Off the seat of a bicycle
Chapter 74  My friend Rick

Rick was a standard issue Texan. He was smarter than most guys and could think abstractly and we generally talked about ideas.

I met him by driving up to his house and saying hello. That’s how I meet most people … I just go up and say hello. I talk to anybody.

He came out of his garage real fast the first time, as if he had some good stuff he didn’t want anybody to steal. I was just stopping by to say hello.

We got to know each other after his house flooded. He got a couple inches of floodwater during a heavy rain, and I saw him pulling out carpet as I left for work the next day.

I yelled out, hey bub … I told him I couldn’t help him right then but would be over that night.
That night and the next several weeks I helped him repaint the entire inside of his house and lay tile in his entry and kitchen.

We used my tools and I let him use my contractor discount at the paint store, and I even called in a favor from some other guy to help lay the tile. Tile is hard work. Afterwards I helped him move his furniture back in from the garage.

I helped him re-do his entire house for nothing … and this is the same guy whose wife told me she would applaud in front of my house if it burned down.

Let me tell you about my friend.

Both his daughters drank and drove to his house. His one daughter was an full-out, can't trust her to run the microwave oven, alcoholic ..... and she drove drunk through the neighborhood and Rick never called and reported either daughter to the police. Rick thinks it’s okay to let members of his family endanger our community.

Rick complained to me after his daughter got a second DWI ... he said it cost him a lot of money to pay for her 6-month breathalyzer.

And when the police were again trying to force me off the road, my friend was the inside informer.

Yes he was, and it easy to figure.
I set off on a bike ride one day and saw Rick and his friend Dee sitting in the driveway drinking. I had a strong feeling neither wanted me to come up the drive, but I did anyway.
I pulled up a chair and after a short while, without any prior mention of bicycling, Dee said, ‘I always drive close to bicycles when I see them on the road.’ That’s an exact quote folks.

After his friend Dee declaring open assaultive behavior towards bicycles, Rick never said anything about it. Of course they were drunk., but what if Dee said, ‘I always drive close to old ladies?’ What if he said, ‘I always drive close to motorcycle policemen?’

I snapped back and told Dee that if he did that to me, I would throw a bat at his head, and then I made a gestural move as if I was flipping a bat up from my side. The fool was so drunk that he flinched out of the way of the imaginary bat … but I tell you something, if I did that to him on the road, the police would arrest me and pat him on the head.

Interesting however, this was the encounter where I figured out Rick was an informant ... which among my friends is not? None of them ride a bike.
As I turned to leave, I saw Rick quickly lean toward Dee as if to share a confidance ... I figured either he was an informant or he was having an affair with my wife ... not that I know for sure, but I affirmed he was an informant several ways.
First was my original logic ,,, he was a friend, we ate breakfast together each Saturday morning. Who else to betray you except your friend ... the person you 'least expect.'

But pay attention. Later Rick switched drinks at breakfast to match the same as me. People don't switch drinks. Not from coffee to diet coke ... no way.
Also I noticed him talking to me in casual manner while two men sat at the seats across from us. It was too obvious and made me mad.

After waiting a few more weeks, I decided to confront the dumb bastard. As we left McDonalds in my van, I told him I wanted to show him something.
I could feel him salavating that we were going out to the 'burial ground' where I laid all the bodies row by row ... he could hardly wait to be the important man stabbing me in the back.

We drove down the back road through the fairgrounds and at one point I stopped and said 'about here.' We got out of the van and walked out front.
I said something like, it was here where they shot at me 4 times. Two behind, two in front of me.
He asked, Who? I said the State Police. Then before he could respond, I asked, Did they tell you that? Then repeated the same thing again: Did they tell you that?
I wasn't expecting an answer because I already knew the answer. Instead I turned and got back into the van, and when he got in, I charged him again with the facts. I said, "They come to you and tell you I'm violent without one act of violence ever."
And then he affirmed, "Well they told me you were violent." He tailed off and we said nothing more about it. Fuck you, I see you clear as day.

The next week we went for breakfast, nothing said since the week before. On the way, I pointed toward a cluster of trees down a gravel road and said something about the shooting, then said 'right down there, two men and a boy.'
I could tell he'd been coached since last meeting. He didn't say anything, but he was searching for a word to tell me they weren't phased. Neither was I at this point, but as Suede Brown realized, I carry honor, won't go to the police, but am weak and have no plan. Yeah, the police held all the cards ... they always have. The tank will always run over the protester. The tank will always win.

This chapter is hopelessly unfinished....

Direct quotes from my friend, the taunting mf …
Bet you didn’t ride a bike in Indiana
Woulda lost in court anyway
The law of bulk
Dee rides a bike
What do you think, I have a microphone

Defender of assaultive and drunk driving
I waited for that mf just like I waited for james sb
In front of the walk-by line-up in katy
In front of the forensic psychiatrist
In front of Chad

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