An Old Friend Returns

Many of you have had the privilege of taking our scooter out for a test drive. Those of you who have know the power and thrill of rolling the throttle back and feeling the engine roar, as you try and hang on as the scooter hits 10 MPH in under four seconds. The adrenaline kicks in as you round the corner and accelerate up to 15 MPH. The jealous spectators line the streets and ask questions when you stop.

Q: How fast does that thing go?
A: 35 MPH.
Q: Does that thing have a kickstand?
A: Yes. And a helmet storage bin underneath the seat.
Q: Do you ever feel like a wuss when you pull into the parking lot at IN-N-OUT?
A: Occasionally.

The scooter has been a big part of our lives for the past two years. It has boosted my manhood and at the same time put me in touch with my sensitive side. Abby loves joyriding to and fro and running short errands to Trader Joes and the yarn shop. And best of all: 100 miles to the gallon, baby!

That is why I felt empty inside when I returned to the Vienna Metro stop here in Virginia from a long day of work and school in DC to find...well, nothing. Emptiness and void. The scooter was gone. Was it stolen? Was it towed (it did have Washington state plates because we had such trouble registering it in California)? Did Abby come and borrow it? Was Gardener or Mecham playing a mean trick? It was like coming home to a house and having your front door gone. Very strange.

It had definitely been stolen. Police reports were filed. The search commenced as we scoured craigslist for sale listings in every east coast city. Abby searched Ebay and newspaper listings far and wide.

After three weeks, and after many wished us "good luck in finding that", we found a replacement! It was the same color, year, and about the same miles. We thought for sure it was going to be ours when we showed up to have a look. And.....drumroll, please..... it wasn't!!!! HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH. I bet you thought it was! But it was way cheap, and looked exactly like ours, and it was way cheap, and it looked exactly like ours! So we bought it.

So we replaced our old friend with a new friend, slightly beat up. Our old friend didn't return....

Until two hours after we bought the replacement, when Officer Verna from the DC police department called and said our scooter had been recovered! It was found in Southeast DC when a police officer pulled over two guys riding a scooter, which two guys promptly hopped off the scooter and fled. As Curtis (my bro) aptly put it: You can't spell "HARDCORE" without "DC"!!

In the end, we are glad to have our old friend home.

By the way, is anyone interested in a scooter? We now have two!!