PART VII CINDY GOES CRAZY

Mario turned over and looked at the two women as Cindy let out a seductive wink. After exhaling a deep drag from his cigarette, the biker slowly took off his gloves walked over to their table.

"Excuse me ladies", Mario said in a grovel voice", I don't mean to intrude."

"No intrusion what so ever", Cindy insisted as she pulled out a chair.

Cindy gave a big smile while Penny looked toward the door without muttering a word.

"I've been coming into this greasy spoon for the last two years and I've never seen you here before."

"Cindy", she said as she eagerly exerted as she extended her hand, "and this is my friend, Penny."

Penny politely shook his hand in and then returned her attention to the door. This kind of encounter was not expected and moreover, could jeopardize the mission.

"Mario", he replied.

"Tell me Mario", Cindy asked as propped her elbows on the table holding up her chin, "What does a guy who rides a big motorcycle do?"

Mario took the last puff from his cigarette and buried it into the ash tray.

"I'm stationed out here at Moffett Field", he replied. "I'm a chief navel officer."

"Wow", Cindy replied like a young teenybopper.

Mario pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and smacked it against his hand, jarring one of out them out. He then held the pack toward Cindy. She instinctively pulled the loose smoke from the pack and put it into her mouth.

"Cindy!" Penny whispered in disbelief, "I didn't know you smoked!"

"There is a lot of things you don't know about me, Penny", Cindy replied as Mario flicked his lighter to her cigarette. Penny just shook her head and looked toward the door.

"You don't sound like you're not from around here", Mario inserted.

"Actually", Cindy replied as she blew out the smoke from her cigarette, "I'm originally from the San Fernando Valley."

"An LA woman", Mario chuckled.

"What's a matter with being an LA woman?" Cindy jokingly protested as she lightly tapped his arm.

"Nothin' at all", Mario smiled, "How long have you been here in the Valley?"

"Since sixty six", Cindy blurted out without thinking of their alternative time period.

Mario looked confused as Penny's ears perked up.

"Since sixty LA citizens were killed in that horrible flood", Cindy scrambled to explain the number, "That was in 1922, the year I was born."

Mario still didn't say anything as the waitress approached.

"The usual, Mario?" the waitress asked as she held the pad of paper.

"Ah", he responded after breaking a deep train of thought, "I haven't yet decided."

He pulled the cigarette pack from his pocket, pulled out a smoke and lit it.

"Wanna blow this joint?" Mario asked.

Cindy gave Penny the keys to the Buick and decided to spend a little time with her new friend. Mario was a tough talker with that big Harley Davidson motorcycle. But behind the facade, she saw a man of integrity and principle, a quality rarely seen in 2002.

Cindy gets a ride on a Harley

Cindy had never ridden on a motorcycle before. As she climbed up to the big machine, Cindy worked to get her footing on the rear pegs. Mario rose up and stomped down, igniting the V-twin motor. The vibration was so intense, it felt like a jack hammer had ignited. He pulled the stick shift forward, engaged the suicide clutch and vehicle lunged forward.

Holding onto Mario for dear life, he shifted the motorcycle's gears onto the two lane Bayshore Highway until the bike reached the cruising speed. Cindy could feel the back of the scarf whipping her neck as the motorcycle roared down the road. For once, she was depending on someone else- a man- to ensure her safety, and it felt good.

As Mario and Cindy approached Lawrence Station Road to stop at the red signal light, a beat up 1949 Studebaker pulled beside them. Four kids an crew cuts had their AM radio turned up to a Gene Vincent song.

"Hey Dad", one of the kids shouted out, "Nice scooter."

"I hate this Rock'n Roll crap", Mario muttered under his breath.

Cindy reached over and pulled the cigarette from Mario's mouth and took a slow drag herself. She let out a small cough as she exhaled.

A few minutes later, Mario steered the big motorcycle into the Moffett Field Navel Air Station. This was a large air base facility with three hangers, the largest originally designed for dirigibles.

Riding onto the airfield, he passed a group of small parked jets and eventually pulled beside the right hanger. A chubby man with a cigar man peaked out of one of the small windows along the side offices.

"Skipper", he shouted out, "What are you doing here?"

"Came to get my truck, Jackson", Mario responded, "I want you to meet my new friend."

"How do, mam. You better watch this guy", Jackson said with a wink.

"Don't worry", Jackson, Cindy answered as she shook his hand, "I can be very sweet, but then I will turn around and slap your face hard."

"Ahh", Jackson laughed. Mario looked a little sheepish as Cindy just glared at him.

Parked at the Drive-in movies

An hour later, Mario and Cindy were in his 1949 Chevy truck parked at the Palo Alto Drive-in Theater. The movie playing was "Bernardine", starring Pat Boone and Terry Moore. The two were sitting on their ends of the truck's bench seat..

"Cindy", Mario whispered, "Ah, you seemed a little serious back there."

She didn't answer.

"Women", he thought to himself as he pulled out a cigarette. They both looked at the drive-in movie screen without saying anything, as Pat Boone sung a song on the tinny speaker.

"Mario", Cindy whispered to break the long silence.

He took a drag from his cigarette and looked at her.

"You may lay your head here", Cindy said in a soft voice, pointing to her lap.

Mario buried the smoke in the dash ash tray and repositioned himself. Slowly, he brought his head down to her warm lap. Cindy gently began to caress his head, although she had this little shakiness about her.

"You have a soft touch", Mario sighed as he felt his blood pressure drop in the cozy surroundings.

"Shhh", Cindy whispered.

It felt good as her gentle fingers worked around his head. Mario became so relaxed that he soon almost fell a sleep.

Cindy was a strange bird, but without a doubt, a very special woman. In a sense, however, he felt she was just too good for him.

After the movie was over, Mario drove the old truck up to the Half Moon Bay beach. Parked on the edge of a cliff, they both held each other close while the ocean waves hit the shore.

"Have you ever been married, Cin", Mario asked.

"No", Cindy replied.

"I find that a little hard to believe", he said holding her close and smelling her sweet auburn hair.

"And you?" Cindy asked.

"About seventeen years ago when I got out of high school", Mario said below his lips.

"Well what happened?" Cindy quizzed.

"I was young and stupid", Mario responded as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

As the night progressed to dawn, the two continued getting to know one another.

Cindy felt comfortable under this tender man's arms. In all his years of fast dating, Mario had never met such a fine woman as Cindy Taylor.

NEXT: PART VIII CINDY ENCOUNTERS SIDNEY BEKON