After gassing up, Alissa inspected the bike from end to end, swung a leg over it, and simply sat there for several more moments before she put her helmet on, inserted the key, and started the engine.
Revving it lightly a few times, she listened to the idle between twists of the throttle, shrugged her backpack straight, kicked the stand up, and put the bike in gear.
Thirty minutes of low-speed cruising later, Alissa turned left onto Northcliffe and I zipped ahead to the house, where I took a seat on the trunk of my car and sipped my coffee as I waited for her.
When Alissa arrived, she parked the bike on the sidewalk at the bottom of my driveway, took off her backpack and set it on the ground, hung her helmet on the sissy bar, and just sat on the bike looking at me.
I slid off my car and went to stand by the bike as she said, “Sorry to keep you waiting so long."
"No problem. It's only been a couple of hours and I kind of figured you'd take a scenic route this trip."
She nodded. “Yeah, I took the long way. Left you some gas, though.” Sighing, Alissa swung herself off the bike, picked up her backpack, shrugged, and gestured at the bike as she said, “Well, here it is. Want to check it over first?"
Shaking my head, I replied, “Nah. Looks good from here and you didn't have any reservations about taking a long last ride on it. Let's go inside. Will a check do?"
As we headed up the walk, she replied, “Sure. I'll cash it before we leave or run it through my mom's account up there. We'll be staying with my parents for a while."
I let us in and Tiger greeted us at the door, then we moved to the kitchen, where I tossed my checkbook on the table and offered Alissa a cup of coffee as Tiger hopped into her lap. She looked up from petting him and nodded. “Thanks."
After serving up some coffee, I sat down and wrote a check for two thousand as Alissa produced the title to the bike and a couple of bike-related books from her pack, then sighingly signed the title and dropped two keys on the books.
I stopped in the midst of tearing the check out of the book and said, “I want to say some things at the risk of offending you, milady. You don't want to sell the Vulcan. You don't want to leave Florida. You didn't want to leave your job. You don't want to go to back to Michigan."
Alissa's gaze narrowed slightly as I continued, “You've given up one hell of a lot for a guy who can't seem to get over the fact that you stayed one night on my couch. He brought it up this evening when I landed."
Her narrow gaze turned into a glower.
Sitting back on the sofa chair, I said, “Dan doesn't trust me, and that's understandable, but apparently he doesn't trust you either. Times are hard for you two right now, and when times are hard, it takes faith in each other to get through them."
After a silent moment, Alissa said quietly, “You seem to think Dan and I are heading for the rocks. Why are you telling me all this?"
"So you'll know why I'm going to make you a promise, Alissa. I know you love that bike. Consider this two thousand a loan against it. If you happen to come back to Florida, I'll sell it back to you. If you can't cough up the money conveniently, we'll work out some kind of payments.” Pausing to sip coffee, I added, “And if you need a place to stay while you start a new life, we'll clean out the spare bedroom."
She eyed me for a time, then said, “Dan and I have been married almost ten years, Ed. We've already weathered some pretty hard times."
Shaking my head, I said, “Not like these. Something set you off in Ybor, Alissa. You walked eight miles in hard-soled pumps and sat crying in an alley with mangled feet. Everything's gone wrong between you and Dan since then. I just want you to know there's a room available if you can't fix things."
Sipping her coffee in silence for a time, Alissa studied the check, folded it using only one hand on the surface of the coffee table, and tucked it into her blouse pocket before she looked at me intently.
"Why, Ed?” she asked quietly. “It was one thing to pick me up and dust me off that night in Ybor and let me flop on your couch. It was a nice thing to do, but it wasn't on a par with sharing your home."
I chuckled, “I guess that depends on what you call ‘par'. To put it bluntly, ma'am, I think you're about three to six months from a divorce. If it happens, you may want a place to hole up for a while and reorganize; a place where friends and family can't badger you with unwanted sympathy and try to set you up with blind dates. What'll it cost me to let you stay here? Just put some gas in whichever vehicle you use."
She regarded me for a moment, then asked, “Why do you want that old bike at all? You have that flying board ... thing."
"You need two thousand. I can spare it and I like motorcycles well enough to have one as a pet for a while."
"For a while?"
Grinning, I said, “Until you get back from Michigan."
Rolling her eyes, Alissa asked, “And if I don't ‘get back'?"
"Then I'll either keep it or find it a home someday. Maybe I'll even keep it long enough to make your life vastly inconvenient by leaving it to you in my will. With orders to pick it up in person, of course."
Alissa laughed and asked rather uncertainly, “You can't really stipulate things like that, can you? Besides, what if I couldn't come down here for it?"
"You'd come for it. The alternative would be too horrible."
Laughing, she asked, “The alternative?"
"Yup. Friend Sharon doesn't ride. It would sit unused on a car port under a tarp. The battery would go dead, the oil would turn into sludge, the tires would go flat and crack, rust would set in, the gas would dry out and leave varnish in the..."
She waved both hands frantically in a ‘stop! stop!’ gesture and yelped, “No! No! I get the picture! I'd come for it!"
Nodding firmly, I replied, “Thought you might."
Tiger had been quietly watching, listening, and soaking up Alissa's unthinking attentions as we'd talked. He roused from her lap, stepped to the coffee table, and sat down facing her.
"You are really going away?” he asked.
Alissa reached to pet him and replied, “Yes, Tiger. Dan and I are moving to Michigan. Do you know where that is?"
"No. It must be far away if you won't take your...” we heard his cat sound, but it seemed to take the flitter a moment to translate it to “...motorcycle."
Biting her lip and sounding a bit choked, Alissa softly replied, “Yes, it is far away, Tiger. Thousands of miles away."
Studying her for a moment, Tiger looked at me and asked, “Can we go visit Alissa in ... in..."
"Michigan,” I finished for him, “Sure we can, but only if she wants us to. Dan might not like the idea."
In all innocence, he asked, “Why?"
Alissa stifled a soft, sobbing laugh and gathered Tiger off the table and into her lap for a hug.
She petted him vigorously as she cooed, “Of course you can come visit me, Tiger! I'd love it if you came to visit me!"
Tiger glowed with contentment under her hands until she reached quickly for her purse and rooted in it. I handed her one of my paper-towel hankies.
Alissa almost snatched it from my hand, dabbed her eyes and nose briefly, then excused herself as she set Tiger on a chair and got up to hurry toward the bathroom. I didn't hear the door close, so I figured she'd just gone for more tissues.
When Tiger looked curiously at me, I said, “She's just very happy that you like her so much and that you want to come visit her later."
He looked toward the hallway to the bathroom and stated rather definitively, “Good-very-good. Alissa is very nice, Ed."
Chapter Fifty-four
Because it was nearly ten-thirty, it seemed likely to me that Alissa would want to head home soon, so I picked up the keys, grabbed a small toolkit, and went to the screen porch to make sure there was room for the bike.
After shuffling some things around, I propped the screen door open, opened the yard gate, and went out front to the bike. It occurred to me that I could issue Alissa
a flying board, but it also occurred to me how very poorly—and suspiciously—Dan would view such a gift from me.
For that matter, both Alissa and Dan might come to believe that I'd given her a board to speed their breakup along. Nope. I wouldn't volunteer to be the bad guy. Let them find their own path to a divorce. If she showed up later, I could give her a board then.
As I was removing the bike's license plate, Alissa walked out the front door carrying Tiger in her arms and came down the driveway to join me, saying, “I hope it's okay that I brought Tiger out to see the bike. He said he's allowed to go outside."
Nodding, I said, “No problem. The little hustler has his own door in the garage. He just wanted you to hold him."
Looking down at Tiger, she smilingly asked, “Is that true?"
Tiger rubbed her chin with his head and replied, “Yes."
She ruffled his chin and grinned. I handed her the license plate, then swung a leg over the bike and put the key in the ignition. Tiger watched with apparent interest as I raised the kickstand and thumbed the starter button.
When the bike started, I toed the shift bar into first gear and put the bike in motion, then turned it sharply to aim it between my car and a tree to head for the fence gate. Once through the gate, I guided the bike around the house and eased it through the yard-wide screen door of the back porch.
Alissa and Tiger came to stand beyond the door as I turned off the bike, put the gas lever in the ‘off’ position, and got off the bike to join them outside and close the screen door.
"You aren't going to put it in the garage?"
"No room,” I answered, “I'll throw a tarp over it and make room for it in the garage tomorrow. Want another coffee?"
Shaking her head, she said, “No, thanks. I've been away too long already. Dan will worry."
Closing the gate behind her, I tried to sound innocent as I asked, “After all the years you've been riding?"
She didn't answer. I slapped the gate latch down and turned to see her eyeing me with a droll expression.
"Oh,” I grunted. “Well. Tiger, are you coming with us?"
He looked up at Alissa and asked, “Is there still a dog?"
Looking properly apologetic, she answered, “I'm afraid so, Tiger. Sorry."
Tiger looked at me and said, “Then I will stay here."
"Okay. Flitter, come on down, please."
When the flitter arrived, Alissa put Tiger down and I handed her aboard. A few moments later we settled into her driveway. The garage door was closed and all inside lights were off except the light over the kitchen sink. Dan was nowhere in sight, but the hairs on my neck and arms stood up with the sensation of being watched.
Anticipating the answer, I asked, “Flitter, where's Dan?"
"He's in the front bedroom."
Alissa glanced at that room's darkened window as I asked, “Is he asleep?"
"No. He is watching us from a bedroom window."
"Show that room's window on your console, please."
The window appeared and I touched the most likely area as I said, “Zoom that region, please."
The screen was instantly filled with only the spot I'd touched. A small motion of the hanging curtains made me touch that spot and say, “Zoom here, please."
All we saw was a slight parting of the curtain from the wall and the tip of a finger that widened the opening a bit. One eye was barely visible in the opening.
Alissa glanced at that window again without turning away from the screen. Her expression became angry. Switching her glare to me, Alissa grabbed my face in her hands and stood on tiptoe to kiss me firmly, then stepped off the flitter.
She growled, “You just had to show me that, didn't you?"
"Sorry, but I really wasn't thinking about you. I felt as if we were being watched, so I checked it out."
Angrily meeting my gaze for a moment, she said, “Well, now you know, don't you?"
"Correction,” I replied, “Now ‘we’ know. And as nice as it was, kissing me like that probably wasn't a good idea."
Alissa snapped, “I couldn't reach far enough to poke him in the eye. Take care of my bike, Ed. Don't fuck it up."
Giving her a mock salute, I answered, “Yes, milady! As you say, milady. It'll be waiting for you. Oh, by the way, milady, may I make a parting comment?"
Her eyebrow went up. She snapped, “Yeah. Sure."
"Thank you. I believe it was Erica Jong who said, ‘You see a lot of smart men with dumb women, but you don't see very many smart women with dumb men'. Or something like that."
She opened her mouth as if to say something else, then shook her head and waved at me as she headed for the house at a march step.
I told the flitter to take us up to a thousand feet and hung around for a while on general principles, but when Alissa didn't reappear in the yard and nothing came crashing through any of the windows for fifteen minutes or so, I headed home.
After locating my big green tarp in the garage, I took it to the screen porch and draped it over the Vulcan. Tiger came to supervise the operation, hopping onto a work bench to watch.
"Will Alissa really come back?” he asked.
"I think so. I don't know how soon, but I think so."
"Will she stay with us?"
Tying a tarp corner down, I said, “Don't know. Maybe."
He was silent for a time, then he asked, “Can we go to visit her in ... in..."
"Michigan. Mish-ee-gan. That's a state, Tiger."
'Damn,’ I thought, ‘Now I'll probably have to explain what a state is.'
Sure enough, Tiger asked, “What's a state?"
"Well, it's a big piece of land that a lot of people think they own, so they give it a name. Like Florida. Florida's a state, too."
"People only think they own it?"
"Yeah. This sandbox they call Florida was here before people appeared on Earth and it'll probably be here after people are gone. All people do is draw lines all over places so they can charge each other for living here. I'll show you a map later."
Another moment passed as Tiger's collar softly translated my words, then Tiger said, “Okay. I would like to see a map."
As I finished tying the tarp, Tiger asked, “Are you sure Alissa will come back?"
Heading back into the house to get my coffee and sit at the kitchen table, I said, “Tiger, we can't be absolutely sure, but I think so."
Sounding like a small child, he asked, “Why?"
I sipped coffee and assembled some words in a manner I thought would help him understand my view of things.
"They're having problems, Tiger. Personal problems. Dan lost his job six months ago. He sat on his ass for the first couple of months, apparently thinking that people he knew would help him find another job. They tried to help, but he was too picky. After that, he spent a couple of months running around looking for a job on his own, but his ego wouldn't let him take one that wasn't the same as his old job or that was worth less money. Then he started talking about how he'd have had a job within a week if they lived in a ‘real’ city."
Sipping again as Tiger's translator whispered to him, I said, “It's only thirty minutes to Tampa on the Expressway, so that excuse was bullshit. Whatever Dan did that set Alissa off in Ybor the first time I brought her home was a turning point in their relationship. Maybe he was getting tired of her or tired of being married. Or maybe just tired of things as they were. Whatever, he did something—I don't know what—that apparently ruined their relationship, although neither of them is quite ready to admit it's over."
I gave Tiger's collar a few moments to catch up, then said, “And now they're going to go live with Alissa's parents for a while. Dan won't be able to handle that very long. They'll either move out at what looks like the first opportunity or break up from the strain."
After another pause and a sip, I said, “Alissa knew months ago that they'd probably lose their house and have to move. She could have gotten more money for her bike if she'd used that ti
me to find someone else to buy it, but she waited until the last minute and called me. I think that means she'll want it back later because I know how much she enjoyed living in Florida and hated Detroit and Michigan winters."
Tiger listened to his collar and digested matters, then said something in cat. Elkor appeared on the coffee table beside him and they held a brief conference, then Elkor faced me and said, “I believe you may be correct, but more data would be required to reach a definitive conclusion."
"It's mostly an emotional thing, Elkor. We'll just ask Alissa if she comes back from Michigan."
Tiger said, “You no longer sound certain."
"I never was, Tiger. I just think that's what'll happen. I don't necessarily believe it will. They may find a way to get over whatever Dan did and the months of trouble it caused, in which case they'd stay together. Or they may split up and Alissa may decide to move to some other part of Florida that doesn't contain memories of Dan."
Reaching to pat Tiger, I added, “Don't worry about it. She said we could visit her. Do you still want to see a map?"
Standing up, Tiger answered, “Yes!” so I called up a screen and showed him a map of the USA. He studied the display for a few moments, then sat down and studied it some more, as if something didn't quite make sense to him.
"Florida is here,” I said, putting a finger on the state, then I touched Michigan and said, “Michigan is here.” To give him a point of reference he'd visited in the northern US, I pointed to Carrington, North Dakota and said, “And here's Carrington."
He brightened considerably when I tossed in the reference to Carrington. Peering intently at the display, he said, “Okay. Now I understand,” and sat down.
"Um. Okay. What is it you understand, Tiger?"
Looking up at me, he said, “Carrington is very far from home, so Michigan is also very far from home."
Ruffling his chin, I agreed. “You're right. Both places are very far from home."
3rd World Products, Inc. Book 7 Page 31