Chapter 17

After I arrived home with the milk, I made myself a bowl of all bran cereal. I used a lot of non sugar sweetener to give it some flavor. Then I carried it to the newly painted porch area, under the newly painted awning, and had a seat in my newly purchased porch rocker.

I had Ed coming that day to build a wooden deck over what use to be a paved parking lot. The treated lumber would pretty much lay directly onto the concrete base. That was mandated by the floor height above the parking lot. It had always been less than eight inches. The storm door swung out, and the fancy house door swung inside. There was barely enough room for the storm door to swing over the deck. It all worked barely, so I was fine with it in the end.

While Ed built the deck, I painted on the Ambulance. He finished first because he had everything pre-cut. He just bolted it together like an erector set project. The hand rail posts were bored into the parking lot foundation. They were solid as hell. They were also the only time consuming thing about it. The flooring for the deck was almost even with the polished concrete floor inside the front door.

I paid Ed, then went out to sit on my new porch. The city planners might be pissed, since I didn’t clear the fire bombing repairs with them first. My excuse was that the restoration was caused by the firebomb, so I couldn’t be held responsible for that. The permits were Ed’s problem, not mine.

After lunch, I took a nap, which had become my habit. The nap lasted until it was time for my afternoon bike ride. I decided since my back was feeling better that it was time for my twelve mile ride to get extended to fourteen miles. It was still over five miles short of my route before the accident. On the way home I filled my handlebars with plastic bags of shrimp fried rice, and an egg roll from the local Chinese take out.

Life was good I, decided as I ate at home. It was cool enough in the house to eat with just the overhead ceiling fan for ventilation. The new windows had a film on them which allowed light to come in, but made it hard for heat or cold to penetrate them. They also had zero drafts, or so they guaranteed.

I ignored the freshly painted Bertha, as I promised myself that I would. I struggled to get the scooter back into the security of the packing case. I checked out a few things from my online streaming service, then went to bed.

I was spending a lot of hours off my feet these days. That was a factor in my need for more and more sleep. I missed the old days of being more active. But I was making peace with getting old. It was something that a man knows is coming. However, it always seems to be years away, no matter what his age. In my case, I was in my early to mid fifties, so I should have a decade more of good health. I was struggling to get it back to it. Struggled with how to balance working to improve myself, while still managing to stay active in the moment. It was a very slack tight rope I was trying to traverse.

When the wacky alarm buzzed, I got out of bed and made the quick trip to the bathroom. At that moment I didn’t find it at all remarkable that I didn’t have any real pain. I was a little stiff, but it quickly went away. My movements were still stilted, but it wasn’t painful to sit down or to stand up. I was hopeful that my movements would continue to improve.

The fourteen mile bike ride was almost perfect. No one followed me, and I rode the bike effortlessly. If the damn road had been smoother, it would have been a joy to make that ride. The best part of the ride was when I stopped at the Piggly Wiggly’s deli for two take out strawberry muffins. I rode off home to consume them.

I took the shower easily and soaked my back in the hot shower spray. When I left the shower stall, my back was no longer stiff. I knew that it would stay flexible for several minutes. During those minutes, I dressed and microwaved some day old coffee.

I went through the fancy house door onto the wooden deck with the one comfortable rocker. I sat in front of the big window, while I drank my coffee and ate the strawberry muffins. I felt so good that I brought a can of the white icing, which had come with the refrigerated muffins. The Pillsbury Grand ones, with which I had recently had a short but intense affair. The Icing was still good, but it tore the fresh muffins. Still they were an excellent replacement for the cinnamon buns.

They weren’t Tonya’s diner biscuits, but they would do. They were probably equal to the Hardee’s bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits at least in the number of calories. They were well below them both in protein and other nutrients.

Best of all I was in no hurry to leave the porch. After I began to watch the traffic pick up on Church Street. I noted I had switched from enjoying the morning breaking in the small town, to watching the people move about town as it came alive.

Somewhere around 10AM, I got bored so I went into the house to check out my computer. I had a pleasant couple of hours watching the TV shows from the night before. One was a cop show and one was a reality show. They both aired at the same time. I got to see them both, and I saved the price of cable TV.

I was startled with the knock on the door. I had begun keeping the 1911 handy, so I hefted it before I went to the fancy door. I saw a man who was dressed casually, but also very neat.

“Yes?” I asked through the cracked door. My hand was also on the 1911.

“Mr Selfridge I assume,” he stated.

“That depends on who you are, and what you want,” I replied.

“Mr name is Martin Williams. I wonder if you knew that Eddie ‘shoes’ Allen is going on trial tomorrow. Actually it’s a plea deal, so they don’t really need you. I’m sure the judge would like to hear from you. So we want to know what you will say, if you are required to testify.”

“So you are a prosecutor?” I asked.

“Not exactly, I’m an investigator for the defense team,” he replied.

“To be honest Mr. Williams, I don’t plan to go to his sentencing. not unless they serve me with something requiring me to do so. If someone does that, I will tell the absolute truth.”

“So you will tell them how you kicked the crap out of him, then stabbed his tire, so that he couldn’t follow you. That seems a lot like overkill,” He suggested,

“I think that would depend on which side of Shoe’s knife you were standing on. If he felt I wronged him, then he should have called the police. I would have been happy to explain it to them at the time.” I informed him closing the door in his face.

“I’ll just leave this on your mail box. You have been served,” Mr. Williams informed me.

I only had a day’s notice, so I knew it was more a ploy to get more time while Eddie Shoes raised the attorney fee. I decided to go, just to cause him more trouble. Yes, I can be vindictive.

After my bike ride the next day, I dressed in a pair of long khaki cargo pants and a plain blue tee shirt. I got there and waited. I knew the game well enough, it was called hurry up and wait. It was designed so that no one wasted the judge’s time. His was the only time that was valuable. Of course that was according to the judge.

“Your honor could I be heard please,” I asked before court officially called the docket.

“Who are you sir?” the judge asked irritated.

“I’m Ray Selfridge, a retired Air Force Sergeant, who has recently been involved in a serious accident. I have also been subpoenaed for the case of Eddie Shoes. I would just like to request that my testimony be taken as soon as possible, so that I might return home, and to my sick bed.”

The judge search though his files and found the case. He read the synopsis of the case.

“A request for a postponement has been entered by the defense. It is denied. Since the complaining witness was called by the defense, why I have no idea, but we are going to go forward with this case right now. Does the prosecutor object to Sergeant Selfridge being called out of order?”

“No your honor, this is a plea bargain case, so let’s hear what the Sergeant has to say,” the female DA replied.

“Mr. Selfridge did you receive any injuries in this incident,” Eddie’s lawyer asked.

“No sir, at the time I was out riding my scooter which is part of my continuing physical therapy program,” I replied shifting my weight.

“Is it true that you had a physical altercation with my client?” he asked.

“That is true, I consider it the reason that he tried to burn my home to the ground. He probably thought I was in it.”

“I object,” Eddie’s lawyer said.

“You are the one who asked me,” I said to him.

“Your honor,” The lawyer shouted.

“Sergeant Selfridge is correct, over ruled. I remind you counselor there is no jury to try playing.”

The lawyer gave up. The prosecutor had no questions, so I got released early. I stopped by Scooter’s diner and had a burger before I walked the four blocks home. I enjoyed the walk even though it was hot. The summer season was upon us for sure.

We had gone from late spring to full on summer before the wheels of justice finally ran over Eddie ‘Shoes’ Allen. Since the fire, I had been putting off my next camping trip. It was time to begin planning the next one, I thought.

Since it was only a ninety minute to two hour drive, my mind drifted to the coast. I decided to give a chance to a less tourist infested location. I began researching campground near the coast.

I chose the Trent River Campground. It was located in Trenton NC, a small village near New Burn NC. The RV space was only $15 per night. It didn’t have water or electricity on the sites, but it did have a fully functioning bath house.

Since it was summer, I was for sure going to need a fan. Bertha didn’t have enough windows to rely on natural ventilation. What I came up with was a 12inch, 12volt fan. I purchased a 35amp hour sealed lead acid battery to operate it. I expect to be inside only a short amount of time during the day. I had to hope that it didn’t rain too much over the weekend. While it was not in use, I could recharged the battery using Berths recharging system. The battery could also be charged while I drove to and from my destination. The cigarette lighter type adapter was the power for the charge. I was kind of a purest, but I did need some ventilation for the under developed campgrounds. That ran me about a hundred and fifty dollars, but I felt like it was a good deal.

I could even unplug the batteries and replace it with a coffee pot if I got caught in an all day rain storm. There were lots of foods I could buy to survive without any cooking at all.

Even though my pain was well under control, but still noticeable, I made a reservation for the last weekend in July. The reservation was for a two night stay in a river view space. I hoped I wouldn’t regret the river view space. Sometimes there were more mosquitoes along the river.

I checked on the closest town with anything to see, or do. That town was New Bern North Carolina. It was slightly over an hour’s ride on my scooter, even though it was less than thirty miles. I knew that the rural road surfaces were going to be shit.

New Bern was located on the Neuse River. It was therefore a very old and very historic town. The residents had managed to save some of it’s history. That I got from the Internet, before I set my plan in stone.

Once I made my decision, I went to work on the details of the trip. I knew what the campground was like, so I make my plans accordingly. It was a good time to test the trailer Jasper had built for me. It featured a large bicycle basket set on two small wheels. It was designed as a simple grocery carrier. I thought the trip would be ideal to test it, since I would need a bag of ice every day for my cold drinks. It would also be a good means to bring home restaurant food. Although the trailer only added two additional feet to the length of my scooter, it was surprisingly roomy. Jasper had built it completely from aluminum parts, so it was extremely light in the ass. I checked the scooter out just to be sure it would start. It seemed fine, so I left at noon Friday for the Trent River Campground.

The drive wasn’t bad at all until I switched to NC17 outside of New Bern. The campground was only a few miles, but the road was pure shit. It didn’t bode well for my being able to explore the old historic New Bern. I planned to at least to visit the home of Pepsi Cola. It was a soda fountain in New Bern of course.

When I finally arrived at the campground. I found that there was indeed electricity available on the campsites. Since it was an add on expense, I decided to go with my original plan. I wanted to test it all anyway. I backed Bertha into the river view space, but I made sure she was on solid ground.

After I rolled the scooter out the back, I opened the camp bed and got it ready for that night’s sleep. When I was ready, I took off on the scooter.

I got to the closest take out restaurant before the sun even started to go down. I filled up with burgers to go, and a bag of ice. The basket trailer was way under loaded, so it reacted to ever bump by going airborne. It was the longest twenty miles I ever experienced. Fortunately the sun was still up, so I could avoid the worst of the potholes. I knew the Looky Lou in me would have to wait until the next day. I knew I was a long way from being able to tow the trailer another ten miles into New Bern. Just getting back to camp was going to be a trial.

I had to admit that Jasper couldn’t have known how the trailer would pull. Hell, he didn’t like me much, but I doubted he wanted to kill me. I pulled the scooter and the basket trailer into the campground. I locked the scooter to the camper, then crawled inside. The sun was still in the sky, so it was hot, but not yet dark. I got the fan working and lay down on the camp bed. I actually drifted off to sleep. It was easy, probably because I took a lot of naps at odd times when I was home. At least that particular nap wasn’t due to a large amount of pain.