“I can’t! I’m married, but they sure are good looking!” Sonny said.
“It’s Okay! You can if you want! Everything’s Okay here, and all the women are good looking!” I yelled. We partied for what seemed like an eternity and then I laid a friendly hand on Sonny’s shoulder. “We’d best ride! You have some unfinished business back at the hospital in Harlem Springs!”
Sonny sighed and we headed for the door.
***
We touched down on the highway three miles outside of town. Our spirit bikes changed from radiant steeds of light, to old Harley Davidson motorcycles. We motored into town and when we pulled into the hospital parking lot, we turned invisible once more. I fought another battle with the evil little vermin in the black robes, but most of them ran after I threw a ball of blue lightning into their midst.
“Why can’t I do that?” Sonny asked.
“All in do time, bro. You haven’t crossed over yet. You’re still in between.”
Sonny and I swaggered through the front door, not bothering to open it and headed down to Sonny’s room. Sonny’s wife Regina and a group of Road Dogs gathered around the bed.
“How much time has passed since we left?” Sonny asked. The human’s still in their physical bodies couldn’t hear us.
“It’s been three days. It’s time, bro,” I said.
Sonny looked down at his emancipated body. “What if I don’t want to?”
I shrugged. “It’s your choice. You have to go back in your body, but you can either give up the fight, and we’ll move on, go you can keep fighting and maybe last another month or two, but look at your body. You’re not gonna beat this thing.”
Sonny sighed and entered his physical body. Regina kissed his cheek, Chico took his hand and a few of the bros gathered round talking to him. The heart monitor beeped and then flat lined, the breathing machine stopped and Sonny’s body died. Regina began to cry and Chico put his arm around her.
“It’s better this way. At least he’s not suffering anymore,” Chico said.
Sonny’s spirit rose up out of his body and stood next to me. “What now?”
“Go comfort your wife. She won’t be able to hear you or feel your touch, but in her spirit, she’ll know your there.”
Sonny moved across the room and stood next to Regina on the other side of Chico. He put his arms around her. I moved around touching each one of the Road Dogs gathered around the bed.
“Be at peace, bother,” I said to each one when I touched them. When I got to Chico, I said, “Be strong bro. She’s gonna need you.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’ve never had to plan a funeral before,” Regina said.
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll handle it for you. You need to go home and get some rest. Tomorrow, I’ll take you over to the funeral home,” Chico said.
The doctor came in and shooed everyone out after Regina and the Road Dogs said their good-byes. When they wheeled Sonny’s body out of the room, covered up with a sheet, Sonny stood in the hallway watching them wheel his earthly remains away.
“Don’t worry about that,” I said.
“What do we do now?” Sonny asked.
“We need to hang around for a while. You’ve got a funeral to go to,” I said.
“You mean I’m gonna attend my own funeral?”
“Of course. Everyone does,” I replied.
Chico and the bros took Regina home and we followed along behind on our scooters, all though they couldn’t see us. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a few of the little demons in the black robes scampering along behind us. When they arrived at Sonny’s place, the bros parked their scooters on the street and Chico escorted Regina to the front door. Before he stepped inside, Chico glanced out at the street.
“What?” a young prospect asked.
“I don’t know man. I couldn’t see anybody, but it felt like someone was following us. Like right now, I feel eyes on me but no one’s there,” Chico said.
“It’s just Sonny passing and all. It’s got you rattled. We’re all in shock right now,” the prospect said.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Chico said and stepped into the house.
“What now?” Sonny asked when we stepped up on the porch.
“Chico and the bros will take care of her for now. They’ll probably spend the night just to be sure she’s Okay. Why don’t we sit out here on the porch, have a few beers and enjoy the evening?”
Sonny sat down on a plastic chair and I sat down next to him.
“Where are we supposed to get the beer?” Sonny asked.
I glanced down and a six-pack of Bud Light set at my feet. “Imagine that,” I said and took one out of the six-pack. I handed it to Sonny and took one for myself. A few of the little demons showed up out front and one of them tried to come into the front yard. “No, you little shit. Back on out of here before I send you back to hell where you belong,” I said pulling my 45. They retreated to the sidewalk and a few of them climbed up on the picket fence. I shot one of them off the fence, sending it back to the pits of hell.
“How’d you do that?” Sonny asked.
“Do what?”
“How do you make blue lighting come out of your forty-five like that and how did you make that beer appear out of thin air?”
I laughed. “It’s one of the perks you get when you cross over. It takes concentration. You’ll learn.” We killed our first beer, I handed Sonny another and took a bottle of Old Number Seven out of my vest pocket.
Sonny took a pull from his beer and gazed out at the night. “This is the last time I’ll ever sit on my front porch and have a beer,” he said.
“Oh, I don’t know about that. This is the second time I’ve been back to Harlem Springs since I died in sixty-eight. When you get to Biker Heaven you might decide to join the Halos and then you’ll get to come back once in a while when you’re needed.”
Sonny’s eyes widen. “I remember now. You came back and helped us with the Hell Raisers that time. I must have blocked that out of my memory some how.”
“Yeah, those boys were a bad bunch, and their helpers were worse. That was a dangerous time.” Sonny and I sat on the front porch for the rest of the night drinking beer, and watched the sunrise in the morning.
We headed back into the house around nine that morning, passing right through the front door with out opening it. People tend to get upset when their front door opens and closes by itself. Chico and the bros sat on the couch, while Regina puttered around in the kitchen making breakfast.
“Regina, you don’t need to fix us anything. We’ll grab a bite to eat in town,” Chico said.
“That’s all right. It gives me something to keep my mind off things. I can’t believe he’s gone,” she said.
“I almost feel like he’s still here with us,” Chico replied.
Sonny, sitting on the couch next to him grinned. I laughed.
Regina passed around plates loaded down with scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and passed out cups of coffee.
“That woman always did like to cook,” Sonny said.
“Don’t I know it. I remember those times you invited me and some of the bros over for dinner. I love that woman’s cooking,” I said.
The others engaged in conversation while they ate, neither hearing nor seeing Sonny and I.
After everyone finished eating, Regina said, “I don’t know how I’m gonna pay for the funeral. Johnny had a life insurance policy, but I don’t know where it is.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. The club will cover everything,” Chico said.
Sonny jumped to his feet. “I know where that life insurance policy is. It’s in that closet right over there, up on the top shelf in a shoebox along with some other papers.”
I stood up next to Sonny and gripped his arm. “Here’s your chance to start usin’ some of the powers that you’ll have when you cross over. Ope
n that closet door.” Sonny started to cross the room, but I stopped him. “You can’t do it with your hand like when you were alive. Your hand would just pass right through the doorknob. Use your mind. Sometimes it helps if you extend your hand with your palm open.” Sonny extended his hand. “Concentrate.”
“This is hard.”
“Focus,” I said.
Sweat beaded up on Sonny’s forehead, but the door squeaked open. The Road Dogs, sitting on the couch, jumped looking up in shock. Sonny crossed the room to the open door of the closet and extended his hand to the shoebox on the top shelf. The shoebox fell to the floor spilling the papers inside.
Regina let out a started cry and Chico jumped to his feet.
“That almost scared the shit out of me,” Chico said and crossed the room to the spilled papers. He looked through the papers for a few seconds then picked up some of them. “Here’s those insurance papers. I told you it felt as if Sonny was still here.” He handed Regina the insurance papers.
Regina looked about the room. “Sonny, if you’re here, I love you and I’m gonna miss you,” she said to the room.
“I’m gonna miss you too darlin’.” Sonny said and a tear tracked down his face.
I put my arm around his shoulders and said, “She’s gonna be fine.”
A half hour later, Chico rode with Regina in her station wagon and the bros followed along behind them as they headed down to the funeral home. Sonny and I brought up the rear on our spirit bikes. After taking some turns on a few back streets, Chico pulled up in front of The Walker Brothers Funeral Home. The Road dogs parked their scooters behind Regina’s station wagon. Chico climbed out, went around to the passenger side, helped Regina out of the wagon and headed up the walkway to the front entrance. The Road Dogs swaggered along behind them. Sonny and I brought up the rear. Another gaggle of little demons in their black robes tried to grab Sonny at the door, but I tossed a ball of blue lightning in their mist and they scattered. One of them had Sonny by the arm, trying to drag him down to hell, but I pulled my knife and stabbed him in the top of his slimy little head. He disappeared with a flash of white light followed by a cloud of black smoke.
“Those little suckers don’t give up, do they?” Sonny asked.
“No, they’ll pester us until we head out to Biker Heaven. Don’t worry, I’ll deal with them.”
Chico and Regina went inside and the bros followed them. The prospect, the last one in the door, slammed it in my face, so Sonny and I just passed through.
A tall dark complexioned man in a black suit stood in the center of the reception area. Several oak coffins set up against the wall and white shag carpet covered the floor. Chico led Regina over to the man. They conversed in low tones and then the man said, “Let me show you what we have.” He led them over to what had to be the most expensive coffin in the room. “Now this is our super deluxe model. With its gold trim, its gold handles and its silk lining, you would be doing your husband proud, Mrs. Taylor.”
“Check out this asshole,” I said.
Sonny saw red. “I know. If I was still alive, I’d kick his ass right now.”
“I don’t think gold trim, or gold handles are really necessary,” Chico said.
“What did you say your name was?”
“My bros call me Chico.”
“Well, Mr. Chico. My name is Tom Walker. I own one third of this funeral home and I’ve been doing this for over twenty years. I think I’m more qualified than you to make that decision. Why don’t we let the widow decide?”
“I don’t know,” Regina replied. A tear tracked down her cheek and a trimmer passed through her.
“I’ll tell you what, Mrs. Taylor. Why don’t we step into my office and I’ll let you check out some of our brochures?”
Walker took Regina’s arm and led her away. Chico followed them with a scowl on his face. I noticed his fist ball up at his side. The Road Dogs stepped outside for a smoke, but Sonny and I stepped through the wall joining Chico and Regina in the office with Tom Walker. Tom sat behind a large oak desk while Chico and Regina sat down across from him.
Walker handed Regina a brochure and said, “I highly recommend our super deluxe model, but if that’s too expensive and you don’t mind something less fashionable, then you could go with out the deluxe model. It’s two hundred dollars less.”
Chico jumped to his feet. “Mr. Walker. Could I speak with you outside please?”
“I don’t see what…”
“Now, please!”
“Excuse me, Mrs. Taylor,” Tom Walker said and stood to his feet. He stepped out of the office and Chico followed him. Sonny and I passed through the wall to watch the show. Out in the hallway, Chico grabbed Tom Walker by the throat and slammed him up against the wall.
“Listen, asshole! She doesn’t need your super deluxe model, or your deluxe model. She just needs a standard coffin to burry her husband in!”
“I…but...” A spot of urine appeared at the crotch of Walker’s pants.
“You know, you’re right! Let’s go with the super deluxe model, and we’ll take the most expensive service you’ve got, but you’re gonna give her that super deluxe coffin at the same price as you would a pine box! As for the services, you’ll give her that for free! In fact you’ll do the whole deal for two thousand dollars, or the bros and I are gonna come back here tonight and burn this place to the ground! Are we clear?” Chico turned loose of Walker’s throat.
“Yes. Perfectly clear,” Tom Walker said and they stepped back into the office.
I laughed. “I like the new pres. I knew he had the makin’s the first time we came back and mixed it up with them Hell Raisers at the Devil’s Punch Bowl.”
Sonny grinned. “Yeah, Chico can be a bit intense when he gets riled. He reminds me of you when you were young.”
I laughed and we passed back through the wall to watch Regina sign the papers. A grin crossed her face when Tom Walker told her the price that he was charging her.
Sonny laughed and said, “That old boy looked like he just swallowed a turd.”
“I know. I thought he was going to choke when he told her the price,” I said and let out a giggle. Chico looked up with a weird expression on his face and for a moment, I thought he saw me, but then his eyes dropped back down to the papers Regina was signing. Finished with the papers, Chico took Regina’s arm, led her out of the office and stormed out of the funeral home like if his tail was on fire.
***
Three days later, we gathered in the chapel at the funeral home. The minister from the Baptist church where Regina attended faithfully, and sometimes managed to drag Sonny to, preached his eulogy. Cars filled the parking lot, motorcycles lined the curb and I saw a few of the little demons out front, but they were afraid to go inside the chapel. The Grim Reaper stood peaking around a corner holding his sickle over his shoulder.
“Damn, the Devil and his boys don’t give up do they? Will we be safe inside?” Sonny asked.
“They won’t step foot in there. It’s holy ground,” I said and we swaggered inside. About fifty members of the Road Dogs lined the back three pews and there were several members from other motorcycle clubs there to pay their respects. Friends and family plus people from the church occupied the rest of the chapel. Sonny and I stood unnoticed by the back door watching the proceedings.
Pastor Blackwood from the church stepped up on the platform. Tom Walker, from the funeral home stayed in the background.
“It tickled me to see all these motorcycles pull up out front,” Blackwood said. “One thing James Taylor, Sonny to his club brothers, liked was riding his motorcycle. Now he’s gonna ride it up in heaven. I think if Jesus were walking the Earth today, he might ride a Harley.” A loud cheer rose up from the back of the room. The preacher continued, preaching a good sermon and then let others speak sharing their thoughts about Sonny. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
After th
e service and when the people in the audience filed out, Sonny stood next to Regina and took one last look at his body before they closed the casket.
“Damn, bro. That doesn’t even look like me,” Sonny said.
“It’s not. It’s just a hunk of rotting meat,” I replied.
We followed the funeral procession, riding at the back of the pack as they rode over to the graveyard. When we headed out to the gravesite, Sonny and I followed along behind the crowd. A couple of prospects, one from the Road Dogs and another from another club, swaggered along in front of us.
“Hey man, this is gonna sound weird, but I was ridin’ at the back of the pack. I kept hearing what sounded like a couple of scooters behind me, but I was ridin’ tail end Charley,” a prospect from another club said.
The Road Dog prospect he was talking to nodded. “Yeah, I almost thought I saw Sonny’s bike parked out front. I did a double take, but nothing was there. Things like that creep me out, man.”
They had a canopy set up where they were holding the graveside service and Sonny and I were following the crowd, when the Grim Reaper stepped out from behind a tree. He tried to lead Sonny away, but I pulled my 45, stepped up behind the old boy and slammed the butt of my gat into the back of his head.
“Ouch!” the Grim Reaper said and let go of Sonny’s arm.
“I told you, this one don’t belong to you,” I said and pulled Sonny away.
We headed over to where they were holding the services and stood at the back of the crowd listening to the sermon. Sonny leaned up against a tree and I stood next to him with my arms crossed in front of me. “Well, what’d you think?” I asked.
“I didn’t realize I had so many friends. I almost got choked up there for a moment when the preacher was talking about me.”
I slapped him on the shoulder. “You lived a good life, bro.”
“I hope that, Regina will be Okay.”
“She’ll be fine. The bros from the club will get her through this. I think Chico’s adopted her.”
“Yeah, she thinks the world of that kid. His mother died a few years ago,” Sonny said.
We headed back to the scooters and rode back to Sonny’s house, but for once, the Devil’s imps left us alone. People from the church, along with friends and family gathered in the living room while the bikers hung around outside drinking beer. Sonny and I sat on the front porch knocking back a few, while the bros gathered in the yard. I reached my hand through the lid of an ice chest, grabbed two beers and handed one to Sonny. When the bottles touched my hands, they turned invisible.