Easy Rider vibes...

Brendan got himself a real motorcycle. Initially, I had him buying a Motopic Seata, from Spain, but he didn't like that. Hid every reference I had made about it in my files. Even online. But then he latched onto a 1966 Montesa Impala Sport. Not Bugatti or Harley level, but right for him. Can run a hundred miles per hour and gives him the same feeling as when he's ice skating in the Galleria. I couldn't deny him.

Though I did make it in red.

I'm through chapter 14, now, and into changes he's making in his life. Attitudes shifting and less concern about his past. Hell, less connection, even. He wants it all gone. New life. New start. And this bike gives him mobility. Never mind that he doesn't have a license to drive...which almost causes an issue when a pickup truck pulls out in front of him and he smashes his front wheel.

Fortunately, he was wearing a light helmet because his aunt demanded it, but now he's willing to get a real one. They weren't required, back then, and photos on drivers licenses weren't happening for another couple years so using a copy of his cousin's kept the cops off his ass.

He's making friends, including with an illegal Mexican named Hugo, whose casual attitude serves him well. They do drugs and drink, and Hugo has a line of girls who like him so he gives Brendan access to some. It's casually misogynistic, but it's the 70s and the feminist revolution was still working its way through everyone's psyche.

Next chapter is Jeremy returning from Israel, completely changed, and finding that Brendan is the only person he can connect with. Because they've both seen death...Brendan on Bloody Sunday and the bombing; Jeremy during the Yom Kippur war...and it alters your view of the world.

Darkness is returning...