I rode into this little dive in the middle of nowhere, but after 500 miles running close to full throttle on a rigid chop, I really just needed a place to stop, have a few drinks, and clear my head. I sat down and the old toothless barmaid asks me whatcha havin? I ordered a double of Jack and a PBR, she asked rough day? As she put the shot in front of me, I replied with you have no idea and took the shot followed by a swig of the ice cold beer. I started to ponder, am I dreaming? This can’t be real, it must be a dream, WAKE UP! I open my eyes and the toothless old hag is just staring at me like out of my mind. Well it’s not a dream, maybe she’s right, maybe I am out of my mind.
Look at my watch and notice its 10:45pm, just 8 hours ago I was just a guy taking a little trip on my scoot and now I’m not sure who I am or what I’m doing. I was on my way to visit an old friend about 1500 miles southwest, maped out my trip and my stops and figured if I do 375miles a day I’ll get there in four days. I said I’ll get to see ride some great roads and see some old friends, well I sure saw some roads. Can I get ya anything else hun? Um, yeah I’ll take another double I respond. She put the shot in front of me and asked, do you want to talk about it? I reply, nah I’m good for now. I take the shot and shake my head violently as the liquor burns my throat. I light a cigarette and put my hands over my eyes and try to come to terms with the events that lead me to this shithole in who- the-fuck- knows- where. Its 10:50, I must have been on the bike for 5 hours only stopping for gas once I hit reserve. I wish didn’t pick up that nail in my tire, all this wouldn’t of happened. A group of redneck looking guys come walking the bar there talking about some hunting trip or something. The tallest ugliest one comes walking up to me and asks “Is that your motorsickle boy?” I don’t even look up at him as I’m still thinking of the day’s events. He yells “I asked you a question boy” as three others surround me. I replied yeah what of it as I stand up and pull out my knife. They all looked at me, and the instigator said we don’t want any trouble man. I looked at the knife and realized that it was covered in thick dried blood. I sat back down and asked the bartender for another shot. She reluctantly poured it and set it in front of me. That fucking nail in the tire, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that fucking nail. I was about 600 miles into my trip when the chop got squirrely on this two lane highway. I pulled over to the shoulder and noticed that the rear tire was completely flat. I had no means of getting to a service station, nor did I have the tools to fix the tire so I was stuck. After about an hour of watching cars fly by not even given me a second glance, an old man in a beat up 1950’s Ford pick up stopped and asked if I needed some help. I said I’m stuck and can’t really go anywhere until I fix this tire. The old man smiled and said well it’s your lucky day cause I have a shop bout ten miles up the road, we’ll get ya fixed up and back on the road in no time. I thought thank god, and I’m only a few hours behind schedule. We put the ol chopper into the bed of the truck and off we went. Pulled into his house/shop and unloaded the old girl. He said by the way Teds the name, I shook his hand and said nice to meet ya Ted my name is Eddie. Well Eddie I have a patch that’ll fix that tire he tells me. Why don’t ya take a seat and relax for a bit, my wife will fix ya something to eat and drink if ya like. I told him I might have a drink but didn’t want to impose, just wanted to get back on the road asap. He yelled Martha get off your ass and get our friend here a drink. Martha was not a good looking woman, probably only 35-40 years old and asked what can I get for you with a trembling voice. I just said I’ll take a glass of water, as I looked at her perplexed trying to figure out why there was she sounded so scared. A few minutes passed and Martha came out of the house and gave me my glass of water. I said my name is Eddie and it’s nice to meet you Martha. She said you too and turned away real quick and walked back into the house. That threw up a flag for me, I should have let it go but my curiosity got the best of me and I had to try to find out what was wrong. I walked around to the side of the house and saw her washing the dishes and crying. I walked back out by the garage and went to see how Ted was doing with the tire. Hows it goin Ted? Oh well not too good my friend, the tire is shot and I don’t think I could patch it. Looks like your gonna need a new one. I do believe my buddy Jimmy should have one in this size, so I’ll try to call him and hopefully we can get ya on your way. I said OK, just keep me posted. Then I asked, so how long have you been with your wife? Ted looked at me with a shit eating grin and said, oh quite a long time actually. I just kinda said, cool and walked away. I thought in my head quite a long time huh? I mean Ted had to be in his late 60s early 70s. I went back by the house and sat down on the porch of the house and took a sip of my water. Ted walked past me and said Im gonna give ol Jim a call to see if he has that tire your needin. I said ok thanks Ted, I really appreciate it. Ted said, its no problem, I always like to help people in need, you know Im getting up there in years and I need to make right with the lord. I again thanked him and lit a cigarette and took another sip of the water. I heard the old man on the phone through the paper thin walls of the house, oh that’s great news I’ll come over and pick it up. He hung up the phone and said Martha Im headin to Jims to pick up this mans tire, just remember Im always watching, your with me forever and ever Martha, REMEMBER THAT! YOU AINT GOIN NOWHERE MARTHA! Ted walked out of the house unaware that I heard the conversation with his wife and nodded and said, Got good news son, Jimmys got that tire and I’m gonna go pick it up. I looked at him and just said awesome, that is good news. Ted fired up the truck put it in reverse and head out down the road. At this point I needed to find out what that conversation was about, I should have let it go. I knocked on the rotted wooden door to the house, no answer after a few minutes. I knocked again harder, and kept knocking until she came to the door. The door opened, and with tears rolling down her eyes she asked, do you need more water? No Im fine, but I can see your not. I don’t want to intrude but I overheard your conversation with the old man. She looked up at me with her eyes wide open and said, please I can’t talk to you about it and tried to slam the door closed. I blocked the door with my forearm (wow come to think of it that’s probably why it hurts so much) and said I know you don’t know me but Im willing to listen to you and help however I can. You can’t help me, nobody can, now please just leave me ALONE! She slammed the door and I could hear her hysterically crying through the door. I didn’t know this woman, but I could see the fear and helplessness in her eyes and I knew I couldn’t leave without knowing what was going on. I said through the door, Martha I can help you if you let me, just please tell me what’s going on. She slowly opened the door and said if he knows Im talking to you he’ll kill both of us. I said I’ll take that risk, just let me know what’s going on here. My names not Martha, its Sue McDunna. I was Ted’s wife Martha’s home nurse. I took care of that poor woman day in and day out for 5 years. Then about a year ago Martha died from the cancer. Ted just snapped, they were inseparable for 55 years and he couldn’t handle losing his wife. He has been keeping me hostage here since because in his mind I am Martha. I wear her clothes, jewelry, and perfume. Wow, so why don’t you leave and try to get help? You don’t think I would if I could Eddie? He strapped this thing to my ankle, it’s a bomb! If I go past the porch it will trigger the explosion, I don’t know what to do she said crying. I’ll do whatever I can to get you out of here Sue, I promise. I heard Ted’s truck coming up the road and quickly shot back to the bench I was sitting on when he left. He came walking up and said we’ll Eddie you should be good to go in an hour or so. I tried to hide my disgust, smiled and said I can’t thank you enough Ted. Aw, Im just doin what I can to help Ted said as he walked back to the garage. I waited till he was out of sight and walked back to the old door and said Sue, are you still there? Yeah I’m here. I told her I think I have a plan, Teds gonna be in the garage for at least an hour, show me the device and I’ll see what I can do to take it off, or at the very least disarm it. Sue said are you crazy?, if you trigger it we’ll both be dead. I’m an engineer, I should be able to disarm it Sue trust me. I’ll get you out of here. She came onto the porch and showed me the device that was under Martha’s old pungent nightgown that she was forced to wear. It looked to be a very simple set up triggered by a electronic dog collar. I figured if I can locate the sensors that trigger the collar we’ll be home free. I did some scouting and found two sensors at the bottom of the stairs, and also located sensors outside of all the windows. I took out my knife and cut the wires to the sensors and hoped that I didn’t miss any of them. I went back up to Sue and took another look at the crude device to see if I can remove it without harming Sue or myself. I looked at my watch and realized that Ted is going to be finishing up real soon and I didn’t have much time. With my knife I uncovered the trigger and found a much more complicated set up than I originally expected. Not being a bomb expert, actually never even seeing a bomb I really didn’t know where to begin. I told Sue, I think I took care of all the sensors but unless we take this thing off there’s no guarantee that it won’t explode. If I cut the wrong wire though, it may go off and kill us both anyway. She looked into my eyes and said, I trust you….do whatever you can to get me the fuck out of here! Just as I started to evaluate the device Ted started walking up the driveway. Martha! What the fuck are you doing out here talking to our friend! I said, sir she was just offering to fill up my glass of water while I’m waiting for my bike to be fixed. Ted paused and said, that’s my Martha, you know she’s always been a gracious hostess. I said yes sir, she sure is. Well the tires all set, its gonna be say $200.00 bucks. Sure thing Ted. I grabbed my wallet and removed two $100.00 dollar bills and handed it to him. I again thanked him and went towards my bike, kicked her over and pulled it up the driveway. Old Ted was on the porch talking to Sue. As I got off the bike I opened my knife and put it in my left back pocket. I walked up the stairs and put out my right hand and shook his hand and thanked him again. I reached into my back pocket and in one motion stabbed the old man in his neck, I was actually looking to get him in the shoulder just to debilitate him, but I over swung in the heat of the moment. I saw him drop to the ground and said Sue c’mon lets go! I jumped on my scoot and saw her on her knees over Ted’s lifeless body. Sue! C’mon we got to get outta here. I can’t leave she said, I may be able to save him. We need to go, I’ll take you to the police station, lets get the fuck out of here! Sue stood up and started down the stairs. As she hit the bottom stair the trigger was activated. I can’t get the image of her body exploding out of my head. I stood in shock for what felt like an eternity. I jumped on the bike and took off 500 miles west to this shit hole bar, wondering why I told her to to come with me. I was so sure I removed all the sensors! I was so fucking sure.
Can I get you anything else? No ma’am I think I’ll be heading out. As I leave a $50.00 on the bar and walk out the door I wonder, What the fuck am I going to do now?
.jpg)
