Prologue

I was riding straight into a ball of fire and reached for my sunglasses. What really got to me was the spectacle in my rear view mirrors (objects may be closer than they appear). The brand new sunrise reflecting off the white adobe walls in the West Texas town I was leaving was spectacular.

El Paso was ok, just a clean hotel room and decent food for dinner and breakfast. Really, it was just another city in a long list that I blew through; another meaningless way point on a journey to nowhere. I was really looking for a nice state highway that had a few "twisties" and good scenery. That is hard to find in West Texas.

East US 62 seemed to offer a nice road that wasn't too busy and seemed to be biker friendly. Right up until it crossed the New Mexico state line. It seemed like someone took a knife and cut the asphalt at the state line and it became cratered asphalt. This road sucked. Well, in for a penny as the saying goes. I'm on the road. I have no cares and it's just me, the bike and some decent road tunes in the CD changer. (You didn't think I'd make a cross country trip without good music, did you?)

So what is going on? A year ago I was laid up in a hospital wired for sound with a distraught girlfriend, the victim of a 40 yr old stock broker with a drinking problem. Lucky is what I was:

ONE YEAR AGO:

Damn, I hurt. "What the hell?" I thought. I rolled over to get comfortable but I couldn't roll over, I couldn't even move! I felt like the end of a bad horror movie.

I was held down by tubes, not restraints; I couldn't move my arms as they were on some sort of splint and it looked like a musician's patch panel of cords, only these were plugged into me. I watched with morbid curiosity as the small bubble slowly moved down to vanish into the needle sticking in my arm.

What the heck happened?

I remembered cruising down the road, minding my own business. I saw a sports car with a blonde pass me on the left. Then, WHAM! Nothing until I woke up here. Where was here? If I can ask those questions I must be doing sort of ok, I thought. I moved my head and moaned a little with the effort. I heard a squeak from the corner. I couldn't raise my head to see but I sensed someone moving and heard someone gasp, "Oh, thank God!"

I opened my eyes again and saw a familiar face. Yes, it's Lynne. I immediately started to catalog my surroundings: Lynne, girlfriend, 38, together 2 years. Me; Donald Othello Maximilian, known to everyone as DOM, (don't ask how I got saddled with a name like Donald), 43, single. What the heck happened? Why am I here? Obviously a crash; what happened? Did I screw the pooch? Did someone else mess up? Is anyone hurt? Did I hurt anyone? These were all going through my head.

At the same time I mentally did an inventory, wiggling each part as I thought about it, right toe, left toe, and on up until I moved my head. It seemed like everything was working ok, but then again, I couldn't move a lot.

I was just completing this minor task when a young girl walked in and identified herself as my doctor. I didn't know her from Adam so how could she be MY DOCTOR? I had clothes older than her. The only redeeming value here is that she WAS very cute. Her name tag read Dr. R. Donovan.

I croaked something obscene and attempted to moisten my lips with a dry cotton swab called a tongue. Not working very well, the Baby Doc slips me a sliver of ice to wet my mouth. Once that is done, I lick my lips and the croaking actually becomes words. "What happened?"

The Baby Doc said, "You were in an accident and you need to talk to a nice police officer about what exactly happened."

"How long have I been here?"

"Just today." She said.

Well at least I hadn't been out too long, but then, any time out is not good. Lynne, my girlfriend, was holding my hand the whole time and just looking at me to make sure I was really me and actually talking.

When I turned my head and saw her there I was immediately smothered with kisses and if I hadn't been wired for sound, I'm sure she would have inflicted hugs enough to break something lose.

The Baby Doc just sort of giggled when she heard me ask, "Lynne, can I keep her?"

Her eyes sparkled as she said she'd give us a few minutes after she checked me over and took my vitals.

She didn't actually take them, but I got the drift as she started poking and prodding my abdomen and groin under the sheets. A nurse, who looked like she could kick my butt, came in and actually took the vitals. Blood Pressure, pulse, temperature, respiration, all the normal stuff they do to you in a hospital at 2 in the morning when they wake you up just before they give you something to make you sleep.

Lynne just glared at me after that remark. Some things never change it seems. That woman would be jealous of the Bride of Frankenstein or an 80 year old great grandmother.

After both of them finished, the Baby Doc, (I GOTTA quit thinking about her like that.) said, "There will be a detective in here shortly to talk to you and let you know what actually happened. All I can tell you right now is that you're damn lucky to still be among the living. You have a concussion, a separated shoulder and a broken right leg." With a glance at the chart, she continued, "No internal bleeding, no significant road rash; you can thank your armor and your helmet for that, and lots of bruising. Ooh, you're going to be very colorful for a while."

No wonder I couldn't move.

"As hard as you hit your head, you may need a few new fillings and you'll definitely need a new helmet. You might want to buy the old one a fifth, it sure saved your butt, not to mention the other end."

After she threw the helmet comment in, she said she wished all of her trauma cases were in armor like I had been. That's Bike Armor, WHICH, for those of you who don't know, is DEAD COW: Leather, LOTS of leather, nice and thick with Kevlar pads and cushions on elbows, shoulders, back, kidneys. And that's just the jacket. Yeah, you look like a kid from South Park until things get broken in but it's well worth it.

Add Leather Chaps with extra leather on the knees (no snide remarks there) and you are good to go.

She left and I heard her talking to someone outside as the door closed.

"Ok, Lynne, what the hell happened?" I asked.

She just shook her head, "I don't know anything. The cops wouldn't talk to me or even acknowledge me other than to say you'd been in an accident. Maybe you should ask JJ. He seems to be tight with the local police."

"Well he should be, he is, after all, a cop in San Diego but he's out to sea for safety briefs to the returning sailors. What happened to the other guy? Did I hit someone or the other way around? What is going on?"

"You were hit by a car. That's all I know."

About that time a suit came in with a gold shield and a cut-down 9mm showing on his belt, like that was supposed to impress me.

"I'm Detective Donovan," He announced.

"Ok, what happened?"

"Well, you were hit by a car that ran a red light while attempting to evade an officer. He hit the brakes, and slid sideways into you."

GREAT, I'm thinking either my insurance company or I am going to get soaked for the hospital, and that is going to suck.

"What happened to the guy?"

"He's in jail: DUI, evading, and a few other things. He isn't getting out for a while. What do you remember about the accident?"

"Nothing much. I'm riding down the road, cross an intersection, and BANG! Next thing I know, I'm looking at a girl child who claims to be a doctor and my girlfriend is in tears. What can I do?"

He gave Lynne a card and said, "Call if you remember anything else."

As he turned to leave he stopped for a second. Looking at me he said, "The reason you are talking to me instead of a traffic officer is, I wanted to say hello to my daughter. That 'girl child, ' as you call her, REALLY is a doctor and a damned good one. I should know, I paid for her medical school."

OOPS! Man when you put your foot in your mouth you don't even take your boot off.

Baby Doc came in about that time, grabbed the cop by the ears and pulled him down to her, kissed his cheek and said, "I'll see you and Mom when I get off tonight."

"Well, at least I haven't forgotten how to win friends and influence people," I quipped.

She laughed a bit about that and said not to let him bug me. "He's always like that. Even if you are just asking him for directions, he treats everyone like they are being interrogated. He did that to me and my sister when we were growing up, especially when we wanted to date somebody. I never saw him try it on Mom though. Hmmm..."

She got on with her exam and as she was doing more poking and prodding, she said, "The X-rays were negative, and the CAT scan is also good. Still, I think we'll watch you for a couple more days before we send you home."

She smiled as she turned to leave and as a parting shot said, "I may look like a girl child but I'm a CUTE girl child with an DOCTORATE.!"