The Pick-up Chapter Eleven: The Road North
The morning broke strange and clear, as though the air itself had been scrubbed overnight. Every line of the horizon seemed etched sharper, the sky too deep, the ocean too vast. Colors had weight. Sounds carried farther.
We stood together on the bluff, medicine pouches warm against our hearts, Talon perched high and unblinking, her feathers shimmering with oil-slick hues in the dawn. She was no longer simply bird, but ally, guardian, witness. Our spirit guide.
Raven had been silent for a while and I could tell she was puzzling something out. I contributed to the silence as she did so. Without looking, she spoke, conversationally "The Knuckle." she intoned, "Too cumbersome; Knuckle, too impersonal?" It was a question. I leaned a little away and gave her a quizzical glance? She leaned me back in and continued, "How about 'Knuckles'?"
I pulled back again, a little further, locking her gaze this time.
"Are you claiming 'old lady' privilege?" I asked. This part of our relationship had not yet been defined. I half held my breath, awaiting her response. She glanced away, then straight back. "Yes." was the reply. I pulled her in closer and kissed her gently, then firmly, until we both lost ourselves, for a while, as a million possibilities played out in our heads.
"Lucky's got an old lady!" played over and along with them.
I squeezed her hand as I leaned against her, nuzzling her ear. "Want to ride with me now, lover?" I whispered.
She shivered slightly as she pressed her left tit into my side, whispering, "Yes, my king, I do".
We made our way down the face of the dune, hand in hand like high school lovers on spring break, angling over to intercept Saniyah as she moved gracefully over the sand, toward the Fury.
"I'd like you ladies to change up now." he said, pointing a smile toward Saniyah, "I wanna pack my old lady for a while, on our newly renamed beast. Saniyah, meet Knuckles; Knuckles meet Saniyah." Then, "Saniyah, meet my 'old lady'. "
Saniyah stretched out a hand to caress the seat she had so recently occupied, and spoke, "Well met, old friend, well met."
Then, taking both of Raven's hands, she looked up at me and said, "Any lover of Raven's can be a lover of mine. My momma taught me to share." Then, looking straight into Raven's eyes, she intoned, "If both of you are into that kind of thing?"
Raven flipped her the keys, with a playful lift of her middle finger in the gesture. They both smiled.
Knuckles roared to life, the rumble somehow different now, throbbing like the heart of an iron beast that knew the road ahead.
Raven swung herself onto the pillion with effortless grace and leaned back into me, her laughter tumbling out like water over stone.
Saniyah spun Fury up, the big block Mopar singing to the sands, her glass packs crackling in the breeze.
The highway unrolled north, silver in the morning sun, pulling us onward. With every mile, the ordinary world fell further behind. Out here, time seemed less a straight line and more like a spiral, curving, coiling, weaving us into its design.
Whenever we slowed for a turnout or an overlook, Talon took to the air and swooped ahead, then circled back, her croak carrying words that made no sense to untrained ears but struck our bones like memory, like prophesy: “Watch… Gate… Crossing.” Then she settled herself into the backseat of Fury again, for the next leg of the run.
Raven squeezed my hand on the throttle. Her eyes burned with the same fire as mine. “San Francisco,” she said softly. “The Golden Gate will never be the same after us.” And I knew she was right.
I nosed Nuckles out onto US 1 and fed her, with a slow turn of the wrist. She seemed to stretch out a bit as we leisurely rolled north.
The next time I paid attention to something other than Raven's perfect body molded against me, we were passing Linda Mar, heading into Pacifica, making good time.
At Golden Gate Park, we took a right, putted through to Haight Ashbury, where we we parked, near Oak and Masonic. The Panhandle.
Twenty minutes later we were sipping mochas and cappuccinos in the Wake Cup cafe, waiting for our lunch to be served.
Just as the plump, tattooed waitress wearing a nametag that read "VERA", placed the last of the plates on the scuffed and stained tabletop, I heard a quiet squawk at the side window, followed by the sound of ruffling feathers.
One small, glossy black, secondary feather fluttered in through the angled glass pane that was locked open for circulation.
It landed on the countertop, between the espresso machine and the waitress station, glistening and reflecting the afternoon sun.
Having noticed the commotion on the window ledge, the waitress reached out and retrieved the feather, raising it to her lips, then to her forehead, with a nod.
Talon croaked out two, single words, very clearly. "Remember." and "Token."
Then, with an upward fluttering of wings, she was gone.
"Hopefully back to the Fury", said Saniyah softly, under her breath. Both Raven and Lucky nodded agreement.
This was San Francisco. We had arrived.
After the meal, Saniyah approached the waitress placed the tip on the counter. "May I see the token?" she inquired.
The waitress, Vera, replied "Of course." and held it out. Saniyah dabbed on one tiny drop of sage essential oil, creating a brighter sheen.
She spoke three words in the Hopi tongue, an evocation. She then presented Vera with a new, medicine pouch into which she placed some sage, some dried lavender, and a single cactus crown.
She indicated that Vera should place her token in the pouch, which she did. Then she tied it firmly with the laces, then looped them over her head and around her neck.
The medicine was now connected with her heart.
"Thank you" she said, then repeated it in Hopi. Then she cupped Saniya's cheeks with her warm hands and kissed her lovingly on the lips.
The kiss lingered a while, both seeming to enjoy it. Then they parted, and we departed.
As we approached the Fury, Talon landed on the door frame, and with an animated hop, jumped into the back seat, then up and into the rear window 'cave' she now called home.
"Home", she croaked softly.
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