chapter 13

chapter 13 – wherein the ominous

outweighs the auspicious

Jack stared at the SIDI cleat bag full of coffee beans left behind by G-Pickle. It seemed too good to be true, but there was no doubt that G-Pickle had saved Jack hours and hours of searching the streets of Iowa City for the lost bag of beans. Jack might not have found them before his eleven o’clock ride with Brendan left for Denver or Jack might never have found them at all.
Movement outside the window caught Jack’s eye and he quickly looked up to see that his bicycle was gone. Jack shoved the beans in his pocket and sprang from his chair. He dashed out of the Hy-Vee deli just in time to find Bart, one of the beater brigade riders from the night before, trying to hang Jack’s bike by the saddle from a tree on the edge of the parking lot.

“Hey, what’s the big idea!” yelled Jack.
“Hello mate,” said Bart in a semi-Australian accent that quickly switched back to regular flat Midwestern English. “I was on my way to an early morning rugby workout and saw your bike here. I thought I’d just have a little fun, but no harm done. Here you go,” and he handed Jack’s bike back. With a quick smile Bart added, “Well, gotta go. See you later,” and Jack was left alone in the parking lot.

It was still early in the morning and now Jack found himself with a few hours of spare time before he would have to arrive at Brendan’s and catch his ride to Denver. With a carefree turn of the pedals Jack coasted out of the parking lot and up toward the Old Capital. He found his way easily and then on a whim took a detour down to a park near campus along the Iowa River.

A fresh cool breeze was blowing in from across the river. Jack leaned his bike against a tree and sat down on a nice park bench. For once, Jack wasn’t in a hurry. He could sit and watch everyone else rush around for a change.
Suddenly, a big splash caught Jack’s attention and then he heard a growling sort of laughter. “Ahhahahahahahhahahah.” He looked to his right and was surprised to see Dog Bait and Sluggo up so early. They had only one beater bike between the two of them but this made sense as soon as Sluggo waded into the river and pulled a second beater bike from the muddy water.

While Sluggo let most of the water drain from his bike, Dog Bait rode away from the riverbank for a few hundred feet and then turned and sprinted back toward the riverbank like a runaway missile. At the last possible moment, Dog Bait bailed off of the back of the bike, sending it rattling and clattering on its own until it sailed off of the edge of the bank and into the river. There was a tremendous splash and more laughter. Then Dog Bait waded into the river and dragged his bike back out while Sluggo prepared for another launch into the muddy Iowa River.

Over and over again they sent their bikes ghost riding off the bank and into the river. Finally, one of Dog Bait’s launches happened to be a little less stable than the rest and the bike did a funny twist and bounce before vaulting into the murky water.
Sluggo congratulated Dog Bait and awarded him some style points for the maneuver while Dog Bait plunged into the river to pull his bike back out. From Jack’s viewpoint, he could see that Dog Bait wasn’t going to find his bike where he was wading. Most of the other launches had landed where Dog Bait was now, but this particular launch had put the bike a few feet further out and a few feet downstream where the water was at its muddiest. Jack could see that the bike had actually gone underwater on a line directly between the park bench where he sat and a light pole on the opposite bank.

Meanwhile, as Dog Bait continued to thrash about in the muddy water and Sluggo shouted a mixture of insults and search suggestions from the bank, a small crowd began to gather.

to be continued...
[a serial by little orphan dbax]