Did I want her to stop me? I suppose that it was possible. The only thing I was sure of, was that I was not going to start calling in favors for the Seymore Group. I never liked lawyers when I was on the line, so I wasn't about to start whoring for them after I left.

Mary didn't say a word during out drive to her condo. She opened her front door, then went into her kitchen for a cup of coffee, while I collected my things, I did it so fast, that I heard the microwave ding as I carried the bags out of the front door.

"Good luck on your case," I said as I left the condo for what I expected to be the last time. I didn't call or go by the Williams office of the Seymore Group. I just drove home. It was almost noon, so I fixed myself breakfast.

I had come to enjoy the cereal so I made a bowl. First I had to make up some powdered milk. I made a quart of powdered milk, then I added an ounce of evaporated milk From the container I kept sealed in the refrigerator. After being opened evaporated milk lasted much longer than fresh milk. The thin powdered milk was much easier to take with the addition of a little fat.

After breakfast I decided that it was time to get the bicycle, I had bought at the thrift store, into shape. The first thing I did was a lot of research on the Internet. I learned how to remove the rear wheel, and how to grease the bearings. Of course I first had to buy some bearing grease at the auto parts store. I also ran by Wal-mart for a bicycle chain breaker,

First I completely removed the bicycle chain by opening a link. Once it was off the bike, I used a big blue plastic Maxwell House Coffee can to mix up some cleaner for the chain. I used things I had stored under the sink. I had half a can of carburetor cleaner so I sprayed that into the coffee can. Then I added some gasoline from the lawnmower supply. The gasoline was stored under the deck at the rear of the duplex. I dropped the chain into the solution, before I started on the rear wheel,

Removing the wheel from the bike frame was the least of my problems. The real problem came when I tried to get to the bearings. It was a by hook or crook operation. The nuts where double locked. The easy way to explain that is one nut is added after the first nut is tight, They are then tightened against each other. That action prevents either from working loose due to vibration, or so the theory goes. I had to use my one wrenchwhich actually fit to hold the inside nut in place, then i used an adjustable wrench to turn the outside nut. It took some real muscle to break them loose. It also took well into the after noon to take them off, grease the bearings, then replace both axle assemblies.

While I was at it, I removed the front fork and greased those bearings as well as the one piece crank. It was late in the afternoon when I finished. I left the chain to soak overnight. I had no idea whether the soaking would cut the rust or not, but it was worth a try. If I hadn't had everything I used laying around, it might not have been. I could always get a new chain at Wal-Mart, if the witch's brew didn't work.

I spent the evening watching TV shows on the Internet. I did have to explain to Misty, who I am sure explained to Molly, that I was most likely finished working in Williams. While I worked on the bike and then on the computer, I had not bothered to turn on the phone. Actually there was no one I wished to have a conversation with at that time.

I took my morning walk at the park near my house. Since view as mostly trees and wooden bridges over streams, I enjoyed the walk through the park much better. It beat the hell out of a parking lot full of cars I could never afford, which was the view from the walk trail at Mary's condo/.

After the walk I sat on the rear deck working on the bike. I had it back together in short order. I decided to test ride it to the park. If it didn't wear me out completely, I might ride the bike to the park for my morning walks. With that in mind, I had measured the distance from my house to the park on the car's odometer. I was pretty set on giving it a try, so I took the bike for a test spin to find out how it would go.

The distance from my house to the park was exactly 1.2 miles mostly downhill. The problem is what goes down, mush come up again. The return trip was longer so that I could try to avoid the worst of the hills. I went an extra half mile to avoid a long steep hill that would surely test my metal . The test found me wanting. My heart couldn't pump enough oxygenated blood to prevent chest pain. I had afraid that it would be the case and the first bike trip proved that my fear was indeed reality. I didn't even make it to the big hill before I was gasping for air. I had trouble with even a small steep hill. The long ones were going to kick my butt for sure. The bike was proving to be a bad idea.

Testing it had been a bad idea as well, mostly because the ride reminded me how much I enjoyed the feeling of freedom provided by my motorbike when I was s kid. I could always buy a motorcycle, except that it would be four grand wasted. I just didn't have that kind of money to throw away.

The fifteen bucks for the bike would also be wasted, since there was no way my damaged heart could handle those big hills. Sure I could get in better shape and handle the small ones, but not the big ones. There was just on amount of exercise going to get me in good enough shape to do those. I rode and pushed the bike home. I would have given it away that night, if anyone had ask for it. Since they didn't I put a plastic tarp over it and moved on.