Monster on a Motorbike − 17 August, 1983
It was a summer day and my family lived just off a farm in Hellam, Pa. I was young and had the freedom that a Yamaha 60CC dirtbike gives an 11 year old. My parents told me that I was never to ride the bike when they weren't home or they'd sell the bike. I listened for a long time, but on this day, my buddy whose name I can't even remember, wanted me to join him in a bike ride.
Of course, I knew everything and knew that as long as I got back before 5 p.m., I'd be fine. We had a blast and rode everywhere, on farm land, on the road, it was so much fun. Until...
A local cop pulled up behind us and flashed his lights, I was almost tempted to run, but my parents told me to always respect a policeman. With this in mind, I pulled over to the side of the road. I knew that I was in deep shit, because I thought for sure the cop would tell my parents.
"What are your names boys?"
I said, "Tom." My buddy said something, probably his real name.
"Do you know you're not supposed to ride on these roads? Where are you going?"
"Um, sorry Officer we didn't know, we're going to (Some town 50 miles away)"
"Oh really, you're going there? It's gonna take you all day, it's 50 miles away from here"
"Oh, we didn't know"
This proceeded for about an hour, him fucking with us and us lying our asses off. Finally, I tried crying and pleading for him to let us go and said we'll go home and not ride on any more public roads.
I'm not sure what happened next, but he let us go. Oh my God was I relieved.
I pulled into my parent's garage at 4:45 p.m. I ran inside and cleaned the house and sat on the couch and started watching TV. My mom came home and was happy that I cleaned the house and otherwise she was quiet. I thought I got away with Dukes of Hazzard type shit.
My Dad came home and about 5 minutes later, my Mom called me up from the rec room and She said, "I thought we told you to never ride the bike when we weren't home?"
"Yeah"
"Why did you ride it?"
"I didn't"
My dad snapped, "Bullshit, don't lie!"
I thought really quick, "Maybe I didn't put it back exactly in the right spot." I said, "I just took it out in the driveway and was showing my friend.
He didn't believe me for a second and I knew it.
It was this day that I found out that any kind of vehicle remains warm after it's run all day and it also makes the garage smell like gasoline. I didn't realize this because I was used to it after riding all day.
The next week, my parents put my bike in the paper and it was sold in a day. The whole time I thought it was one of my dad's buddies that brought the moving truck. I pleaded with, promising I would never do it again. They stuck to their guns and sold it. I never had another dirt bike ever and it was my own damn fault.
Lessons learned:
1. If you're gonna lie, learn how to do it well or don't do it at all.
2. If you wanna enjoy life as a kid, just listen to Mom and Dad.
3. My Mom and Dad don't fuck around. Although I still tried several more times.
Sidenote: The cop that pulled my buddy and I over that day was my little league baseball coach the following year. The first thing he said to me, right in front of parents, was, "You look like a Tom, Brian."
I said, "hmm, weird, I've never heard that before." I still don't know if my dad knew him.
