{"id":1141,"date":"2018-08-29T16:07:18","date_gmt":"2018-08-29T16:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonelkon.com\/?p=1141"},"modified":"2018-08-29T16:07:18","modified_gmt":"2018-08-29T16:07:18","slug":"pillion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/pillion\/","title":{"rendered":"PILLION"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another Short Story in the Nasty Little Things collection<\/em><\/p>\n

On the back of a motorbike you feel everything \u00a0and you are at the mercy of everything. Wind, road, speed, gravity. And in control of nothing.<\/p>\n

The spitterspots of rain like mist. The late evening traffic window-wiping their way up shiny streets<\/p>\n

Up Euston road, weaving through cars busses trucks. He\u2019s laughing, I can tell. It shakes his leather-clad back, swaying left and right past traffic as if as if he\u2019s trying to dislodge me. I want to share his delight but I\u2019m uneasy. I\u2019m trying to sync my balance with his, leaning as he leans, holding on to the passenger-handles at my side white-knuckled, wishing I could hold him around his waist with both arms, but I know if I did that I would crush his ribs.<\/p>\n

Does he know<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want this. I only agreed to see \u201cthis brilliant Hampstead gym\u201d because he\u2019s always so adamant and enthusiastic and demanding about everything. I could have taken a tube.<\/p>\n

Approaching Baker Street he accelerates and we jump the lights within inches of a Dentressangle. I can just hear his howl of triumph and joy.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re speeding up. He\u2019s showing off now.<\/p>\n

Through Regent\u2019s Park at way above legal speed, the Indian\u2019s engine roaring high-pitched and hysterical, like the war-cry of a madman.<\/p>\n

Fear. Maybe he does know.<\/p>\n

I lean into him \u201cSlow down! For God\u2019s sake!\u201d words whipped away by wind<\/p>\n

Through Camden as a blaze of swaying speed, our passing peppered by the anger of others, we must have broken every law, every speed camera gasps and surrenders, police cars shrug, report and continue on easier missions.<\/p>\n

He is howling with delight, man and Indian fused, a conspiracy of furious joy, if he would slow down even for a second I would bail out, leap for freedom, risk any injury<\/p>\n

Toward Parliament Hill<\/p>\n

Then up! Over the grass! Bucking, the Indian Bronco. Whooping.<\/p>\n

There is an oak tree. Like a sentinel near the top of the hill. He sees it, turns the bike in a slewing wild sudden move that throws me flying into this grass and heads straight at it.<\/p>\n

The sound was a roar and a bang like<\/p>\n

Then silence<\/p>\n

I stagger up to look<\/p>\n

He lies a few feet from the tree, his head hanging off his neck. Still with the motorcycle helmet on. The low hanging branch of the tree had nearly decapitated him. The Indian lies on its side, futtering.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cHe knew we were having an affair,\u201d she said. \u201cObsessed!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t even know that,\u201d I said. “But I suspected. I thought he was trying to kill me.”<\/p>\n

\u201cI miss him.\u201d She said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe too\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I love you\u201d I said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another Short Story in the Nasty Little Things collection On the back of a motorbike you feel everything \u00a0and you are at the mercy of everything. Wind, road, speed, gravity. And in control of nothing. The spitterspots of rain like…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-short-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1141"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1145,"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions\/1145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}