Parting

I didn't know that the day would come so soon.

I had to sell off my motorbike.

Since I'm going to be in Australia, there will be no use for my motorbike so my father had asked his colleagues whether anyone wanted to buy it and a Malay guy had shown some interest.

My dad told me about it the night before I was to bring it to his office and show it to the guy. In the morning I gave my baby one last shower. Scrubbed off all the dirt and made the chrome shine with a cloth. Wow. Looking back on all those memories together... all the places we went together and all the bumps and cracks it sustained during our time together

I even remembered the time I had my two accidents; two cracks on the plastic fitting at the side of the motor had brought about this memory. I cleaned up the outside of the helmet box and rubbed off the mud from the exhaust pipe.

When I first got my baby it was already about 2 years old. Two previous owners had used it before me. One was a Malay guy who stayed in Kg Sg. Kayu Ara and the second one was my brother. Yep, I inherited the motorbike from him.

And by that time it had already clocked about 21,000km on its mileage. That day it stood at around 53,300km.

We have been together for the past 31,300km. Man, what a long journey.

We've visited places as far North as Gombak, as far West as Shah Alam and as far south as Putrajaya and Cyberjaya. I've taken my baby to high school and college, to important events in my life such as coming out as a PLU, even carried my ex. So many people have sat on it as a pillion rider, from my own father to some of my str8 girlfriends.

Sometimes I forget how much time we had really spent with one another. And yet after all these years (almost 5 years, to be exact) it was time to say goodbye

I can admit that some people say that having emotions towards inanimate objects is a silly thing to do. But I don't feel so especially if that object has been in your possession long enough and it has made a significant change in your life. For me, my baby has done many things that I wouldn't have done on my own.

After all those adventures we had together, baby had suffered a lot of damage. Although I had changed the spark plug the engine wasn't as sweet as I'd hoped it to be. Some of the metal parts had begun to rust and the tyres balding. Many scratches were sustained on its sides and even some on the helmet case. The white body had become a light yellow tint and the basket was slightly bent due to the impact of the second motorcycle accident that I had. The front mudguard was scratched and I don't know where it came from. The brakes were dying off and sometimes the motor would jump when I changed gears. I suspect the gears weren't working too well.

I drove my baby to my dad's office for the last time. Ironically there was a large traffic jam along the way so I got to prolong the period of "togetherness" with baby.

Finally I got the guy and he brought along a group of friends. He said that he knew nothing about motorcycles so his "friends" would help to access the motor condition for him. They revved up the motorcycle, took it for spins, played with its double stand, and checked the sides and the wheels... I felt as though they were outraging the modesty of my baby.

But what could I do. I had no choice. I handed over the keys and the Road Tax form to the guy and he gave me back RM600 for the bike. Apparently the sum had been negotiated with my dad and the money was for me to take to Australia.

That was the last time I saw baby.

I deposited the money into my account and suddenly I felt like a huge part of me had been taken away... ripped off my torso and sold off to another man. I felt empty.

I miss him already.

I hope that he will be taken care off and will enjoy the last of his days.