Chapter 16

During the time off between our east coast trips, Bill and I were quite busy. Bill spent much of the time on the phone, calling the trustee that his grandfather had designated, making arrangements for his tuition to be paid, changing his mailing address to my post office box, and having funds transferred to his checking account for living expenses. He also called the school and had them change his mailing address and requested they send all the paperwork he would need to register. He explained the situation with his sister in general terms and requested that they not disclose his mailing address to anyone. While Bill was making his arrangements, I was working in the garage.

"Wow! Are those yours?"

I looked up from under the hood. Bill had just walked into the garage.

"It's mine now; it originally belonged to my Dad. This is a 1968 El Camino SS 396; it was his pride and joy. The bike is a Harley-Davidson Electra Glide. I bought that a few years ago to make quick trips around town and to ride out to the desert or the mountains."

"We have a couple of errands to run, most importantly we have to go to the bank and put you as a signer on my checking account."

"Ok, give me a chance to finish this oil change and clean up"

One hour later, we walked back to the garage from the house. I walked over the Harley.

"Well, what are you waiting for hop on?"

"I've never ridden on a motorcycle before."

"Just sit on the back, put your feet on these pegs, and hold on to me, but watch where your hands go; no getting fresh."

With a turn of the key the bike roared to life and down the driveway we went. It really felt great to cruise through the streets, under the blue sky and bright sunshine shine of the Arizona summer, with Bill clutching me around my waist. I almost forgot about the bank. When we pulled into the bank parking lot Bill jumped off the back.

"That was awesome. I wish we could take this down to Tucson."

"Not this trip, we'll be carrying too much stuff. During the semester, I'll come down to pick you up and we'll ride back home. Maybe someday soon we'll get you a bike as well and we can cruise together."

We walked hand in hand into the bank. Bill presented his ID and account paperwork. The banker not only added my name to the account, but removed Karen's as well. On the way back to the house, we took a detour onto a back road that headed out into the desert. I opened her up a little and soon we were doing 80. Bill was on the back holding me as tight as he could, howling with excitement. After about ten miles we turned around and headed back toward civilization, a burger and a cool drink our ultimate goal. When we got back to the house I pulled the bike back into the garage.

"Do you really think I could learn to ride a bike like this?"