Chapter 127

After I put the Canary away I took off on the trike. I flipped the motor over so that it rested on the front wheel. I used a combination of the motor, and a pedal every now and then to get into town. The bike was slowing even farther by the time I reached town. That told me the battery was almost exhausted.

I pulled the motor back to lessen the drag. Then I pedaled to the boat yard. I found my way along a familiar route to the office. "Hey Ev you old pirate. I need you to build me something," I said.

"Me and you are through," he said.

"We are finished with our last business yes, but I need you to build me something different this time. You have a machine shop, so I need some work done," I said.

"What do you need?" he asked.

"Come on out I'll show you." When we got out I showed him the trike. "Here is the deal an old man in County seat build this in his home shop. I want another one built but this time I want it made from a regular bike. Actually two regular bikes. I want a full suspension mountain bike for the frame. Take the rear wheel off and mount two 20" wheels on it just like these are mounted. Remove the chain drive system completely. That's all you have to do. I'll bring you the two bikes this afternoon if you can do it for a reasonable price."

"Let me get a pencil to sketch it." He spent ten minutes turning my trike every which way. What you want me to do is build a frame around two 20" bicycle wheels and then weld some decking to the bike frame and add the wheel frame to them. I can do all that no problem. It will take a welder half a day. Give me three hundred bucks and you supply both bikes." he said.

"Fair enough, I'm going to buy the bikes right now," I said.

"Hold on a second. There is a full suspension bike by the dumpster. It has been there out in the weather for a while so it's a little rusty looking. We can clean that up no problem. You just need to pump the tires up. I'm sure there is a 20" kids bike at the thrift store on the Ellisboro road." Ev said.

"Why in the world are you helping me? You think I'm the devil," I said with a laugh.

"I have no idea, but you better take the deal while I'm out of my mind," he demanded.

"Well it's a deal of course. I'm off to find a bike," I said as I climbed back onto the trike. I pedaled it off to the marina which wasn't all that far away from the boat yard.

Wilson and Mel weren't stirring, so I just took off in the Honda. The bike hunt took me a half hour. I was in and out of the thrift store in ten minutes. I paid twenty five bucks for the bike.

I dropped it at EV's office. "So it will be ready tomorrow?" I asked.

"No tomorrow is Saturday. It will be ready Tuesday," Ev said. "Do you want these handlebars. They would be more functional than the mountain bike ones," he said.

"Sure why not," I replied. "It's the kind of bars on my pedal trike."

I got back to the barge in time to call The Brit. "Hey Brit when you gonna arrive?" I asked.

"We will be in about nine tonight. We are going to stop in Capitol City for dinner. Jeremy wants to show me some fancy restaurant there," Brit informed me. I'm going to use you as an excuse to leave early.

"Well come on down, we will be happy to have you whenever you get here." I said. I walked to the office to find Wilson finally on the job. It was fine, since it was pretty close to noon, our agreed on start time.

"So how you doing?" I asked Wilson.

"I'm worn out," he said.

"I can imagine. You didn't forget how sound carries in the boxes did you?" I asked.

"Oh no, I knew exactly how it was going to sound. Mel does not know however, and I would like to keep it that way," he said with a laugh.

"Wilson you are a dirty fucking old man," I said.

"Guilty as charged," he admitted.

"Okay before they come to take you away, find me a front wheel hub motor about 36volts 800 watts. When you finish that buy me a set of lead acid batteries. I will need three about 18ah each." I said.

"My you have been doing your research," he suggested.

"Yes and you and I are going to build an electric moped," I said.

He and Mel took his econobox and left me the Honda to go meet The Brit and Jeremy, when they arrived. The call came about 9:30PM. "Hey Sylvia it took me a little longer to pry Jeremy loose than I thought. Anyway we are at the Motel and it's beautiful thank you so much."

"Hey it's okay Britt, you are both going to earn every penny of it. You and Jeremy want to go out tonight or are you worn out?" I asked.

"I'm never too tired to see you," he said. "If Jeremy is, he can go to sleep early. Where do I meet you?"

"You drive back to the main road turn right go about a hundred yards and you will be at the pier. Meet me there and we will drink some coffee and tell some lies," I suggested.

That's how 10 PM found me sitting on the pier with The Brit on the way. I had no idea if he would come alone or with his shadow Jeremy would be tagging along. I was almost surprised to see The Brit walking out of the parking lot. I hugged and tried to kiss him but he move his head and took it on the cheek. "What you don't trust me to kiss you. Maybe it's you that you don't trust."