Twice Told Tales

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At Sturgis with Regan Boskie Champagne and ‘Maddog from Lowell’
I rode with them a day or two
pitched a tent in their rental house yard
pissed off Champagne by coming in to pee.
5am sun 
90s no humidity
I followed the boys all day
up down and around. 
At dusk with forest deer peeking from woods
Maddog and Champagne roared a race downhill 
rounding the curve I saw Champagne in the road
his bike on its side had missed pavement
fish-tailed gravel 
slid crashed skidded and waited
the ambulance to the hospital was busy.
The next morning I visited Champagne with a dream-catcher gift
he said he’d thought I was a free-loading jerk but I was all right
I took off for Montana and the west coast
Boskie rented a trailer to get their bikes back east
Champagne recovered some 
then died from cancer in a year or two.