony coming from both the Link and Sweetie are all diminished with the words coming from the bar. "Wait a goddamn minute. What about the check, who's going to pay the bill?" Richard, threw a twenty dollar bill at the bar,
though he had not ordered anything. "That should cover it." he yelled as they raced out the door.
As if loading Noah's ark, each couple ran to their bikes, pealing out of the lot, heading down the road. Kate was on their bike in a flash, just as Richard settled in Kate said, "Wait, hold the bike up, be right back". He reached for the grips as Kate spun off, over to the remaining Indian made bike, reached down, pulling the ignition wires out of place. A smile of satisfaction quickly crept accross her face as she turnned back to Richard and their bike.
With lightning speed she was back in the driver's seat, kicking beautiful Harley into action, Richard grabbing for anything to hold onto started to laugh outloud, found his arms fulling filled with Kate, who joined his boisterous laughter as the two were pushed backwards by the forward motion of thier bike as out of the lot they were sent on their way to join the others further down the road.
They caught up with the other bikers and as they sped along the highway , they could hear the other laughing too. Finally, they could see the coastline of the Montauk. The ocean was a bright blue, sunlight flickering on the waves, little whitecaps showing up here and there. The beaches looked fairly empty. Not many people sunbathing. It was early yet, not even noontime, but they were hungry.
One of the bikers motioned to a building that looked like an eatery. They pulled in and parked. As they got off their bikes they all started talking, laughing at the same time. All of them feeling good that they were out of danger, for awhile anyway, and sharing their good feelings.
Inside they pulled two tables together and sat down. Richard glanced at Kate who was deep in thought. "Whats up ?" he asked
her. Startled by the question Kate mentally returned to earth, "Oh! nothing really, but I just realized none of us know each other's name, except you and I. "Hey!" exclaimed Richard, we have been enjoying each other so much, never dawned on any of us, what with all the excitement and everything".
Turning to the rest of the group Kate said, "Listen, my name is Kate, "pointing to Richard, "and this is Richard, sorry about being so late with the names". The one who laid Link out speaks up, "No problem, things were a little hectic back there, Iam Harold", pointing to his companion, "this is Curly. "Fran here",
words from accross the table from Richard, and this", rubbing the bald head of a man next to her, "is Eagle, Bald Eagle that is" she says, as he playfully reaches for her side, beginning to tickle her. Fran's laughter brings everyone to a hearty laugh, as her knees bang against the table bottom causing napkins,
knives, forks, spoons to appear dancing in rythum with the laughter.
Unnoticed by the group, Link and Sweetie have entered the restraurant, standing near the front door. The few other patrons have already began wispering among themselves about the appearance of the two. Kate spotted the two while glancing
at a mirror on the wall. Their reflection left little to the imagination of Kate, knowing they ment trouble for all concered.
Kate made a head motion to Richard toward the door, Harold and the others followed Kate and Richard's glance. Now all were looking at the front door. Link, Sweetie just stood there, glared at each one of the group, turned toward each other. The roar of their ear shattering scream of enjoyment/laughter caused their bodies to slowly sway back and forth from the waist up, each time comming together, hanging on to each other, then swaying backwards again. Out of exhastion of laughter the two ending up holding each other up, arms around each other, turned, slowly open up both doors, walked out.
Knowing this was an omen of trouble, again chairs were being thrown down, tables pushed away, bodies heading for the door. Eagle was the first outside, just standing there, not beleiving what he saw. Fast behind him came the others, out the door, one at a time, two at a time, out they came. All now standing in disbeleive as Link and Sweetie were now on the highway, waving
goodby.
Their disbeleive is the view of five bikes, on fire. Link and Sweetie had left their calling card of distruction just before leaving the scene. They must have covered the bikes with gasoline prior to going inside, simply threw a packet of lit matches onto the group of bikes and fled. With the bikes being parked on the side of the building that had no windows, the villians were not seen setting up their dasterdly deed.
Richard was the first one to recover. He yelled, "Quick! get a hose somewhere! Hurry!" The others responded quickly. The women ran into the store to alert the people there. Kate asked the countermen where the hoses were. They all ran outside but Eagle had already found the hose. He was spraying the bikes while the others ran inside to get buckets of water. All the patrons ran outside and tried to help. They formed several lines
passing the buckets of water to the end person of each line who dumped it onto the bikes. Someone had called the fire department who came just as they were almost finished. The firemen finished the job for them. When it was all over, they saw that there was damage but not to the motors. They had not been touched yet. They had gotten there just in time.
The firemen started writing their report. They asked if anyone had seen who did this. Everyone talked at once. "Hold it, hold it!" One fireman said. "One at a time, please." Before any of the bikers could talk, a few of the patrons gave them a description of Link and Sweetie. Richard, Kate and the others remained silent. They didn't say anything because they wanted to
catch up with Link and Sweetie and take care of them, themselves.
After the firemen finished, they suggested that the bikers call someone to haul their bikes away. They nodded and said they would take care of the bikes. The firemen finished their report and told them they would hand it over to the police for insurance purposes. They also told the bikers to notify their insurance company, then they left.
Everyone had gone back into the eatery except the bikers. They stood there looking at their bikes, not saying anything for awhile. One of the bikers, a tall blonde guy whose name Richard and Kate did not know yet, said "Well, what are we going to do about this? We can't let them get away with it.." His girlfriend said, "Look, honey, the police will take care of them."
"No, that's not good enough", said Harold. "John's right, we have to do this ourselves." The others nodded in agreement. "But what?" said Richard. "I don't know yet, but we'll come up with a plan. Meanwhile, what do we do about our bikes?" asked Harold.
Eagle glances at Kate, "Kate, you seem to know your hogs, lets you, I, and Harold, figure out what we can cannibalize from each of these and see if we can get a few going." Harold nodded in agreement. "It could be done, at least from a few of them", added Kate, "we still have daylight".
As luck would have it the Springer Softail had the least damage, only really some paint scrapping, rear tire blown, and a few spokes bent from another bike falling on it, those were easily pulled into place, tire replaced from another bike. Eagle's Honda was another with least damage, this would be one easy to
repair.
"Come on Kate, do you really know about hogs?" asked Harold, "what do you know about, well lets just say chains?" Kate looked at him and smiled. Still smiling she said, "The toothed rubber belt seemed at first like a nice alternative and has even been raced, but it is not the answer. A toothed belt's power limit is directly related to its width. That might be OK for a stock 60HP (or 90HP)Hog but above that a drive belt will have to
be very big to the point of widening the whole bike to make it fit". "Also", she continued "unlike chains, individual belts are not adjustable." She stood there, waiting for him to say something. "OK, OK", stammered Harold, "I see Eagle's point about you helping put these together".
As everyone was working at cleaning things up, locating what was good yet and which parts were still usable a tall 6 foot plus man wearing a plaid shirt, jeans, cowboy boots, and a Stetson walked over to Richard saying, "Listen, my name is Paul and I run this place, that's my pick up truck over". there. "If you want to, you could load what you want into it and we could take it all over to my place, about 3 miles from here". "You folks
could work on your repairs there". "I also have a small open trailer around back if we need to add it on".
"Fantastic", Richard exclaimed, "Really great, thanks". The others added their thanks too, shaking his hand and clapping him on the back. "Alright, alright." He said, smiling. "Let me get the trailer and we'll hook it up to the truck".
Two of them went to help him while the others continued to clean up the debris the best they could. When it was all hooked up they put whatever was salvageable on the trailer. Paul told them to leave the rest near the dumpsters, he would have it cleared away by morning.
When everything was loaded on the trailer, the group jumped into the open truck and Paul drove them to his house. It was a small house, neatly kept with lots of land. There was a barn in back which he used as his workshop. They noticed a motorcycle sitting there. When they looked at him, he nodded and said "Yep, I have one of them too. My wife and I like to drive around
the countryside on it. Takes us places this truck an't."
He helped them unload their bikes and told them they were welcome to any tools he had in his workshop. He had to get back to the eatery but his wife would help if they had any problems. He went into the house and brought his wife out to meet them. He had told her the story about the fire and she was very sympathetic.
Kate, Eagle and Harold went to work at fixing the bikes. Richard, John and the others asked how they could help.
"Just pull everything off the truck and trailer, we will seperate it into usable and trash areas", says Eagle. Everyone began to unload the parts under Eagle's knowing eyes. "Right Richard, that set of Porker pipes are still in great shap, over there with the pipes, John, that SU and Dell'Orto carbs, are both in working order Iam sure, Kate, grab those Taper-Lite pushrods, they will work out fine".
In a short period of time every scrap from the heap of parts were in thier respective place where they could be used to refurbish as many of the bikes as possible. In the end all that was usable equaled 3 bikes, Kate's/Richard's, Eagle/ Fran's and one peiced together with miracles, that ended up being Harold/Curly's. John and Honey were bikeless, as were Bob and Angie.
Just as the group were trying to decide who was to go where, up drove Paul in his truck. "Well guys I see you have three of them standing tall, rest of the stuff is trash?" he asked, climbing out of the cab. "Right", called back Kate, " The frames are shot on the other two, twisted and burned beyond repair, plus the other parts are fried, they got most of the gasoline and flames", reflected Eagle.
"Well look", adds Paul, "The day is shot, you are not sure what is up next, so why not sack it out here with my lady and me for tonight and start fresh in the morning". Each of the group were surprised at the hospitality, stood looking at each other, waiting for someone to commit to a discision. The self choice came from Kate, "What a great idea, if it really is not problem with your lady", turning to the rest, "what do you guys say?". Mummering amoung themselves, Fran pipes up, "Iam with you Kate",
the others all aggread that it was a great idea and as Paul lead them into the house, his lady is standing by the door way, not beleiving what she heard and now watching. A group of ten dirty, covered with grease, grime, and the smell of burnt memories covering their bodies heading for her lovely home, being led by a man she was in love with........ up till this moment.
They all stood in front of her beaming from ear to ear, thanking her with their eyes. looking grateful and slightly humbled at such generosity. She sighed and waving her hands, said, "Okay, come on in. You're going to have to take turns washing up, though. I'll put some food on the table meanwhile. I'm sure you're hungry." She gave a side-long exasperated look at her husband and said, "Show them where the bathroom and towels are, Paul. Then you can come in and help me set up the table." Paul grinned at her in gratitude and then did as he was told.
After they washed up they wanted to help Nancy with the food . She told them it would have to be a buffet since there wasn't enough room around the table. That was fine with them. They helped put out the food and ate sitting around the living room floor. She had made a large salad and pasta. Everyone was enjoying it immensly. They were talking at once and omplimenting her on the food. Nancy smiled at them and found she was
enjoying herself.
After awhile they became quiet. Richard, knowing what was on their mind, said "What shall we do now? We have to find them and turn them over to the police. What if we call the police and get them to look for them?" Eagle looked at him. "No," he said quietly. "I think we should do this ourselves. I don't mind turning them over to the police afterwards, but I want to get my hands on them first. I think the others feel the same way."
Richard looked around and saw they were all nodding, even Kate.
Richard said, "I know how you feel, I feel the same way, but you should let the police handle this. You all may get into trouble otherwise. Besides, we only have three bikes now".
"Look, I have to be at work Monday, as do you Honey", John says. "Yea, Bob and I do too", adds Angie, "and since our bikes are shot anyway, Paul could you take the four us over to the bus station in the morning, and we could head on home". "No roblem", says Paul, "Be glad to, by the way", turning toward the group in general, " I talked to Harold, our local Police Chief, he has
all your addresses and will be mailing everyone copies of his report".
After basic conversation of new friendships forming, exhastion was becomming everyone's plesant emotion. Paul and Nancy excused themselfves heading for their bedroom. Everyone else put themselves at ease in and around the front room, one couple on the floor here, another couple over into a far corner, into the shadow formed by a large cabinet. Richard and Kate had occupied the only sofa in the small front room, so there they stayed, her quickly falling asleep in the crook of Richard's arms. All were sound asleep in a matter of moments.
Kate and Richard were the first ones up. They sat up quietly and then, by mutual consent, tiptoed out the front door. It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. The sun was just beginning to rise and the air smelled clean and cool. They looked at each other and smiled slowly.
"It was quite a day yesterday." said Richard. "I was really impressed with how you handled yourself. You certainly know your way around a motorcycle." Kate laughed. "With two brothers like mine, I had to learn or be pushed out of the way. Besides, I love it. It's part of my life and I wouldn't give it up for anything." She paused and said quietly, "It's too bad about what
happened. I feel the way you do. I think we should let the police handle it, but I'm afraid the others don't feel the same way. What are we going to do about it?" Kate asked worredly.
Richard shook his head, "I don't know. We're going to have to try to convince them that this is the right thing to do. I'm inclined to think that you may be right though. It's going to be hard. Maybe, after a nights' sleep they won't be so angry." They looked at each other with doubt in their eyes. Not believing what they were saying.
They heard noises inside the house and knew the others were awake. They went inside to say good morning to them. Paul and Nancy were talking to Eagle and John. "Nancy and I were talking last night, and we decided we'd like to join all of you to find those two characters. Besides, we know the area better than you. I think we could help." said Paul.
Eagle and John shook their heads. "It's not your fight," said Eagle. "We couldn't ask you to do that." Paul looked at him and said, "We knew you'd say that. We want to come along because we want to avoid a fight. I think if we all went together we'd have a better chance at catching them without a fight, and handing them over to the police."
Richard and Kate walked over to them, and Richard said, "I agree with Paul. You'll get into trouble fighting with them. It's not worth it. I want to find them too, but only to make sure they end up in jail. for what they did." Everyone started talking at once trying to get their point across. Eagle and John were pretty stubborn about taking matters into their own hands. The others, including Fran and Honey just wanted them caught and handed over to the police.
Nancy held up her hand and said, "why don't we have some breakfast? I'll put up the coffee and I have some donuts and toast for everyone. We can talk about this later." As they were finishing, Harold said, "Oh! by the way John, Curly reminded me that I begin a midnight shift tonight so instead of you and Honey catching the bus with Bob and Angie, I and Curly will take
your place and you can go with everyone else, using the spare bike. Okay?" "Right" adds Kate, "a perfect name for that one, made of spare parts and all." Catching the joke, everyone laughed.. "Ok, fine by me" said John.
Paul started for the door, "Well if the four of you are ready, I'll run you to the depot now, the bus leaves in an hour." The five headed out the door. Paul turned to Nancy "be right back babe." He said, kissing her gently on the cheek.
Paul was back within thirty minutes, parking the truck in the garage, Nancy had everything taken care of in the house, and everyone was in the driveway around their bikes as Paul locked up the garage. Walking over to the group he said, "Well everybody seems ready, so lets head out."
Once again Kate and Richard were back on the road, heading for the continuation of their weekend adventure. They had not anticipated the events leading up till this moment, no way were they prepared for the unknown ahead of them. Four steads of horsepower gliding down Hwy 24, intersecting with Hwy 27. Past Shinnecock Hills, Tuckahoe, Water Mill and all points east.
Just outside of Hither Hills State Park , Paul , who had the lead bike motioned and made a right turn onto a road leading to Montauk Beach, each of the bikes follow him. As the group got closer to the beach area, Kate pulled up along side of Paul and Nancy's bike, Paul glanced at her wondering what she was trying to say, as they got closer he realized that she had spotted Link's bike out on the beach.
Link, who was about 15 feet from his bike, spotted the group and headed for his bike. Yelling at Sweetie "Hey Bitch, they caught up to us." Sweetie, half undressed while doing a sun worshiper's bit, screamed as she grabbed whatever clothes she could and ran to hide behind a sand dune.
Paul and Kate swung their bikes off the pavement, onto the sandy beach with everything under control, they beat Link to his bike. Just as they arrived, they both twisted their bikes to a sliding stance, spraying sand 8 feet into the air, covering Link completely with nature's beauty, both bringing their steads to a complete stop. Richard, needless to say had been holding on for dear life and even Nancy had never been on such a ride before, and they say the tilt a whirl is scary.
John, Honey, Eagle and Fran were right in back of them. All four bikes surrounded Link and his bike. No one said anything. They looked at this big hulk of a man just waiting to see what he would do or say.
