Page 31 of Rebel

He started talking about being a fighter pilot, but his voice was muffled by the helmet, and by the time I started my engine his words were unintelligible. Since I was interested to hear his stories, I made a mental note to ask him about his military experience once his appointment was over and we went to the clubhouse for lunch. It was the only place I knew for certain I could get good food and a non-alcoholic beer. I had the prospects pick up a six-pack especially for our lunch today.

I hung around outside while Mr. Livingstone had his appointment. He and his wife walked out, all smiles. I liked seeing them happy. “Should I assume everything went well?”

She nodded, “Better than well. Dr. Simons scheduled him for a new experimental treatment at Mount Sinai in two weeks. It was difficult to get him into the program, so we’re both thrilled.”

“That is good news. Would you like to join us for lunch, ma’am?”

She shot her husband a quick glance, but he was already eyeing the sidecar again. “No, I think I’ll let you men have some guy time. If you need me, just give me a quick call and I’ll come right away.”

Her husband turned to her and put his hands on her shoulders, “We’re not going to need you, sweetheart. I keep telling you that I feel better than I have in a long time.”

She beamed up at him, “I know that you are. I guess I’ll see you back at the house after your lunch.”

When she walked off to get into her car, we loaded up again. So far, her dad seemed pretty easygoing. I took him straight to the clubhouse, where all the brothers were wearing cuts and the prospects kept themselves on their toes to make sure lunch went off without a hitch. Since I didn’t know how he would hold up outside with it being cold today, we sat in the bar area.

Rosie came over to take our drink order. “Will you look at this. Rebel’s brought a handsome new friend to the clubhouse.”

Mr. Livingstone perked up, “A handsome and married new friend, young lady.”

Rosie laughed. “I’m married and let me tell you, I appreciate a man who’s upfront about his marital status. Your wife would be real proud of you right now.”

“I was blessed with a good wife. The last thing I want to do is mess up after thirty years and wind up growing old alone.”

“I can’t see her giving up a faithful husband, because trust me when I say the pickings are pretty slim these days when it comes to good men. They don’t make ‘em like you and my Thunder anymore.”

I gestured to myself with one hand, “I’m sitting right here, single as can be.”

Rosie just laughed. “What are you gentlemen having to drink, that fancy beer you bought?”

“Yes, if you don’t mind,” I told her, glad that she was joking around with us.

“I’ll bring it right over. The prospects are making Philly steak sandwiches and fries for lunch today. Will that be okay or do you want turkey club?”

“Philly is good for me,” I told her.

“Me too,” Mr. Livingstone chimed in.

When she dropped our non-alcoholic beer off, I don’t think he realized the difference, even after he took a long sip. “Good stuff,” he muttered.

“Yeah, it’s always been one of my favorites.” I steered the conversation in a direction I knew he’d like. “So what did you think of the sidecar?”

“It’s cramped and gives a pretty bumpy ride, just like I thought it would.” Giving me a rueful grin, he added, “In other words, I loved it. I’ve seen them in pictures but never thought I’d get the opportunity to test one out.”

“Several of the brothers here have them. The one we’re using is owned by a friend of mine to haul around his dog. Damn thing is half dog, half wolf.”

The old man’s eyes lit up. “I sure would like to have a gander at an animal like that up close before I meet my maker.”

“With any luck you’ll be around long enough to see a lot of cool things, now that you’re not working your ass off every day.”

“Yeah, about that. I hated it when the doctors signed me off work, but now that I’ve had some time off, I’m ready to live a little and enjoy what time I have left.”

I clinked the neck of my beer bottle against his. “I’ll drink to that. Know what I’ve always wanted to do?”

He grinned indulgently at me. “What’s that, Rebel?” he asked right after his eyes dropped down to the patch sporting my club name.

“I’ve always wanted to go fossil hunting. Not at one of those tourist attractions that pepper the ground with fake shit for you to find, but somewhere out of the way that might have natural fossils.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Scratching his head, he appeared to be lost in thought. “I did that once when I was young. I can’t remember for the life of me where we went but I found a fossil with the imprint of a fern and donated it to a collection they weregathering at the local university. They put my name on the brass plate and everything.”

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