Grumpy

A couple summers ago my neighbor, Grumpy, decides to let me drive his dirtbike around town and help me get my motorcycle liscense. Grumpy definitly kickstarted my motorcycle ambition. I grew up figuring I'd get a motorcycle when I got older, had my own house, had a career, blah blah blah. I credit him with making my motorcycle dreams a reality.

Let me tell you a little bit about good ol' Grumpy. Grumpy really isn't mean at all, the neighborhood kids and his grandkids just grew up calling him Grumpy. Picture Santa Claus slap some overalls on him (no shirt) and you've got Grumpy. He's a retired ironworker with nothing better to do than spend all of his fortune on toys. I lost track of how many vehicles I think it's somewhere around a truck, a tracker, a van, an suv, 4 Victory motorcycles, 2 Vespas (santa on a vespa!), multiple golfcarts, a camper, and a dirtbike. His latest addition is some little convertible pontiac. His house is more of a shack but he likes it that way, my old dog Peanut used to walk over to Grumpy's and just push the door open to hang out with him. His yard is a collection of things you can possibly have a use for one day but at the moment they seem pointless. I remember when he first got this spotlight for the side of his house. Granted he fed the deer every night and so there were deer in his yard every night to begin with but as soon as he got this light he called my house to tell my family that he was turning it on and there were deer to look at. He did that for a couple months every night.

He's a great neighbor though, he has one of those industrial lawn mowers so he cuts his lawn, my lawn, and two other neighbor's lawns. Can't beat that and anything you need he's got it. He used to have a flock of indian running ducks and got my other neighbor into having a flock so the block was overrun by these ducks. Foxes got to all of them eventually, we live on a dead end and at the dead end is forest. The ducks were funny to watch though at one point a gang of guys from one flock would waddle across the street, rape the girls in the other flock and waddle back. They were mean about it too. He's always giving us new plants too. Just one time he gave us this one plant that he claimed smelled good but when it overruns your garden it starts smelling like rotting meat, really bad idea.

So anyways I got my permit and rode Grumpy's dirtbike around for months. Soon enough I took the safety course and passed the test. I decided to pick up mad hours at Wawa to save up for my own bike. I would settle for nothing but a Harley. I actually have a group of bikers that come into Wawa practically every night, they're my "Wawa Bikers." I talked them up and spread the word that I wanted a Sportster and sure enough my buddy Paul found one for me. It's a night blue 1992 1200cc harley sportster.

I love it but my mom hates it. I kind of just do things without her permission, if I listened to her all the time I wouldn't be who I am. I'm the bad child, I make my redneck brother look sane apparently. But I take pride in the fact that I worked hard for my bike and I'm thankful for Grumpy's bump start. I'm learning the mechanics of the bike now. If I didn't have to be a veterinarian I would love to build bikes for a living but I'll keep it a hobby for now.