"Let's try some jumps," Dan said
"Not interested, I said, I want to regress to my pre-evolutionary state and become one with the water."
"Sounds, interesting," Howard said, "enjoy".
The real reason I didn't want to try any jumps, was that when I glanced over at the cliff it seemed to be a life form that was inhaling and exhaling air. I thought this would probably make for a difficult climb.
"I'll try some jumps with you Dan," Howard said.
With this the two of them began their swim to the slate cliff on the opposite side of the quarry. Even though I knew they were just on the other side, I suddenly had a strange feeling of isolation and abandonment. I tried to regain my composure by thinking of the strange phenomenon we had witnessed. It was my guess that what we saw was only a hallucination but is there such a thing as shared hallucinations? Was it perhaps a creature, possibly from another planet? Do such creatures exist? Have other people seen these creatures? I felt something brush against my leg, was this one of them? Are they after me? All this thinking was making me paranoid. I was having a difficult time concentrating on one thought. A feeling of terror was beginning to rise in my belly. I switched my attention to Dan and Howard. They were at the cliff edge and ready to begin their climb. So many people had made this climb there were groves worn into the cliff. Howard started first, with Dan following. There were many designated jump sites off the main trail of the cliff. The first jump site was thirty feet from the water and this is where Howard stopped. Dan continued climbing to the forty-foot mark. They were standing on the jump points screaming back and forth to each other. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but it sounded like; 'the bus gave me a hard on when the orange ate the cat'. I figured this was not what was actually said, but they were tripping so who knows. Dan jumped first, his landing into the water looked good. Dan was immediately above the surface laughing hysterically. Shortly after, Howard made his leap, landing dangerously close to Dan. Howard also seemed to enjoy the jump, but had not landed as straight as Dan. I could hear their voices now speaking about their jumps.
"The water seemed miles away," Howard said.
"Weird man, the water seem like it was right next to me".
"Well it was to strange for me, that was my one and only jump," Howard declared.,br>
"Yeah, don't like flying through the time space continuum, hey Howie".
Howard just grinned and replied; "you know it, man".
Dan began ascending the cliff again as Howard started his swim back toward me. Howard joined up with me and asked if I felt like I was floating in space. I had to admit I did have that very sensation. We turned to watch Dan as he climbed the cliff. This time he didn't stop at the forty-foot mark. We figured he was going on to the fifty-foot jump but he didn't stop there either. He kept climbing past the other jump sites until he reached "Big Bertha".
"Has he ever tried "Bertha?" I asked Howard.
"Not that I know of, and now is not a very good time to try it."
Howard had captured my thoughts exactly. It was a damn stupid time to try. We could just make out Dan waving to us. He was giggling like a schoolgirl. He was a fool about to commit a fool's act. Then, he jumped.......
Dan's push from the ledge was hard enough to ensure he would clear the cliff by some distance. Unfortunately the powerful thrust had pushed him too far forward. It looked like he would hit the water on his belly. I wasn't sure if this was an attempted dive, or what.
There was a loud splat when Dan hit. It looked like the blunt of the impact was taken by his chest. We waited for him to emerge from the water. The wait was too long and we began to swim toward the cliff. When we were half way across, Dan rose from the water.
"Some wild, fucking shit," he screamed. "I think I'll take a little break now."
"Good idea," I said.
"Tim, you think you can give me a hand back".
I knew then he was definitely injured but did not know to what extent. I helped Dan across the quarry and brought him close to the fire. I saw his chest was dark red. At first I thought this was blood but then realized the color was created by the impact. Howard was getting out of the water and asked, Dan if he was O.K.?
"Sure, no sweat," Dan said but his voice sounded weak.
I wondered what people my parent's age would say about this scene. Probably think a bunch of young punks, got what they deserved. Hell, who knows maybe they were right? I suddenly had a flash that in ten years I would feel just that very way. But for now I was young and had a friend in trouble. Besides, being young and reckless always seemed to go good together.
Dan was obviously in pain but was trying his best to hide it. Laughing, he told us what a rush it had been on the way down. Dan said he knew the landing was going to be bad and just felt lucky it wasn't worse. But it was worse....
Howard was the first to notice what looked like a large lump on Dan's side. Upon closer examination we concluded he had broken a piece of his rib off and it was now dislodged inside his body. As Dan felt the piece of lose bone on his side his face turned a ghostly white.
Luckily the drugs were wearing off so we could think more clearly. It was 6 a.m. and over the horizon a beautiful orange, blue sun was starting to appear. We had been at Delta for seven hours but in some ways it felt like seven minutes. Dan had regained his composure and was again acting like his old cocky self. It was my idea to ride Dan's bike out and have Dan ride with Howard.
"Sounds good," Howard said.
"No way man, I rode in and I'm riding out," was Dan's reply.
"Listen to Tim," Howard remarked.
"Tim can eat me. I'm riding out. It's my bike, so it's my call."
"Yeah, it's your call, I said but if you're riding the bike I'm not going to be a passenger."
"No, skin off my back," Dan replied.
"Hey, can I bum a ride with you Howard."
"Sure, hop on," Howard said.
"Dan, don't do this, man it's dangerous," I pleaded.
"Life's about danger Dan said. Besides the triping has stoped, I'm fine."
It wasn't the drugs that had concerned me, I said to myself.
"Howard you sure you don't mind riding me to my car," I asked.
"No, problem man. I' m going to let Dan go first so we can watch him," Howard added quietly.
Dan had started his bike and was beginning to look impatient. It was obvious as he inched the bike forward that he was in great pain. He could barely move his left arm. The left hand operates the clutch so it's essential that you have its use to ride any motorcycle.
Howard started his bike and began to follow Dan. Dan was riding better then I'd expected. I began to feel more at ease. All in all, I thought it had been a good night. When we hit the main road I hid behind Howard in hopes that it would be less obvious that I wasn't wearing a helmet. It was a perfect day for riding. The temperature was near seventy, sunny with only a slight breeze. Dan was moving faster then I would have liked to seen, but he was handling it well. As we rode down the long stretch where Dan and Howard had raced before, Dan swung into the other lane to pass two cars. There was a car in the other lane, but it looked as though Dan had enough time. Suddenly, Dan's bike started a serious wobble. It soon turned into a tank slap and within seconds Dan was down.......
His speed, as he went down, was probably well over eighty miles an hour. The oncoming car swerved to miss Dan but it was too late.......
Dan had been shot right into the path of the oncoming vehicle. The impact of Dan against the car was loud and horrifying. Dan hit the front of the car head on. He flew off the bike crushing the windshield, and sailing over the roof of the vehicle. Dan landed over a hundred feet past the car. Howard started to lose control of his own bike as we watched this terrible sight unfold before our eyes. Howard gained control, swung over to the shoulder and dumped the bike on the side of the road.
Howard and I darted across the road oblivious to any traffic. Since all the cars were stopped to see the accident, we were not in danger. As I raced past the vehicle Dan hit, I noticed the man inside looked like he was in total shock. The car windshield was smashed and covered with blood. When I saw Dan, I almost puked. His arms and legs were obviously broken and most likely his spine, but these were not the worse of his injuries. His helmet had split from the impact and a large piece was now imbedded in his skull. All of his clothing was covered with blood. It looked like he was already dead. I turned away for a moment feeling if I hadn't I would pass out.
The man in the car Dan had hit was middle age, fat and bald. His car was late model Lexus that surely cost a mint. He introduced himself as Norman; he looked like a Norman.
Norman screamed, "I did everything I could to avoid him." This most likely was true, but who the hell wanted to hear about it now. Norman began to repeat his declaration of innocence to the crowd gathering.
"Shut the fuck up Norman," Howard screamed.
Ambulances and police began arriving. Howard walked toward his bike. I thought he might be planning an escape but Howard just hung out by his bike. I hoped he was dumping the assorted combination of drugs he was carrying. Even though Dan's body was mangled you could still see his red beard and that crazed Charlie Mansion look. Howard's hair was in a ponytail, as if he wanted to highlight the huge scar across his forehead. There was little doubt there would be lots of questions and probably a search. I felt extremely guilty thinking of these things given the circumstances, but this was definitely the time to think about it. I hoped Howard had also considered what was probably about to happen. Dan, our friend was almost certainly dead. There was nothing we could do to change this fact.
Paramedics and ambulance crews were working over Dan. They managed to remove his helmet, except for the portion that was embedded in his skull. I heard a paramedic radioing for a chopper. This caused me to move closer since it must have meant Dan was still alive. I went over to one of the ambulance drivers who were not working directly with Dan.
"Is he going to live I asked?"
He gave me a dirty look and asked why it was any concern of mine. I explained who I was.
"Well, technically we are only suppose to release information to the next of kin, the driver said but it don't look good it don't look good at all."
I looked around to try and find Howard so I could give him the bad news. Howard was standing by the car that Dan had hit, talking to the police. I considered blending into the crowd and getting the hell out of this whole scene. After all Howard didn't know me and I didn't think Dan was going to be doing much talking. Howard seemed to being chatting friendly with the police. Since I sensed no danger, I decided to walk over.
As I approached Howard introduced me to the police as the passenger on his bike. Howard was very smooth in handling the police. He probably had a lot of experience in these types of situations.
The cop who spoke to me was a burly guy, who looked like he was starting to like his doughnuts a little too much. You could tell when he had been our age you wouldn't want to have messed with him. He looked to be in his mid-thirties.
"Hi, I'm officer Dixon," he said I know this is a difficult time for you but if you could just answer a few questions."
"Yeah sure", I said, like I had any choice.
Now, without any warning, I started to get watery eyed. If I was going to cry this was the perfect time, lessen the amount of questions.
"How did it go down," was all Dixon asked me.
It was obvious to me he was playing the, 'I'm still young too, lets rap about it angle.
"I'm not really sure," I replied.
I went on to tell him how the front wheel had wobbled before, leaving out the part about us racing at the time. I thought of telling him that Dan was riding with broken ribs, but decided that would be a bad idea. There were so many broken bones in Dan's riddled body that they didn't need to know about the broken ribs. It would just lead to more questions.
When I finished my statement, Officer Dixon asked, "If you were a passenger on Dan's bike before, why were you riding with Howard when the accident occurred?"
It was a good question considering I could not give the honest answer.
"After his bike had wobbled Dan suggested I move to Howard's bike just to me safe." This lie had come quickly and easily to me. A little too easy I thought.
"Where were you all headed to?" Dixon asked as if he was just curious. Just curious, Right!
This too was a difficult question since he surely asked Howard the same thing moments before I had joined them.
"Just riding around, you know, no real destination," I replied. Apparently, this was the answer that Howard had also given. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. The cop said he would need addresses, home phone number, licensees, registration cards, plate numbers, and social security numbers.
'What, not our first born I thought.
After he obtained all this information, the officer told us we were free to go but to stay in the area since they might need to get touch with us. Luckily, in all the confusion he never asked why I didn't have a helmet.(Continued on Delta IV)
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