~What Might Be Found~
1~ once upon a ride…
I was already running late on my Friday ride when my bicycle got a flat tire between two distant intersections along Highway 25 outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico. I ride this thirty-mile loop whenever it's a nice day. This tire started losing air fast when I drove over some glass on this barren stretch between Saint Francis and Cerriolos.
I thought I was stranded until this young homeless guy came along. It seemed he came from nowhere, like maybe from behind some brush. I don't know, but he startled me at first, but then, there he was. He may have wandered over from somewhere, maybe that new housing development on Phillips Street, a couple of miles from here. It's pretty desolate between here and there.
Wherever he came from, he was a godsend. He appraised my predicament, noticed my riding attire and my clip-on riding shoes, and seemed to know right away that I wasn't walking the more than two miles to the next intersection.
He said that for twenty dollars, he would walk my bike to the service station down the road and across the overpass, have my tire repaired, and be back within the hour. He promised to be right back as soon as it was fixed.
It was a warm, cloudless New Mexican day, and I had a couple of twenties stuffed into my riding shorts for just such an occasion, or for lunch at Amelos near home. Whichever happened first, but until today it was always Amelos. I'm a regular there, but I might be late today.
The homeless guy seemed trustworthy enough, so I gave him one of the twenties. Besides, where could he go? This happened in the middle of nowhere; the Shell station was the only structure on the road for miles. Besides, knowing most of the twenty I'd given would be used to pay for the tire and some water, I had promised him another ten when he returned. We could settle up then.
Be one of awareness- part two landing soon!
2~> no deposit, no return <~2
379 words, 2 minutes read time.
~ no deposit, no return...
It's been a couple of hours, and I'm still waiting at the edge of Highway 25 for this guy to return with my bike. I am beginning to worry. Had he somehow become lost, or worse, hurt, or even died on the road? These things happen here.
At best, roads in New Mexico are a moonscape of tire-shredding pot holes and randomly displaced road hazards of unimaginable proportions. Everything from indestructible automobile chunks to full-sized sofas. Driving is less hazardous when done off-road. This explains the high ratio of huge 4X4 pickup trucks and monster jeeps, and all the aggressive woke sticker-covered Subarus weaving through lanes seeking opportunities to knock Priuses and weaker vehicles off the road. Or just knocking pieces off of them for fun.
And a word about drunk driving, who doesn't drive drunk in New Mexico? It's easy because every driver is cloaked inside their car behind black, tinted windows. Drivers are invisible inside their cars and totally secure. This allows them to have a beer, raise a flask, or drink whisky anywhere with total impunity. Pot smoke billows from cars whenever doors open at a service station. It's no wonder New Mexico proudly claims to be the number one state for substance abuse; it also has the highest car insurance premiums in the nation.
And don't forget free-ranging coyotes and rattlesnakes that lurk along the highways like the one where I am waiting, and where my homeless friend is hopefully walking my bike to the Shell station for repair. You would think of Santa Fe as cowboy country and expect to see horses and herds of cows roaming distant plains beyond the road. That's all Hollywood make-believe. The urban legend of today!
Nowadays, the elite here dress the western mystique, in snakeskin boots and broad Stetson hats, an acquired and expensive style. Regular people dress in black sweatshirts and pajama bottoms and wear Crocs everywhere.
It's unfortunate, in fact, a historical tragedy, but the last bovine left this state a couple of years ago. She flew to India as a character in another story. But coyotes and rattlesnakes are real, and they are everywhere, at least according to Lily Tomlin's character, Frankie, a role she played in the hit Netflix series Grace and Frankie.
Be one of awareness- part three landing soon!
3~>crosses too, beware <~3
-dp-
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Bottom Lines: With last year's poetry out of the way, posted here for whatever it's worth. Let me remind readers that a purpose of tornwords is to break away from poetry and rediscover prose. Afterall, I've written mostly poetry for fifty years or more with only a couple of breaks for good behavior. Some may have discovered that journey through my blogs as posted in Passage to Poetry Cove (or whatever it's called here).
During the past few years, I have been less than diligent in monitoring and keeping up the housekeeping of those blogs. The more I try to make things as presentable as they could be, the more I get distracted from that purpose. Oh well, I'll keep swinging at it. It's there and legible enough to be understood, or picked at, should I want to submit. Most know how tired I've grown of that game. Just let me write.
-dalton
