From 1954 to 1975 around 3 million military personnel served in-country in Vietnam. More than 58,000 U.S. military personnel died while serving. Approximately 850,000 are still alive today. This story contains a vignette about that era, a small homage to those vets who still remain. - QPQ77
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Thursday June 2nd, 11:30am
I was in the shop assembling the new bikes that had arrived late Wednesday. I must have been somewhat sleep-deprived, as it had taken me 3 hours to get two done. Ordinarily, I get them ready in about thirty minutes. I was having difficulty concentrating; memories of last night's events kept flooding my brain.
The sound of a woman's voice pulled me out of my reverie. It was Katie's voice coming from DreamKleen's restroom. Curious, I pulled a crate up next to the wall and stepped up, peeling the poster away from the vent so I could eavesdrop. With so much weird shit going on, I figured it couldn't hurt.
"Yes, Tiffany," she was saying. Tiffany was Katie's best friend from high school. "James is like totally hot. His body is ripped, and he can make me cum like a million times a night." Well, that was nice to hear. "He's totally in love with me, and as soon as I get his fucking bitch mother out of the way he'll marry me for sure. I'd already have a ring on my finger if it wasn't for her."
It appeared I was hearing Katie's true feelings now. Katie listened for a bit to whatever Tiffany was saying, and then responded. "No, are you crazy? I made a big show of cutting up my credit cards to fool him, but it was really my library card and a drug store discount card. He was so horny he believed me and never looked at the pieces. But no way would I leave myself without a credit card!"
I was halfway between shocked and angry. On the one hand, given she might lose the challenge I could certainly see her rationale. She had made me a promise, though, and then deceived me. I'd always believed in love at first sight - that's the way it was with me and Katie - but now it appeared I'd been so infatuated and obsessed with her I'd also been blind.
There was a pause while Katie listened to Tiffany, then she began, "I'm not worried though. His sister is so cool, and she..." The buzzer on DreamKleen's front door went off on and Maria called to Katie for help. Katie stopped suddenly said, "Well, shit. Gotta go, Tiff. Love you!" and she quickly left the bathroom to go take care of customers.
My head was spinning from the sleep deprivation and conflicting realities. Was she still my sweet angel, or was she something else? This was more information than I could deal with. Then I got an idea. Katie was working until 4, so no one was at her apartment. I told Roger I was going to run an errand, then jumped in my hatchback and drove over to her place.
Using my key, I entered Katie's apartment. Her computer was sitting on her desk. I turned it on and opened the browser right up, no password needed. So far, so good. Searching the history, I found what I was looking for - her credit card site. I clicked on "My Account", and it asked for email and a password.
I entered her email, and guessed at a password, 'Katie123'. No luck. I tried again, password 'Farmer123'. No luck. The system warned me I had 3 more tries before it locked me out. I thought hard, and entered 'DreamKleen1'. It flashed and told me this was an old password, changed in the last 3 days. Two more tries left. Hmmm.
OK, mentally swinging for the fences, out of desperation I typed 'DontTellJames'. The little hourglass icon on the screen spun, and then...jackpot! Her account page popped open and I clicked on transactions/balance tab.
I could not believe what I saw. Once Katie had shared with Maria how she had $11,000 in credit card debt, and this is the number Maria shared with Toni. The truth in front of me said that Katie's credit card balance was now $21,875.66! Without taking in to account her other expenses, that meant her debt was more in the neighborhood of $60,000!
I suddenly got a lump in my throat and swallowed. Looking at the transaction records, I saw the most recent transactions were on Tuesday, the day after she gave me what I thought were pieces of her cut-up credit card - there was $372.29 for some shoes and another $403.81 for a leather jacket. That was the same day I met her at the bar with a whole new outfit that she claimed my sister had loaned her!
My head was now throbbing, so I got up to look for some pain reliever in her bathroom's medicine cabinet. Opening the cabinet, I pulled out a bottle of aspirin and opened it. Taking two, I reached to put the aspirin back where I found it. My head still pounding, I clumsily knocked a plastic container to the floor from the cabinet. Bending down, I grabbed what I had dropped, then stared in disbelief at it.
The thing I picked up was a pink and white case, flat and circular. I opened it and saw room for 28 pills in a circle, and about half were missing. It was a birth control prescription! More shocking was the label on the inside of the lid. It was a prescription for Jennifer Rivers! What were my sister's birth control pills doing in my potential fiancée's medicine cabinet?
Quickly and quietly I closed the cabinet and put the pills in my pocket. This was all too much! To say I was stunned was putting it mildly. To clear my mind and wake up a bit, I decided to go out for a bite to eat. As I was leaving I logged out of Katie's credit card account and shut her computer down.
I drove over to the deli down the street for a tuna sandwich and a cup of coffee. It helped, but my brain was still a muddled mess. It looked like Momma had been right! All of a sudden, I needed to talk to the one person in my life besides my sister I could always count on when things got tough.
Thursday June 2nd, 1:00pm
I called Roger and told him I was taking a long lunch. He said things were slow, so it was cool if I just took the rest of the day off. I thanked him, and then drove over to Toni's house. Oddly, no one was home. I had assumed because of the challenge she'd pretty much be available whenever I wanted her this week. This was clearly NOT the case. I was feeling like a spoiled child being refused his favorite toy. I wanted her! I needed her! Where was she? I probably would have held my breath until I turned blue, if anyone was here who gave a shit.
I worshipped my sister Jennifer, but I didn't want to go to her house until I figured out what she was up to in this carnal chess game. Also, there was a possibility Claire might be there watching my two-year-old niece and nephew. I wasn't sure how I'd react being with her again, but I figured it might not be good for the twins to see their Uncle James feeling up Grandma's tits. (To be honest, the thought of doing that did summon up a boner for me.)
So no Toni, no Jennifer, there was only one thing left to do. I needed to ride. I loved riding, but never got around to buying a motorcycle. Instead, my friend Phat Dogg had a beat-up 1990 Sportster that he'd let me ride when I'd need to air out my head. Sometimes riding his two-wheeler really got me back in touch with myself. I headed over to Doggfather's, the tattoo and piercing shop he runs.
Phat Dogg's a good friend of mine. Although his name implies otherwise, he's actually a tall skinny dude in his early 30's with a body that's nothing but tattoos, muscle and bone; the dude's a serious-ass bicyclist. He and I are tight because I once set him up with a sweet racing bike.
One day Phat Dogg came in to the Country Pedaler asking about a custom bike; since I wanted some build experience, I offered to put one together for the wholesale cost of parts, $3000, and didn't charge him labor. (A similar bike from a manufacturer it would have run him minimum $7,500.) We've been bros ever since.
When I got to Doggfather's I parked, grabbed my helmet from out of the back of my car and went inside the shop. Phat Dogg was doing ink on some big guy's arm. He looked up and, seeing it was me, nodded and went back to his task. I grabbed the Sportster keys from the hook next to the cash register.
The Sportster started up on the first try and I poured the power on, heading west towards the foothills. When we were little kids, Toni used to take Jennifer and I up into the foothills to have picnics and play by the shores of Cherokee Lake. Fifteen years later it remained a place of calmness for me. Whenever I was upset, that's where I would go to think. As I rode up into the hills, the air turned cooler. It felt good, and my senses came alive.
As I pulled into the parking area, my blood suddenly ran cold. I was not alone. Across the parking lot I saw a late model Mercedes with the license plate "D WANE" sitting there. For crying out loud, WHY would he be up here in MY special place? Then it occurred to me who else's special place it might be. I could see there were two people moving inside the Mercedes. I quickly turned off the bike and took off my helmet. Walking the Sportster to the edge of the lot I parked it, hidden behind some bushes.
My fury towards Duane for trespassing on what I considered my personal property was being matched with my jealousy at the suspected identity of the other person in the car. I quietly approached from the rear passenger side and saw Duane and Toni making out like teenagers, kissing and groping. Her blouse was open in the front, no bra, and his cock was out. She appeared to be giving him a hand job as they kissed. They both jumped when I tapped on the glass.
They scrambled around inside trying to button up and cover like it had never happened. The passenger side window went down. Always one to take the offensive, Toni started in. "James! How dare you! Did you follow us here?"
I held up my hands palms out to silence Toni, and spoke to Duane. "Duane, did I not make it clear you should stay away from my mother?" He said nothing, just looked at the floor like a busted kid in the principal's office and nodded. It was probably just as well he kept his mouth shut. I looked at Toni. Her face was a flushed mixture of fear and joy; it was as if she was happy I caught her. I asked her in a low and menacing voice through gritted teeth, "Did you forget everything we talked about the other night?"
She saw an opportunity to spin her story, and went for it. "Now James, we weren't fucking. You know Duane and I are, um, fond of each other, and we were just demonstrating some affection when things got a little out of hand." She looked at me with wide innocent eyes, unblinking. "You know how that can be, right? How sometimes a little flame ignites a bigger fire, and you lose control of it?" She licked her lips seductively. "Let's talk later tonight, I promise make it up to you."
I stopped for a minute, stood up straight and took a deep breath. I looked across the parking lot where Phat Dogg's Sportster was waiting for me. Like the proverbial bolt out of the blue, an idea hit me. I leaned in towards the open window.
