Life's To Do List

The second best place in the world to eat popcorn is the waiting room in the service department at Thunderbird Harley Davidson in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mickey, a young salesman, spoke into the phone respectfully to the widow of a man who died an untimely death the day before. I licked the salt and grease from my fingers and tossed the crumpled white bag with red stripes into the trash bin. Mickey and I walked unnoticed, past mechanics with sprawled motorcycle intestines in each bay. Way back in the back, across from the chain link fence stood the dead mans bike. He had it shipped from Barnett's in El Paso. The only available olive green and black Nightster in the Southwest. Never ridden. I wondered how far down "Own a Harley" was on the dead man's list of Things To Do Before I Die. If he had known it was positioned just after, Die of a Heart Attack, I bet he would have moved buying the Harley up the list a little bit.

Batman

Batman Pancakes at the Frontier Restaurant on Central somewhere between the twilight's. The life map had a big X smudged with melted lipstick marking the spot. It's the kind of place where epiphanies rain down like spilled marbles racing for the gutter. As you pass the savant on the sidewalk practicing his favorite Tae Kwon Do moves, the florescent light inside reaches out like a savior. Radiation bathes your soul. No matter what you order, it looks like it has cancer. One wonders if it would have been wiser to wander the airport until the food court opened. Danielle breezed off to Canada to visit her new husband and to star in a horror movie. After three cups of warm black water with white sugar, Batman appeared. It was a sign as good as any sign you may have read about. Back out in the street an exchange of smiles glancing through the glare of the downtown night sky. Pulling away from the curb, Johnny Cash sang about being a sinner all the way through the best squealing u-turn the rental car had to offer. 60 and rising in a 35. Sucking the wine right out of the vine.....