By NuttBoy ??????
??Two days passed. The hubbub of the last few nights had died down. ?The normal routine seemed to settle in as Nyla scanned the incoming evening crowd. None of the few bikers that were there were wearing colors. ?The longshoremen had had their fill and left to return to the unhappy marriages and nagging mortgages. ?
???????Nyla appreciated this predictable pace. ?It gave her time to think. ? Her thoughts often returned to Bandit. ?Lately he had been far too absent. ? This always made her a bit insecure. ?It wasn?t so much that he was with someone else, it was that he wasn?t with her. Bandit was the kind of free spirit that couldn?t be contained, like a fire fly caught in a bottle that soon loses its glow. ?
????????Nyla, where are my beers?? Mandy hollered from the other end of the bar. Nyla looked down just as the white crest of beer foam flowed over the side of the mug and over her hand.
?????????Right there,? Nyla said as she wiped her hands on a bar towel. ? ?Sorry,? she said as she set the beers in front of Mandy, ?I was thinking about Bandit.? ?
????????Have you heard from him lately?? Mandy asked as she adjusted her bra strap. ?
????????I had a phone call yesterday.? ????????Mandy gingerly balanced the tray with the four beers. ?She turned to go, then over her shoulder said,??He?s as sweet as home-made sin and twice as deadly, ??least that?s what my mama would say.? She bounced off, shaking her booty as she went. ??
??????Nyla wrinkled her brow. ??What the hell did she mean by that?? she muttered to herself. ??Is that from first- hand experience or what?? ?
???????There was one thing any woman who tried to tie him down found out quickly–he was a wanderer. ?There were a lot of women between the west coast and the Mississippi River that were left looking wistfully at the horizon and pining their hearts out for a dream of latching onto him that never would be. ? There was no moss on this rambling rider.
????????Nyla had no illusions. ?She knew she was part of a saga. ?Exactly what part she played and the duration of her role was what made her anxious. ?The one thing she had going for her was her own independence. ?She could ride and shoot as good as any modern-day Annie Oakley. She was even capable in an old-fashioned fist-fight. ?She had raised her kids on her own. ? She had achieved what she had by her own steel will and determination. ?She was a woman to be reckoned with and a prize to cherish. ?She hoped Bandit felt that way.
