A Sunday Evening Ride

As I drifted into sleep, I could hear my dad's yell echo through the confines of my mind.

"Erin!"

My eyes blinked open and then lazily fell shut again. It felt like seconds had passed.

"Erin, wanna go for a ride on the bike?"

I opened my eyes again and sat upright. The black Playstation controller was on my belly; Final Fantasy XII paused on the TV before me. I flipped the button on the back of the machine and the green light vanished. I pulled on a pair of jeans and some shoes and made my way outside to the white Honda Goldwing in the yard. We shoved on our helmets, climbed on the bike and rode down the winding ridge to the main road that went to town.

The air was hot as we drove over a green bridge; the cool lake looking lovely below. The sky was bright at 5pm, a sign of summer, and I could pick out figures in the clouds. Babe Ruth with his baseball cap on. A dog. A devil. Castles in the clouds. We cruised along the curvy road, just following wherever it led us.

"Whoa! Big curve!" my dad yelled as he quickly tapped the breaks. I looked up, my stomach burning. All the excitement and nervousness of that curve was bundled inside of me as I gripped the arm rests. I imagined us sliding across the asphalt; both of our legs pinned under the bike, the thick jeans and skin scrapping away under the road. It stung. I grabbed my stomach as we passed the curve safely and continued onward.

We stopped on the side of the road to look at the water falls at the state park. I saw a man sitting on the rock fence taking pictures of the water in the gorge below with his red camera. My dad and I walked to the overlook.

"How's it going?" asked my dad, standing next to the man with the camera. He said hello back and we all talked about how pretty the park was compared to the others in Tennessee. He was coming back from a visit with his girlfriend in Atlanta and was visiting all the parks on his way back home.

"A lot of people think that Fall Creek Falls is the best park around, but I think this one is the prettiest and most fun," said the man.

"Yeah, I agree," said my dad. "Let's not tell anyone though. I like this park without all the traffic."


Cliff divers were standing below and we watched curiously. Two guys and a girl looked as though they were inspecting the height of the cliffs and the depth of the water. We all yelled to them together:

"You can do it!"

"Jump! Jump!"

"Come on!"

They all looked up at us and gave us a thumbs up. The first boy ran and jumped into the icy water. The second boy followed and then swam under the waterfall. The girl stood still at the top of the cliff. We clapped and waited for the girl. It took her a while to get her nerve, but we cheered her on and she finally jumped. We clapped again, said goodbye to the man we had met and got back on the bike.

We rode on down to the next town over until we found a yellow Waffle House. We went in and met Sarah, our waitress. We all talked about our jobs and the bike and found out that we knew a lot of the same people, which is what happens in a small town. We ate our chicken melts and drank our five glasses of sweet tea before heading outside to the bike. Sarah was on her break, and she sat down on the sidewalk to smoke. We talked some more before she had to go back inside, when three older ladies walked by, one saying how much she would love to go on a bike road trip. She had never been on a bike before and looked at it with longing eyes.

"I can take you for a ride if you want," said my dad.

She just shook her head and continued to tell us about the people from her church who had bikes, and one man who had an Indian bike. When they went inside, we put our helmets back on and climbed on the bike.

"We've met a lot of nice people today," I said.

"Yeah, there's still a lot of good people in the world," said my dad, gripping the handles and getting us back to the road.

The sun was setting, turning the sky red, pink and purple. Clouds streaked across the canvas and the light blue sky soon faded to black. A small crescent moon emerged along with a single star. I could see the lightening bugs now, slowly blinking in the fields along side us. It was cooler now, darkness enveloping us as we made our way into the valley ahead. The hills rose up from the earth on both sides of us. I could hear the bike's engine accelerate as it pulled itself up the steep hill. We would be out of the valley soon and climbing up to the top, to the ridge, where our brick house stood, lights on and waiting.