by Jerry Guarino
red wine
Jack and
Jill pedaled up the hill in the bright sunshine of a Washington State morning.
“Sweetheart. I’m getting too old for these climbs.”
“I know
Jack. My knee is starting to ache. But I love our bike time.”
“Maybe it’s
time to get one of those electric bikes.”
They
ordered two eBikes from California, backordered because of the demand. After a few weeks, Jack opened an email to
say the delivery was on its way.
“Jill, the
bikes are leaving California today. They
should arrive on Friday.”
“I can’t
wait!”
Meanwhile,
Tim the delivery driver was winding his way up from the central coast towards
Seattle. Tim loved his job, often
stopping along the way to get local treats and generally smelling the roses. He was not a type A driver. Although he was only 19, he had the soul of a
1960s hippie.
His first
stop was in San Francisco, delivering some tie dye fabrics for a small clothing
boutique in Haight Ashbury.
The owner
opened the box right away. “Oh, these
are just perfect. We can make more
t-shirts for the farmer’s market this weekend.”
Tim was intrigued. “Do you have any shirts done?”
“Of course,
take a look in our shop.”
Tim browsed
the display of colorful shirts, some with peace symbols and some with
words. He finally settled on a blue,
orange and green shirt with the words ‘take
it easy’ on the back. He put it on
over his uniform shirt.
Back on the
road, his next delivery was in Berkeley, home of the University of California
and peaceful protests that hadn’t completely finished from 1969. Easing down Channing Way, he pulled into the
Solar Car Wash (yes, that’s right).
Opening up
the back door, he pulled out two large boxes of solar panels and handed them to
the owner.
“Say, how
does this work?”
“The solar
panels store electricity and power the car wash brushes.”
“What
happens if it’s cloudy?”
“Well, then
it’s hand washing until the batteries are full again. Say, your truck looks like it could use a
cleaning. Half price for delivery
trucks.”
Tim smiled. “All right, but make it quick, I have to get
going.”
The truck
was all lathered up and moving through the wash cycle when the system shut
down. Tim’s truck was locked in the
middle of the machine; he tried to see out of the soap covered windshield.
“Uh Oh.”
“Hello? The wash stopped.”
“Don’t
worry, my friend. The backup generator
should kick in any moment.”
An hour
later, the car wash started up, the soap having dried onto the delivery truck
and Tim came out the other side.
The owner
apologized. “I’m so sorry. No charge.
Take it easy.”
“No
worries, but I have to get going.”
Driving up
University Avenue, he saw a group of women offering car washes.
“Might as
well get this dry soap off. My truck
looks like a pop art experiment. What
are you raising money for?”
A pretty
co-ed in cut off jeans came up. “We’re
donating money to the shelters in town.
There’s a lot of homeless in Berkeley.”
“I
see. We’ll, here’s $10.”
Tim thought
to himself. I should have gone to college.
The Cal
sorority girls did a quick, but thorough job cleaning the truck and Tim was
back on the road towards Oregon. He came
to a fork, either 101 North, the coastal route or I-5, the faster
interstate. Tim took the slower road
along the coast. That may have been a
mistake.
By the time
he reached Eureka, he was exhausted and hungry.
He decided to eat, stay at a motel and get an early start in the
morning. He overslept. It was 10:00am when he woke up. He grabbed a fast food order from a drive
thru and started driving, knowing he couldn’t make up the time by speeding.
“I should
have taken route 5. It’s mid-day
Thursday and I’m not even in Oregon yet.”
Meanwhile,
Jack was checking the status of his bikes.
“Still says Friday by the end of the day Jill.”
“Great, it
will be perfect weather for a ride.”
It was
Thursday night, when Tim arrived in Troutdale, Oregon, a small town outside of
Portland. He parked his truck to get
dinner at a local diner.
Inside, he
ordered a burger. A pretty waitress
brought it to him. Her name tag said
Heather. She wore bell bottom jeans, a
red Danskin top and flip flops. Her hair
was long and straight. All she needed
was flowers in her hair to complete his fantasy.
“Would you
like anything else? We’re about to
close.”
“Where’s a
motel?”
“I can show
you. Let me close your tab and get my
things.”
Tim was
starting to get excited. Maybe this is
the beginning of something.
Heather
took Tim to her apartment, a two bedroom she shared with a girlfriend.
“Sit down,
would you like some wine?”
“Sure.”
Heather
brought a bottle. They shared it, along
with some pot. Tim was totally relaxed
as was Heather. They made love. Heather brought out two brownies.
“Here, try
these Tim.”
They both
ate the brownies, hungry from the wine, pot and making love. What Tim didn’t know was the brownies had LSD
in them.
It was
Sunday before Tim left, but he didn’t mind.
He had spent days with his fantasy flower girl and the best love he had
ever had. She kissed him goodbye.
“Hope to
see you again Tim.”
He stayed
the night. He could get up early to
deliver the bikes to Washington, only a few hours north.
Jill got an
email from the shipping company. The
delivery date now says by the end of the day Monday. “Jack, the bikes won’t be here until Monday.”
“Man,
that’s disappointing. Three days
late. What happened?”
“It doesn’t
say.”
“Take it
easy, dear. We’ll have plenty of time to
ride.”
***
Tim pulled
onto his final stop to deliver the eBikes for Jack and Jill. They came out, a little perturbed.
“Finally,
we thought these were coming on Friday.”
“I’m sorry
guys. You wouldn’t believe that
disasters that I had to go through to get these to you.”
Tim left for
California. Jack and Jill started to
unpack the bikes and began the assembly, following a video provided by the
company. They had almost finished the
bikes when they came to the last step: attach
the seat and secure it.
“Where are
the seats dear?”
“Check the
boxes.”
“I did,
they’re not here.”
Tim
returned to Troutdale to rendezvous with his new lover Heather. After another day of bliss, he had to return
to the bike company in California.
***
“Tim, where
have you been?”
“Why, I
just took my days off in Oregon, seeing the sites.”
“A customer in Washington said
you didn’t deliver the bike seats. We
had to fly them up overnight. Cost us
$100. We’re docking that from your pay
check.”
Tim checked
the back of his truck. Under some
packing blankets, there they were, two eBike seats.
“Guys, I’ve
decided to go back to school. There’s a
nice junior college in Oregon.”
***
Tim settled
into a nice college life with Heather.
Jack and
Jill could finally go up the hills again.
About the author
Jerry
Guarino’s short stories have been published by dozens of magazines
in the United States, Canada, Australia and Great Britain. His latest
book, "Café Stories: west coast stories", is available on Amazon.com
and as a Kindle eBook. Please visit his website at http://cafestories.net
