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(posted to r.m.h. on Thu, Jun 06, 2002)
Seductive, long-term, insidious, mysterious, energizing! Yes, the transformation had been strangely time-delayed, but there'd been a gradual and cumulative effect from that evening in January 2001. Difficult to believe that something as seemingly innocent as a motorcycle show could result in something so balefully surprising. The Cycle World show is where a group of motorcycling enthusiasts gathered that boisterous Saturday: http://groups.msn.com/CJsHarleyDavidsonTributeV2/mans0101.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=53 Len, a.k.a. AH#104, and Pauline Bradner were there. We met at a restaurant called Vietnam by sunset. Len thoroughly enjoyed himself as he loudly ordered, "The Fuckin' soup!" I had the Fukien soup too. That and a Chinese beer. Perhaps that's what slowed down the process. It wasn't PBR. Not prune juice either. Could be some Karma that kept me from receiving the full effect of what I now call Bradner's surprise. It could have been the unusual beer or maybe it was the Angel hair pasta, thinly sliced beef, onions, or some other unknown ingredient, perhaps garlic, in the broth simmering. Oh, it was a pleasure indeed. I remember posting a report saying something like, "The food was fantastic, the drinks delicious, and the company was blindingly sublime." As a clue, that last word minus a few letters should have been sufficient. Of course the change didn't reveal itself immediately. No, it would go unnoticed for some time. March 23, 2002, unknown to me, is when my final fate would be sealed. Len Bradner and his lovely bride, Pauline, ventured through Carlisle, Pennsylvania that evening on their way to their home in New Jersey. Under the guise of a friendly IRL meet, they pulled into the town I now call home for a Cracker Barrel supper. The Chinese beer or perhaps the mystery broth which was part of that first meal with Len and Pauline had somehow slowed or delayed the progression of what was happening to me! Perhaps the chain reaction had begun anew triggered by the fact that I had no alcohol at all at the Cracker Barrel with the Bradner sweethearts. In fact, I'm sure of it. It makes sense now. I recall R.E. posting in surprise, regarding the Cracker Barrel, something along the lines of, "Boycott th' place. Shut'em down. It's an outrage, I say. No beer served?" Yes, it started with the Cycle World show. Bradner was there. We enjoyed that Fukien meal together. What I thought was simply another enjoyable IRL event. Then contact with the Bradners again, more than a year later. The Cracker Barrel this time. Yes, the change was slow, but slippery. Oh, I'm not alone. I'm not the first, of course. Others have encountered the same transformation. It happened to Jim Butler at some point, too - and many more - but I remember Butler especially well. Len was joking about a phone conversation that he and I had prior to his arrival in Carlisle and Jim Butler quickly posted in r.m.h, "You are at least one up on me Len. Curt turned his cell phone off after he gave me his number when I was in Oley for the antique motorcycle meet last year. Never did get in touch with him." Well, that stealthy Detroit steelmaker apparently wasn't stealthy enough to avoid the same fate that has come my way. Unconsciously, perhaps, I knew something was going on. I wasn't ready for the change. It was exhilarating but frightening at the same time. Like Jim Butler and others before me, I'd been slimed!
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