Thank You (to the Man with No Name)

A Story For Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving.

By Rocky Brown

As a young man, Infamous had very few dreams I guess you could say He was simple. His dreams were simple. Infamous wanted to marry a beautiful woman, have a wonderful small town family become famous and own a Harley Davidson! A Shovelhead Superglide to be exact. So the first chance Infamous had, he went and bought the most beat up worn out Harley Davidson he could find. Well, that’s all infamous could afford at the time and he couldnt really afford it then, either, but Infamous was willing to make sacrifices to own a Harley Davidson. After all, we have to sacrifice for our dreams.

About a year goes by and all Infamous has done has about riding  this worn out Harley was work on it about every day or so it seemed.  Through rain or shine, Infamous wanted the oldschool respect of real bikers and so he decides he needs to take a real road trip on his horse.  It was the only way he would get real respect as a road warrior.

One weekend, Infamous tunes his old three color Harley Davidson up and hits the road.  It was just a 4 hour trip to another state, and he carried with him only his map tools and essentials to life. You know, all your leather gear, a pack of smokes a slim jim and a soda. Well, not two blocks from the house the engine starts making funny noises. Oh no, groans Infamous to himself, the road gremlins have already struck! Infamous pulls over.  After fooling around with the machine a bit, he thinks, aha!  It’s an easy fix.   I’m a moron and didn’t get a spark plug wire all the way back on.  He secures his wire and breathes an sigh of relief when it fires right up back and he’s back on the road.  He zooms along, smilin’ ear to ear proudly wearing the boll weevil bugs in his teeth as he rides between two cotton fields.  Infamous smiles even bigger, as he muses that boll weevil’s taste a little sweet.

As Infamous crosses the state line, the sun starts to set over a beautiful mid western horizon and Infamous thinks to himself,  this is it.   I’m finally a biker this is what it’s all about. Well, somewhere between evil road gremlins and Infamous telling himself he was a big bad biker, Infamous made to classic mistakes.  Number one, he missed his turn and number two, he forgot to fill up in the last town he was in! So before long, he was lost on the side of the road out of gas. And again Infamous thinks to himself this is what it’s really about.

Not to be discouraged, he chuckles to himself a little, smokes a cigarette and starts pushing once the last of  the reserve tank runs out.  He seen a sign that said Holiday, Texas 8 miles. The sun was almost down and no one wants to be stuck in the dark pushing a motorcycle. After a few rests and cigarettes,  another sign thankfully announces, Holiday Texas 3 miles.  Woo hoo!  Almost there!  It was time for a good, long break. While sitting on the side of the road, Infamous hears another Harley in the distance. It’s like music to his ears. It’s just common courtesy for bikers to pull over and help other bikers on the side of the road, especially if they are pushin’ their bike.

Infamous couldn’t believe what happened next.   The other Harley rode right by!  As far as he could tell, the rider didn’t even bat an eye. Well, this kinda disturbed Infamous.  He couldn’t believe a fellow biker had just passed him right up.  If that’s the way it was, there wasn’t much that could be done about it.  There was no time to dawdle. The sun was down and the only choice left was to push well into the horizon.

He hadn’t gotten very far when Infamous see’s the lights of a moving van all light up yellow.  Having  no Idea that this would be his saviour, Infamous keeps on trudging.  The van passes, turns around pulls up.  The driver asks if he can help.  Infamous has never been happier to see someone.  He answers, “that would be great! I’m just out of gas. I will give you some money to pick me up some gas but I’m not leaving my motorcycle on the side of the road.”

The man replies, “no problem.  You can pay me when I come back.  Do you need a gas can?”  Infamous said, “yes please that would be great!”

The man left. Infamous sat and sat and waited and waited, his uncertainties grinding around in his head. He tells himself, if this guy doesnt come back this will be time wasted, just stting on the side of the road this way, so the pushing began once more.  Miraculously, he hadn’t gotten very far before those yellow moving van lights appeared once again in the horizon.  Thank God! Infamous tell himself. The van again circles around behind Infamous.  A small man with little pop bottle glasses gets out with a full gas can in his hand. Infamous pulls a 20 dollar bill out of his pocket promptly.  He’s more than happy to pay that much for a gallon of gas and a gas can. The man waves it aside. “We’ll worry about that in a minute. I want to make sure she starts for you.”  The man then confides  to Infamous that he had an old worn out Harley just like his!

Infamous fills up the tank and cranks the machine right up.  The man smiles from ear to ear like he had meant to be at that exact place in time as Infamous for the specific reason of helping him.  Wishing him a good evening, he walks off without even telling infamous his name. Infamous followed the man to his truck, still holding out the 20 dollar bill, which the good Samaritan continued to ignore.  Without a backward glance,  the man got in his van and drove away!

Infamous, whose belief in road side manners had gotten rather shaky when a fellow biker snubbed him got completely filled buck up with faith for mankind all over again.  He climbed on his Harley and rode into Holiday, Texas to fuel up his bike. Eight hours after infamous had started his 4 hour trip, he made his destination. Infamous shrugged.  He had chosen the high adventure to real life, concluding,  it’s not where you go, it’s about getting there! That’s what it’s really about.

And to the man with no name THANK YOU !