"What's this?" the kid at the filling station asked at Henry's obvious pocket watch.
Morgan took the watch out of the kid's view and stuffed it in the pocket of his leather jacket. "Let's just say I have an appreciation for fine machines no matter what they are."
"I hear that," he said, looking over Henry's shoulder to the motorcycle he'd ridden in on. "Going anywhere in particular?"
"Wherever the road takes me," he said, paying the kid what he owed for the gas and some chewing gum.
Then Henry went out to his bike to give it one last inspection and make sure all the parts were working right. As much as he hated cars, he loved the ferocity of his bike. He wiped at his face, redistributing the dirt there, but for once he didn't care. He'd had a light colored scarf in his saddlebags, but he left it alone. No scarf needed to be treated that harshly.
As he was wrapping up with his bike, an old truck and a car drove up on opposite sides of him. He saw a college coed get out and look at the machine and pass a glance quickly over him. Henry gave her a cursory nod.
"Doc, are you going through a midlife crisis?" the hard voice of Detective Hanson asked him as he stood near the pump.
The incongruity of seeing him away from work almost left Henry speechless. As he thought of his answer, Karen Hanson was looking him up and down with an expression Mike was perhaps better off not seeing. Henry was a dirty man in a way that appealed to certain kind of woman. Especially a housewife with rambunctious children. Henry didn't mind her casual objectification. Instead, he leaned back against the bike, and spoke to Hanson.
"What are you doing, Detective?"
"Off to visit the in-laws upstate," he said with a nod backwards over his shoulder to his wife. "Why are you riding this contraption?"
"Spite," Henry said eventually.
"That's as good of a reason as any," Hanson said has he hung up the gas pump.
"Have a safe trip," Morgan said. Then to Mrs. Hanson he said, "Nice to see you, Karen."
He walked by and turned, giving her the full view. Then he zipped his leather jacket and donned his helmet before getting out of the filling station. He and the Hanson family were heading in the opposite direction, and there was still a lot of road that needed Henry's attention.