THE RACER Chapter 32

  



BMW Military Motorcycle

Lucas finished the dismantling the cycle and he asked, “Who made this machine?” 

Marley said, “It is made by a German company named B.M.W.”

“How did we get it? asked Lucas. 

Marley said, “It was stolen piece by piece by a person who worked in their plant and two of them were sold to the English and assembled there.  They sent one to America and we have it.”

Lucas said, “I know we said we could build a better bike, but their technology is farther advanced than anything I have ever seen.  The OHV engine and being shaft driven is a great advance in technology.”

Lucas continued, “I have mixed feelings about this whole thing.  

I suggest we do minor redesign work on our machine and fulfill our contract and then turn this new technology development over to a company that has the resources to build a bike similar to the German machine.  

We should do the preliminary design and then try to get a percentage of the profit from their sales.  The long and short of it is we are going to be in over our heads.”

This didn’t please Marley very much, but after giving it some thought he could see the logic of what Lucas had said.  After some obvious redesign work Marley approached one of the major motorcycle companies and what happened after that was kept secret.

In the midst of everything that happened Lucas had a wedding to prepare for.  His bride to be was just as busy as Lucas for she was finishing her finals so that left little time for the two of them together.

They started assembling the bikes they had contracted for and Lucas was left out of the events that followed the next few years.  He seldom saw Marley for he was never around anymore.

Upon completion of their contract Lucas was given a large check and a notice of dismissal.  

He also was receiving a monthly check as his part of the work he had done on the development of their cycle.

A couple of days before the wedding they both had some free time and managed to get reacquainted as it were.  Every one of their friends was invited and it was a lively event.

Lucas was disappointed that Marley didn’t make it but his wife did and explained Marley wasn’t in the country.  It was years later before Marley met him again and explained what happened and that what had occurred was dictated by the defense department. 

Lucas felt a little better about things with the explanation for he had no inkling of what went down.  Even though he was well rewarded he felt left out and somewhat perturbed. 

With no obligations Lucas and Leslie spent a month in Hawaii just getting to know each other.  During this time their love for one another increased daily, and what started out as an intelligent life time choice had turned into a passionate love affair.  

When they returned several decisions had to be made.  Lucas wasn’t employed and Leslie had to decide what she wanted to do.  Her original intent was to teach but she was weighing her options as of now.  A lot of what she would do now depended upon what Lucas decided to do.  

He tried to find his mother, but they had moved from his house without telling anyone.  It seems the law might have been on her husband’s trail.  Lucas never saw or heard from them again. 

Abel had locked the house up so no one had been in it since they had left it that night. 

 

When Lucas arrived to look over the damage to his house; it was even worse than he had imagined.  

Lucas had a cleanup crew come in and remove everything in it and then had it fumigated.  With repairs completed, new floors, and new paint the place looked livable or sellable which ever they decided to do with it.   

To be Continued