"office supplies" mark

so my friend "office supplies" mark told me to bring the BAT-mobile over and he would take a look at it. i trusted his knowledge of fixing stuff since he had replaced my kitchen faucet for me. plus he owns every tool imaginable, including his very own metal engraver....whereas i own a screwdriver....yeah, i think that's a screwdriver in my watergun drawer at home. anyway, so i loaded the thing into the small backseat of my car, which clearly was not designed for moped transportation, held my breath in order to avoid inhaling the gasoline odor that was pouring out of the bike and headed to his house.

mark got out his tools, hammered this and hammered that, tightened this and tightened that, and just like that he had the thing running. "office supplies" mark, that mechanical genius. he started it up and took her for a spin. though upon seeing the bike for the first time mark was quick to scoff and toss smarmy laughter my way, as he hot-rodded through the neighborhood i caught him totally digging it. once he came back his kids were begging for a ride. he took each of his older sons for a ride and they too had the time of their lives. finally, amy, "office supplies" marks' wife, decided it was her turn so she hopped on the back and they wowed the neighbors with their two-person on one bike riding finesse. their youngest son, 18 months old, was upset at the obvious fun he was missing out on, so they loaded him on in front of mark while amy held onto him from behind mark. IMPRESSIVE! all they needed to do now was to zoom around inside a large metal ball while spectators ate nachos and mountain dew and we'd have ourselves a circus.

once they got back i decided it was my turn. i hopped on and cautiously cruised up the hill by their house, zipped around the block and with the wind blowing in my hair and my flip flops secured on the pedals, i coasted back to their driveway. i was pleased with the swiftness the BAT-mobile provided considering i was only going 30 mph. i stopped the bike, turned off the engine and told mark to show me again how he started it so i wouldn't look like a fool, any more than i already would, once i ventured out and about. as he put his foot on the kick-start and turned the throttle to start it, something snapped and the bike completely died. after a brief investigation mark identified that the throttle valve (whatever that is) had come unattached and the piece that connected the value was now missing. we searched the area for a bit and then realized it was a worthless cause.

i thanked "office supplies" mark for his help, told the boys i'd let them ride it again another time, loaded her back into my car and pondered the next move in leading me to my first summer on the moped.

more to come...