Gina's bike (walter)

Walter McGuire was pretty much completely withdrawn by the time his son came home from Iraq. Losing his wife to cancer and his daughter to a murderer had pretty much left him in a depression he could not shake. He should have tried the pills the doctor suggested, but he instead he wallowed in the depression.

Walter never really knew whether it was Bobby coming home safely, or if it was the bike ride that was forced upon him, but for some reason Walter felt a little better after Bobby's visit. He felt good enough that he used the weed eater gas to fill the bike's small tank and go for another ride.

On that ride Walter saw small kids look up and smile. Some shouted to him and some gave him thumbs up. Grown men even stared at him. Walter found that he loved the attention. The attention which wasn't about his loss but about his gain. He even began looking around at the small details of his neighborhood. He discovered that some of the trees had begun to bud out. Spring was in the air for sure. He also noticed that the two dogs on the corner ran along with him. Fortunately for Walter they were inside a sturdy chain link fence. Walter made a mental note to buy some dog treats to carry with him as he rode. Yes he was already making plans to ride again.

Walter rode twice a day around the neighborhood. He rode even when it was uncomfortably chilly. He found that he looked forward to seeing the changes outside. He was moving slow enough to look around, but fast enough to feel like he was flying now and then. There was one hill in the neighborhood that he couldn't quite pull under the engines power alone. For that he had to pedal, but even then it was like pedalling on a flat surface not uphill at all. He reasoned that even that was good for him. He really hadn't been getting any exercise at all. He spent most of his time cooped up in the house. All that changed just because of the little engine on the girlie bike.

After a month the weather was nicer and Walter felt much better about himself. He thought that he should go look at a motorcycle. He had always wanted one, so this might be the time, he thought.

He spent the whole day looking at motorcycles. He walked away with a seat covered in motorcycle brochures. He even test rode one of the bikes. It frankly scared the hell out of him. He also lost that connected feeling that he had with the bike. On the bike he felt part of the surrounds not just traveling through them. In the end, he decided not to buy a motorcycle.

It was a decision of which he felt sure Bobby would approve. He hadn't discussed any of it with Bobby, but he was sure Bobby would rather have him tooling around on the motorbike than on a motorcycle. Since Bobby hadn't been around for the deep funk, he didn't realize how much better his dad felt and acted. If he had noticed he would have put it down to his being home. That surely was part of it, but not all of it.