Max is NOW!

- excerpts from new story concept - (see 7/18 post for beginning)

Fix cranked the last few turn on the main bolt attaching the air filter to the side of the carburetor. He glanced back over at the box of his mother’s keepsakes and letters. The one letter from this “Kurt” creeped through the back of his mind. Who was this guy, and what the hell did he have to do with Fix’s mother. He gave a last few checks on the motorcycles air filter and found himself looming over the cardboard box again. Fix lit a cigarette and knelt in front of the pile of letters and souvenirs. He fingered through the tallest stack of letters, hoping to see something. Maybe Kurt’s handwriting on the cover of another letter. After a few minutes, he paused over a letter tightly shoved into a lavender envelope. It bore the name “Viv” on the front, just as Kurt had called her in the other letter, but this writing was more frantic, more raw. Fix unfolded the letter and saw the short paragraphed signed by Kurt. It read briefly:
“I am sorry, but you were right Viv. I love you. I always have. And you, you love Roman. There is nothing I can do now, but journey on into the world without you. I haven’t slept well in months. I cannot get rid of your scent on my pillow, or your smile in my heart. Forgive me for being so abusive of your memory. But I love you. And there is little left I can do but bide my time and hope to forget. -Kurt”
Fix dropped the letter back into the box. He barely moved. His eyes sank and his kness buckled a bit, setting him down completely on the garage floor. Fix knew the feeling once. And even at his ripely young age, he knew there was nothing but forgetting to look forward to.