Chapter 11: Ragu

Maia figured the fawn to be less than a week old and was moderately healthy for having been stuck in the cold mud for several hours and had not eaten before even that. She held the animal continuously to keep it calm and fed it tepid goat’s milk from a rubber glove with a hole poked in a finger. It drank the entire quart that she had in the fridge for herself.

Tina Marie was not a morning person, especially on a school day when she had to get up early for the school bus. Her mood lightened when Jesse sent her a picture of the fawn and asked what they should name it. She burst into the kitchen 30 seconds later demanding to see it.

The fawn was resting on a dog bed between his two designated guardians — Fug and Shaya, curled up against Ana who was sleeping on her back. TM’s eyes grew wide and her mouth formed an O as she tiptoed over to the creature and dropped to her knees in front of it. It stared back at her curiously and sniffed her offered fingers. She marveled at its tiny frame with all its spots.

“Is it a boy or a girl?” she asked softly as she touched its head and rubbed it gently between the ears.

“He is a healthy young boy,” Maia replied crouching next to them and handing Tina a baby bottle full of goat’s milk. “And he never seems to get enough to eat.”

TM took the proffered bottle delightfully and held it for the baby deer to suckle eagerly. He began sucking and slurping on the nipple voraciously and they could hear the fluid going down its neck into its belly. “Oh, my goddess, he’s so cute!” TM breathed excitedly. “Can I really name him?” she asked eagerly.

Jesse nodded.

“Ragu,” she decided instantly.

Maia looked up at him incredulously. “Well, that was fast,” she remarked. “What if he had been a girl?”

“Mmm. Still, Ragu,” TM replied assuredly.

Jesse snorted and went to refill his coffee cup. “How is school going?”

His baby sister shrugged. “I have more placement testing this morning and then I will be advancing to 8^th grade,” she answered. “They are looking into AP classes too.” Ever since her period started a few weeks ago he noticed a subtle change in her personality. There were subtle physical changes too but he could sense that the light-hearted baby girl was giving way to a more mature and thoughtful young woman. She still wore mismatched JoJo Siwa socks though.

“I thought AP classes were only for high school?” he asked, having taken most of them himself.

“They are including me in the audit to see how I do,” she replied staring deeply into Ragu’s big brown eyes. “I am already taking AP World Culture and Language Arts Studies.” she added, “Let’s face it. I’ll probably be graduating high school next year anyway.” There wasn’t a trace of bravado in her voice as she made the declaration and Jesse found himself believing her.

“Umm, Teton,” Maia mused, “What time does your bus come?”

The girl looked up at the clock and slumped. “Crap! I missed it.”

Jesse snickered. “No worries, we need a couple of cases of goat’s milk. I’ll give you a lift.”

When they teamed up and walked along the underground waterway together, they were able to slowly coax the steam to follow a prescribed path that cut across both of the backyards and the next two homes, west of them. It finally leeched back down to the artesian layer after it wandered into Sue and Brad’s backyard. The soil that was washed away caused the earth to sink and form the creek bed. With Maia’s help, he was able to encourage further erosion in their combined backyard and form a moderate pool that became popular with the local fowl during their migratory transits. It was also a favorite cool-off spot for the three dogs. Jesse fashioned several wooden footbridges to cross the stream at various points which made the yards into a winding pathway of botanical marvels.

Grampa Vincent came by to visit out of the blue. Juan dropped him off since he didn’t prefer to drive long distances anymore. Jesse had sent him pictures of the Studebaker and he wanted to see it for himself. They enjoyed lunch in the new house and talked about all of the things that Edwin Sinclair had left behind when he began his sabbatical journey. Vincent was incredulous at the treasures he left them. His eyes lit up brightly when Jesse revealed the trapdoor beneath the table and showed him what was hidden within.

“That is a very nice little nest egg you are sitting on there, you two,” he stated appreciatively. He applauded their plans to just leave it until they needed something. “Precious metals are always a solid investment for the future. That cache will only become more valuable over time.” If it was one thing Vincent knew it was the appreciation of things. When Jesse asked him what to do with all the old periodicals, he offered to take them and have them graded and auctioned off along with most of the antiques that had collected in the attic and garage.

The next day Xav showed up with the truck and a flat of moving boxes and they set about boxing up and moving the various publications. The only ones Jesse opted to keep were the Popular Science and Popular Mechanics — at least until he had a chance to read through them all. Once their home was emptied of all the magazines and bookcases, Maia went back to work painting and redecorating. Xavier had grown more accustomed to the incredibly beautiful pixie that his cousin was in love with. He still blushed furiously whenever she teased him. But he was comfortable enough to start teasing her back.

“When are you two getting married anyway?” he asked on the second day of collecting the magazines and antiques.

Jesse and Maia looked at each other and simply smiled knowingly. What they had was so far beyond mortal vows, that it seemed belittling to consider matrimony. Still ... what girl didn’t aspire to be led down the aisle in a beautiful white dress? They talked about it that evening and brought it up with Linda and Denise the following day. Eventually, they agreed that a celebration of their union was appropriate so long as it was presided over by a priestess of Gaia. Fortunately, they had one readily available and Aunt Star agreed to preside over their ceremony during the vernal equinox the coming Spring. It would be held in their backyard as both lots were very much hallowed ground and Maia spent hours each day working on her gifts until she had transformed the landscape into a veritable fantasy realm you would expect to find in an elfin forest. The altar she fashioned was circular and modestly enclosed by the dropping branches of several surrounding trees.

As they were delivering the second and final load of stuff to Grandpa Vincent’s warehouse in Sacramento, Jesse and his cousin took turns driving.

“Hey, mano, did Uncle Frank tell you about the Harley we got in last week?”

Jesse’s eyes lit up. “No! Do tell,” he replied excitedly.

“It’s an old shovelhead that looks like it had been sitting for a while and eventually parted out. The engine is still on it though and the frame seems sound, to me,” he pulled his smartphone out of his pocket and opened it one-handed to a gallery before handing it over to him.

Jesse eagerly took it and began scrolling through the pictures. It looked like a heap to the undiscerning eye. There were no wheels, gas tank, or seat, and the original ape-hanger handlebars were missing, along with a bunch of parts that made it appear less than a motorcycle and more like scrap metal. The front forks had been scrapped too. The engine was removed and set off to the side. Xav had made a point to take several close-ups of the motor and Jesse began hyperventilating as he checked them out. “Oh, great goddess!” he breathed and closed the gallery to open the phone app. It rang twice before his uncle Frank answered.

“Xav! When are you gonna be done with the truck, boy? I need you to run over to Gunther’s for another drum of oil,” he said by way over greeting.

“It’s me, Uncle Frank, Xav is driving.”

“Hey Jesse,” he replied more jovially. “Where y’all at?”

He looked out of the cab at the freeway around them. “Just passing through Elk Grove. Hey, Uncle Frank, about that old shovel head you just got in...”

He could hear the mirth in his uncle’s gruff voice. “Xav told ya huh?”

“Yeah, um ... I want it.” he answered bluntly. “I mean, please. And um, thanks?” He hated talking when he was excited about stuff like this.

He heard a muffled conversation as if a hand were held over the phone. Then, “Yeah, I figured you’d want to take a look at it. You know who else was into shovel heads back in the day...?”

Jesse nodded as relief flooded through him. “Grandpa.” He also thought of his meeting last summer with Mike Avery outside the Hobby Lobby. He was riding a 77 Shovelhead with ape-hangers when he pulled up next to Jesse and they began talking about the Norton he was restoring. “I think I know another guy too who can help me out.”

“Well, your grandpa is already in the loop so check with him when you get up to the warehouse,” Frank advised. “And if you two can swing over to Gunther’s in Bear Creek he has a 55-gallon drum of hydraulic oil for the 980. Then you can grab the bike and take it to your place.”

“You got it, Uncle Frank,” he said eagerly. “Thank you! See you in a few hours.”

It was hard for most to tell if Maia was as equally excited about the junked Harley as Jesse was, or if she was just thrilled to see him excited about it. Regardless, she fed off of his energy and helped him tear it down into a pile of parts that he organized according to some system in his head. His Grandpa helped him figure out exactly what make and model the original frame was (it was a 1976 FX 1200) and they worked together to locate and acquire the parts he would need to rebuild it. Over the winter He and Maia made many road trips to obtain pieces and meet other shovelhead enthusiasts. Almost every week a delivery arrived with even more parts. And slowly he began to rebuild the bike and motor independently. He needed all of the garage space for his project so he asked his grandpa to take the Studebaker and keep it while he worked. His Grandpa made no effort to hide his enthusiasm for cruising around in the familiar ride from his youth and neither did the ladies in the retirement home.

One day he was tinkering around in the garage with the door open and he heard the familiar rumble of several bikes approaching from the main road. There were 6 of them and their engines alerted the entire neighborhood to their presence as they pulled up casually to his driveway and parked. None of them took any notice of the official squad car parked next door. He recognized Mike and Chris as they disembarked and sauntered over to him.

“Heya Jesse,” Mike greeted him warmly as they clasped hands. He greeted Chris similarly and introductions were made with the other four bikers, two of whom brought their ladies. Apparently, Chris and Dolly broke up a while back and he was flying solo for the moment. Maia came out to meet them followed by Fug, Shaya, Ana, and Ragu who had grown tremendously in the last several weeks. He was shedding his spots and was quite comfortable around people and dogs. The presence of a small deer in the garage full of bikers, ladies, and motorcycle parts was a sight to behold. Naturally, Maia received a special deferment simply because she commanded it without even trying. She simply greeted everyone with hugs and returned to Jesse’s side. Ragu made tentative steps towards the newcomers sniffing them and checking to see if any of them happened to have a treat or two. Maia stepped inside and returned with a handful of fig newtons that she handed out to the guests.