[Critique Group 1] group 1 submission for 1/31/18

[sitting.duck at springmail.com]

2029 words

An Inconvenient Partner
by C. S. Boyd

John quickly straddled his motorcycle. As he placed his helmet on his head, and reached for the chin strap, his eyes fell on his old bicycle hanging on the garage wall. Pausing, he stared at the bike. Could that be the answer? He knew there was no way he could approach D'Jonna's community with his motorcycle. He dismounted and walked over to the bicycle. The tires were soft, but the rubber felt ok. A few rust spots dotted the frame, but the chain and peddles looked as good as when he had hung it there. Finding the air pump he aired up the tires and lifted the bike down. Taking some oil and a cleaning rag, he carefully and lovingly went over the entire bike inspecting every part especially the wheels, steering, and breaking; making sure everything was in tip top shape. The sun was just going down as he finished up.
Straddling the bike, he finished fastening his chin strap and headed down the driveway. Turning right, he peddled hard; the gears were a little stiff at first, but they shifted all the way up to the tenth gear and back down. A little use and they would be working as good as new.
He brought the bicycle back to the garage and hung it back on the wall.
In his room, he lay on his back in bed with his hands clasped behind his head.
Now, how was he going to get it out to D'Jonna's community. He was on the track team, but he didn't relish riding all the way out there on a bicycle, then all the way back. If he could get it out there, he could leave it in the old building, but how would he get back. If he borrowed his dad's pickup, he would want to know what for, and he would insist on going with him. He needed someone who wouldn't ask questions and wouldn't care what he was doing.
Maybe ol' Hack at the gym. He was usually too stoned to care what was going on, and for a few bucks, he would forget anything. 
In the morning, John purposely waited until he heard his dad leave for work before going down for breakfast. His mother was just cleaning up. "If you want to make yourself some breakfast, make sure you clean up," she said.
This new independence kick of his parents was a real drag. A few weeks ago they informed him that he would be going out on his own soon and it was high time he got used to fending for himself. If he got himself down too late for breakfast, it was up to him to fix his own and then clean up any mess he made.
"no prob," he said. "I'm going to head out to the gym. I'll get something from the vending there."
She looked at him disapprovingly for a few seconds, then shrugged, "Okay," she said, "suit yourself."
He went out to the garage, took the bicycle down, strapped on his helmet, and straddling the bike as he went down the driveway, headed for the gym.
With luck, he would get Hack to help him take his bicycle out to the old coliseum and bring him back home. The coliseum was a few miles from the building where he had met D'Jonna. It had a track, so It would be easy to convince Hack that he wanted to use the old track inside the coliseum to build up his leg muscles. There really wasn't anywhere else that he could just let go and push until he was too tired to continue.
He would ride his motor cycle out to the coliseum, ride the bike out to see D'Jonna, then ride his motor cycle back home. The place hadn't been used in years. No one would be out there to see what he was really doing, and the bike would be safe in one of the dressing rooms. He smiled to himself. It was the perfect plan.

At the gym, John got on one of the treadmills and set it for moderate hill climb.
After a few minutes he saw Hack, the custodian, come in from one of the locker room doors.
"Hey, Hack," he greeted the gem custodian cheerfully.
"Hey, John," said Hack. His speech was a little thick this morning.
John shut off the treadmill and stepped down off the machine. Taking the towel from around his neck, he wiped his face and neck as he walked toward Hack.
"I didn't see your motorcycle out front. Did your dad drop you off?"
"No, I rode my bike. I'm trying to build up for the track meet coming up. You know, I really wish there was a track I could practice on."
"What about the school track?" offered Hack.
"I hate to use that. I spend half my life at school as it is. I really wish they had a track here. It would be so much more convenient than the school track."
"I suppose," said Hack. "Of course, there's that track out at the old coliseum," he offered.
"Hum...," said John thinking for a minute. "If I could get my bike out there, I could ride my motorcycle out, work out on the track with my bike, then ride my motorcycle back home."
"Yeh, that would work. Well, see ya," Hack turn and waved as he left.
Well, that didn't work, thought John. I suppose I could ride the bike out there and then walk back home. I wonder how far out the public tran goes. Still it would be a long walk back. It would take most of a day to do it that way, and if I came in hot and sweaty, Mom and Dad would be sure to ask questions.
He was still working over possibilities in his mind when he heard, "Hey."
John looked up to see a tall well-built young man with curly black hair standing in front of him.
"Hey," he said back.
"I thought they would have some stationary bikes here. What kind of gym doesn't have stationary bikes?"
"Yeh," John said. "It's a long story, Something about pollution."
"Pollution?" The man stared at John incredulously.
"Never mind," said John with a chuckle. "It's a sort of private joke between me and my dad."
"By the way, I’m Jake."
"Nice to meet you, I'm John." 
"Is there a track around here somewhere? I don't like to run on the streets." 
"I know what you mean, there's an old abandoned coliseum at the edge of town. The track is still in pretty decent shape. You could probably run there. I was actually looking for a way to get my bike out there. I could ride it out but I don't want to have to ride it back home after working out, and I can't carry it back and forth on my motorcycle"
"I can help you get it out there," Jake offered. 
Together they loaded John's bike in Jakes truck and headed out to the old coliseum. Briefly, John remembered his parent's warnings about stranger danger, but Jake seemed like an ok guy. He hoped. What's the worst that could happen? He might steal his bicycle?
The coliseum was dirty and a bit run down, but the track was still in good shape. There were a few weeds and some grass growing up between the cracks, but it was passable. They took turns making a few laps around the track. They found a secure place to leave John's bike, and decided there wasn't really any need to lock it up.
"As soon as I get my own bike, we can ride around together," said Jake. "You don’t know anyone that has an old one they would sell do you?"
"The Harris Bike Shop down town may have some refurbished ones," said John. "Meanwhile, you can use mine in the mornings and I'll use it in the afternoon."
"Great. I'll check it out." He dropped John off at home and went on his way.
John grabbed a snack on his way to the garage to get his motorcycle and hid for the coliseum. He figured he had just enough time to ride his bicycle over to the area where D'Jonna's people were and explore a little. But, when he got to the coliseum, his bike wasn't in the room where they had left it. He looked all around, but it wasn't there. Maybe he had been mistaken about where they left it. After all, they looked at several of the rooms in the area before deciding on one. He spent an hour looking in every single possible place. It wasn't there.
"Idiot!" he shouted to the crumbling roof overhead. Clearly, Jake had headed back here immediately and taken it. Why buy one when this one was here for the taking? Thinking about it, it was Jake's idea that it didn’t need to be locked up.
He swore and jerked the handle of the door hard enough for the door to slam back and bounce off the wall and almost knock him over. "Well, that was smart," he said. "Now, the ceiling will probably fall on me. I deserve it for being so stupid." He slammed the door back against the wall again, but this time he was on the other side when it came bouncing back. Kicking trash out of his way as he went, he made his way back to where he parked his motor cycle. His luck, Jake probably came back to see what else he could find and took that too.
"Hey," said Jake.
John whirled around to see Jake rolling his bicycle back into the room they had decided on.
"Sorry," he continued. "Harry's place was closed when I got there and so I decided to come out and take another ride. I wouldn't have if I'd known you were coming back."
John felt his face heating up to the bright red of Christmas paper. "Oh, yeh," he stammered. "I decided to come back and take a ride myself. When I didn't find it I thought..." He let his voice trail off.
"I know. I mean, you only met me this morning. You thought I had come back and taken it. I understand. I am so sorry. You did say I could use it in the morning and you would use it in the afternoon until I could get one of my own. I am so sorry. I feel so bad."
"It's ok," said John. "No harm. I'll just use it tomorrow. Say around one o'clock on?"
"Sure," said Jake. "I'll be sure it's here for you. And, I'll see Harry first thing and see about getting one of my own. Maybe sometimes we can ride together. It will make the time go faster."
"Sure," said John. Terrific, now the guy is going to want to be a buddy. He was going to have to be careful.
"By the way, how come I didn't see your truck when I rode up?"
"I parked on the wrong side," said Jake. "I am terrible with directions. It's a wonder I didn't have to come get you to find the place again."
"You know," said John. "We should exchange phone numbers. That way we can contact each other and coordinate."
"Sure," said Jake. "What's your number?"
John gave him his number and Jake called him. "Got it," said John holding his phone up to show he had the number. "Well, I'm parked out front. I better get home. It's getting late."
"See ya," said Jake and went toward the other exit.
John blew air out of the corners of his mouth as he got on and started his motor cycle. This was getting complicated. He should have just ridden the bike out here and walked back. Fewer complications. Then he chuckled to himself. The one place he didn't look was on the track inside the coliseum. He could have saved himself a lot of frustration, high blood pressure, and evil thoughts if he'd just checked the track.