chairs at the same time.
Charles Fox gave the Quickie the high compliment of terming the Quickie “cerebral” to describe it’s incredible responsiveness. The Quickie GP pictured is a late 80s model with rigid rather than the more common (and flexy) folding frame. Cerebral is right- you can steer this chair by merely leaning, and deftly transferring weight will get you over or around all kinds of obstacles. Why? Because the link between the wheelchair and the wheeler’s brain is near direct, with little “noise” in the form of slop and flex muddling your commands. Same for communication with the road- pump the tires up to 100 PSI and they’ll not only roll easy, they’ll tell you an encyclopedia about the road you’re wheeling down.
Bigger and faster vehicles can be “cerebral” too… Like the next in line BMW F800S. I’d have put my Buell in the picture too, but it’s in Florida. Both Buell and BMW with the F800 series sought a “cerebral” feel via rigid frame, mass centralization, and providing direct communication between the rider and the bike with a minimum of interfering noise. I noticed this first when I switched from riding airheads to the Buell… Dang, feels a lot better without the “hinge in the middle”! The F800 is even more “cerebral”, with perfect rider positioning, weight distribution, etc.. So much so that I noticed that I didn’t feel comfortable riding any faster on my Guzzi Quota dual sport bike on dirt roads than I do on the F800S. While the Quota has gnarlier tires and long travel suspension, the F800S communicates and responds to rider inputs better than the Quota.
Last in line is my BMW R65LS and Motorvation Spyder sidecar, rapidly becoming my favorite. Why? Well, unlike most of the airheads, the R65s got stiffer triple trees, swingarms, etc. for a start. Then figure in the R65’s smaller but quicker to rev motor and lighter weight. Same with the sidecar- with a unit body it sits lower and gives about the lowest center of gravity possible with a sidecar combination. Add it all together, and it’s a sidecar combination that responds to the rider far better than most.
“Cerebral”… The more human and machine respond as one, the better! Thanks, Charles Fox.Mark was still muttering as he rounded the backcorner of the house. What was he even doinghere?
momentum kept him going for a fewsteps before his brain caught up.
Hey, wait. There'sa girl here.
kitten that took one look at Mark and darted away into the shadows.
frozen, arms still above her head, wristscrossed.  They were both breath ing quickly, as if they'd just disarmed a bomb.
"Hey, I hate country western, too," Mark said aftera minute, shrugging.
He'd never talked to a girl this way before. But then he'd never had a girl look scared of him before.
skin of her throat.
"I forgot," she said, dabbing at the corner of her eye. "You don't have the same rules we do."
celestial. It made her seem more human.
"Rules about any music from outside," she said. "And any TV, too."
Outside what? Mark thought. He said, "Uh, hi. I'm Mark Carter."
"I'm Jade Redfern."
"You're one of Mrs. Burdock's nieces."
"Yes. We just came last night. We're going to livehere."
Mark snorted and muttered, "You have my condolences."
"Condolences? Why?" Jade cast a darting glance around the garden.
"Because living in Briar Creek is just slightly moreexciting than living in a cemetery."
She gave him a long, fascinated look. "You've… lived in a cemetery?"
He gaveher along look. "Uh, actually, I just meant it's boring here."
we come from."
"And just wheredo you come from?"
"An island. It's sort of near …" She considered. "The state of Maine.
"Does this island have a name?"
She stared at him with wide green eyes. "Well, I can't tell youthat."
Dewitt High School would have a field day with that. They weren't very tolerant of differences.
trouble or something-then just tell me. Okay?"
Mark's heart jumped unexpectedly.
and Mark found it hard to breathe-and then her expression changed.
had frozen, body tense andtrembling, eyes fixed on the underbrush. She looked terrified.
goats that got loose; goats can jump over any kind of fence." She was shaking her head. "Or a deer.
When they're relaxed they sound just like people walking."
"It's not a deer," she hissed.
aroundwhere you come from-"
put his arms around the girl.
be safe there."
faced the bushes again. "Stay behind me."
Okay, so sheis crazy. I don't care. I think I love her.
He stood beside her. "Look, I'll fight, too. What doyou think it is? Bear, coyote …?""My brother."
Lake, when a scream ripped through the air.
finally stopped, there was a sobbing, moaning sound, then silence.
Mark got his breath and swore. "What in thewhat wasthat?"
"Shh. Keep still." Jade was in a half-crouch, eyes on the bushes.
want to bepetted. "Jade, whatever that thing is, we need agun.
her diction. She had her back to him and he couldn't see her face, but her hands were clawed.
"Jade,"Mark said urgently. He was scared enoughto run, but he couldn't leave her. He couldn't.
No good guy would do that.
Too late. The blackberry bushes to the south quivered. Parted. Something was coming through.
Mark's heart seemed to freeze solid, but then he found himself moving. Pushing Jade roughly aside.
Standing in front of her to face whatever the thing in the dark was.
him as fast as possible and getting away from here.
of a girl, his arms lifted like a basketball guard. As if to protect her from Mary-Lynnette.
And then, so quickly that Mary-Lynnette could barely follow the motion, the girl was rushing at her.
And Mary-Lynnette was throwing her arms up and Mark was shouting, "No, that's my sister!"
Mary-Lynnette.She won't hurt you. Mare, tell her you won't hurther."
silvery-made Mary-Lynnette's skin rise ingoose pimples.
"Hello," Jade said.
"Hello. Okay, Mark, c'mon. We've got to go. Like right now."
where it came from?"
MaryLynnette a grave, sweet smile, and opened the front door.
came down from Willamette Forest."
heard one before." She looked at MaryLynnette. "Is that what you think it was?"
she just wanted to get out.
"Mark, please …"
over again sometime?"
for the blackberry bushes that she'd trampled coming in.
the back of the garden. She would never have seen it unless she knew what to look for.
As they reached the hedge, Mark turned to glance behind him. Mary-Lynnette turned, too.
like a silver halo. It shimmered around her. MaryLynnette heard Mark draw in his breath.
said. She gave us very strict orders before she went on vacation."
Mary-Lynnette was dumbfounded.
"Mark, what happened when you got into the garden?"
Mark was looking preoccupied. "What do you mean what happened? Nothing happened."
"Did you look at the place that was dug up?"
other girls ever come out?"
was there the whole time." He looked at her darkly. "You're not still on this Rear Windowthing, are you?"
Mary-Lynnette didn't answer. She was trying to gather her scattered thoughts.
I don't believe it. Butshe said it. Orders about the goats. Before her aunt went on vacation.
she was winging it with the vacation business….
he thought of this. "Mary-Lynnette, what'swrongwith you?"
vacation just when they arrived in town."
"So? Jade said the same thing."
shetake one starting the same day her nieces come to live with her?"
"Maybe because they can house-sit for her," Mark said with devastating logic.
about the goats, but now she didn't want to.
before you run to Sheriff Akers.
girls for some reason, and then you forgot logic completely. You didn't get any kind of hard evidence.
She could hardly go to the sheriff and. say that shewas suspicious because Rowan had creepy feet.
There's no evidence at all. Nothing except … She groaned inwardly.
"It all comes down to what's in the garden," shesaid out loud.
Mark, who had been walking beside