The Ride - Chapter 12 Happy New Year 2008

[OMR]

Time stood still for about 10 seconds as the two Glens stared at each other. Our Glen was aware that he could hear the refrigerator kick on with a low hum and there was that persistent train’s whistle sounding low, soft and alone in the distance. The other Glen’s expression began to change from one of shock to a questioning and finally ended with anger… all in the space of 10 seconds. His hand flashed into his jacket and came out with an ugly looking stubby weapon. Our Glen stood rooted to the floor, unable to move. He knew for a certainty that he was going to be dead in the next 10 seconds. He could read all this in the angry dark eyes that stared back at him.

A loud explosion shook the living room and a hole suddenly appeared right above the left eye of Glen. He was blown back against the door jam. The eyes that had been full of anger went dull and blank as his body collapsed into a heap on the front step. Our Glen was still rooted to the floor. He could smell the cordite still hanging in the air, which reminded him of the time he spent on the firing range while in the Marine Corp.

That smell broke the spell. His Marine Corp training took over. All in one motion Glen dove to his right, grabbed the stubby pistol lying there and rolled up into a firing position, gun cocked, pointed and ready to deal out death. What he saw startled him. Sandy had come down the stairs and was standing on the 3rd step. She had the still smoking gun pointed at him now. Glen noticed that her crystal blue eyes were still red from crying. They were also wide and staring directly into his. Her eyes darted back to the body lying on the front steps and back to him. A questioning look began to take form on her beautiful face. Her blond hair was long and wet as though she had just stepped from a shower. Her robe, which was partly open, showed she had nothing on under it.

Glen quietly said,” I’m not who you think I am, Sandy” they stood there for perhaps another 15 seconds guns pointed at each other, until Glen slowly lowered his and stood up. Sandy continued to keep her gun pointed at Glen. “But…. I just shot you!” Sandy stammered pulling her robe together with her other hand.

That’s true for you… but, not for me.” Glen kept his voice low and quiet. He didn’t want to say or do anything that would cause a bad reaction from Sandy right now. Glen slowly backed away from her and sat in the big overstuffed leather chair. Although his had still held the stubby weapon, he had un-cocked it and rested it on his lap, with the barrel pointed away from Sandy. She slowly lowered her gun and came down the last few steps and took a seat on the couch facing the chair. She had never looked more beautiful.

Again, Glen said, “I’m not who you think I am”. This time her face relaxed and a slight smile crept into the corners of her mouth. “Oh yeah, Slowboy… you look a lot like the guy I married and go to bed with!”

At the mention of “Slowboy”, Glen’s face broke out into a smile and he said with a laugh, “Well that was me in another lifetime…. not this one.” Glen thought for a minute and then said, Oh what the hell, either she’ll believe me or not… and after pulling in the body lying in the doorway, he closed and locked the door, sat down and spent the next hour telling her about his ride.

During this time, Sandy said nothing. At first her lovely face was filled with disbelief which gradually turned into belief as Glen’s story unfolded. Only when he told her about the terrible SUV accident that had taken his Sandy’s life did she look away and when she returned her gaze, there were tears in the corners of her vivid blue eyes.

After he had finished, they sat there for a long time not saying anything. Sandy finally broke the silence. “Were you a nice guy in your world or an asshole like the one in mine? My Glen did some pretty terrible things not only to me but to others as well. He was not well liked… mostly feared. He was a mountain biker too. In fact, now that I think about it he seemed to change about 2 years ago… after a ride he went on. He had crashed. He came home all bloody and dirty. He kept saying that someone had touched him while he was riding and caused him to crash and he couldn’t remember much after that. I tried to find out more since it didn’t make much sense, but all he would do is look at me like I was another person. He became much harder to people. We had always made great love before… but then it was like he was raping me each time. I couldn’t seem to reach him. I finally stopped trying and just submitted to him. Then he started carrying a gun. He said it was for protection. I kept asking from whom? He wouldn’t answer. He started bringing home strange cars and storing them in the garage, then would sell them. I had the feeling that there were others involved as he had several riding buddies from his little STR club come over and store cars as well. I think their names were John and Gene. The others I didn’t know. We had stopped riding together by then. In fact we had stopped doing a lot of things together by then.”

Glen listened and said nothing until her voice trailed off. They both looked over at the body lying on the living room floor. “We’ll need to do something about that body”, Glen said. He couldn’t quite bring himself to call the other man Glen. Sandy seemed to reach a decision and quickly got up and ran up stairs and returned with a shower curtain in her hands. “Help me roll him on to this”, she said. They rolled the body onto the shower curtain, wrapped him up. Sandy returned with some rope and they proceeded to tie the other Glen into a neat package. Glen picked the package up and carried it into the garage.

By the time he had deposited the other Glen into the back of the car parked in the garage; Sandy had cleaned up the blood from the floor and was putting the rags in the trash. Glen took the rags out of the trash and put them in the back of the car with the body. They had to bury the body so deep no one would ever know that this Glen had left and another Glen had taken his place.

They were just finishing straightening up when a police cruiser pulled up in front of the house with the lights flashing. Two men got out and hurriedly came up the walk. Glen noticed that one had his right hand on the butt of his police revolver at his side. The door bell rang. Glen walked over and opened the door. He immediately recognized George. The other man, the one with his hand still on his weapon, he didn’t know. “Hi, George, what brings you out tonight?” Glen asked. George looked strangely at him and then at Sandy who had come to stand next to Glen. “We had reports of a gun shot coming possibly from this house. One of your neighbors called it in. Mind if we come in and look around sir?” Glen looked at Sandy and said, “Of course… come in, I can explain the gunshot.” Glen opened the door and both men stepped in, the other man’s hand was still on his weapon. “I was showing Sandy how to protect herself with a gun. You never know when you may have to protect yourself from criminals that break into your house or try and carjack you when you’re out and about” Glen tried to keep his voice nice and light… as though it was normal to shoot a gun off in your house.

The policeman named George asked if he had a permit for the weapon. Sandy immediately ran into the den and came back with the permit. George studied it at length and looked around. “Yeah, you can still smell the cordite in the air” he said. You need to be more careful with this sir.” Glen noticed that the other policeman had relaxed slightly and had taken his hand off his weapon.

I thought the safety was on, George. I really didn’t mean for Sandy to actually fire it.” Glen laughed as he said this. George looked at him curiously and said, “You know it’s the unloaded guns that kill people all the time…say, do I know you?” Glen quickly realized that that in this reality he and George were not riding buddies… nor did they rob bike shops together. Glen looked down and quickly said, “That’s the name on your name tag…right?” George studied his face for a full minute before replying. “Yeah, that’s my name… say…. do you ride a mountain bike?” Glen smiled in reply. “Sure do. I ride a 29er single speed most of the time these days, although I still like my soft squishy full suspension Intense. George smiled back. “That’s probably where I’ve seen you. I ride in the park all the time and also ride a 29er, although I’m not one of those crazy single speeders…. and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of an Intense. Where are they made?”

Glen realized that not everything was the same from one reality to the next. “They’re made someplace in California, I believe.” George seemed to think about this for a minute then turned on his heel and walked over to the door. “We’ve got other calls to make. Take care not to shoot yourselves… or anyone else… and perhaps we’ll run into each other on the trails….see ya”

As George closed the door behind him, Sandy slumped to the chair like a rag doll. “I never thought we’d pull that off…now what do we do with the body, Glen?” He realized that she had called him by his name. He relaxed to, suddenly bone tired. His watch said it was now close to 3 am in the morning. What a long day it had been… that strange mountain bike ride in the morning and a late night bike shop robbery late, a police chase then finding Sandy alive again and finally watching himself get shot. He should write a book about this, but who would believe it?

We’ll move the body tomorrow night when things have cooled down. I think I know the perfect place to bury him… it’s near a lighted trail…if I can find it. Sandy seemed to accept this and started up the stairs to the bedroom. When Glen didn’t immediately follow, she turned and stared long and hard at him. Her robe had come undone again. “Your place is now up there with me, Slowboy… think you can keep up?” Glen slowly smiled and followed her up the stairs. He felt like he was finally home again…everything was going to be alright. He could live in this reality. He had the most important thing in his life back…Sandy. He’d have to ask her tomorrow what he did for a living in this reality. Tomorrow he and Sandy would find a place in the park and bury the other Glen so deep the bugs wouldn’t ever find him. Strangely, he didn’t feel the least bit of remorse that the other Glen was dead. The guy had been a jerk…treating Sandy the way he did. He vowed never to let her cry because of him. He stopped thinking of everything else … Sandy was waiting…

It was only later that lying there after proving to her he was really no Slowboy, that he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He rose up on his arms and looked across the room. His brown plastic Boy Scout flashlight with the compass in the handle, the same one that he had lost somewhere in Utah, the one that he had again found on a single track in a wilderness park in California, the same one he had dropped when the policeman told him to freeze, the one he had left on the dresser by the bed …this very same one had began to glow.

[foofighter]

pefect! for a slow day at the office!

[genusmtbkr5]

Nice! Looking forward to the next chapters. Happy New Year to you and Nancy my friend.

[Red Hot Sloth]

Yeaaah!
Thanks for the read!!

[PacMan]

Greg--thanks for giving me a bit of a distraction here at work.

I appreciate your creativity and sharing this with us. Happy New Year my friend. I look forward to seeing how this turns out "next year".

[Pain Freak]

I've got an office full of people now reading this. They ask me all kinds of questions now about mountain biking. I really, really am enjoying this. Thanks a bunch Greg.

I've got a folder that I've printed all the pages and have them on my desk and someone is always taking it to read again.

[OMR]

Originally Posted by Pain Freak

I've got an office full of people now reading this. They ask me all kinds of questions now about mountain biking. I really, really am enjoying this. Thanks a bunch Greg.

I've got a folder that I've printed all the pages and have them on my desk and someone is always taking it to read again.

That would be soooo cool to turn someone on to mountain biking with The Ride.... made my day!

Happy New Year, Mike.

[KeepsWhatHappens]

This is getting really trippy. I want some of whatever you're taking!

KeepsWhatHappens

[sdyeti]

I am hooked!!