One-Eleven

One-Eleven
By
Jesse J Burton

i

Adam worked the evening shift, baking at Tim Hortons, three till eleven every night, Monday through Friday and the odd Saturday when the help was needed. Twenty-two years old, he lived on his own in an apartment above a convenience store on Thirty-First Street, a fifteen-minute bike ride to work. Adam wasn’t anti-social, he just had a low self-esteem. He was the butt of every joke in school, or so it seemed to him, never giving him the chance to learn how to make friends. Due to his quiet nature he didn’t make many friends at work. If asked about him his co-workers all came to the same conclusion, “Loner.”

When his parents decided to move to California last year, Adam decided that he wanted to stay in Calgary. He loved his job, and he loved the small town feel of the big city.

“LA is just to crowded, besides I like to ride at night, I couldn’t do that and feel safe in such a huge city” he had told them.

They helped him find his apartment and gave him enough money to get himself started on his own. Although they worried about him, they knew that he was more than capable of surviving on his own, they also secretly hoped that his new found independence would give him the confidence he needed to make friends, or perhaps even meet a lady friend.

Adam had even less luck with women than he did with friends. The closest thing he ever had to a relationship was playing spin the bottle at a party back in high school. He later found out that his kiss from Susan was actually just a bet made by the rest of the group that a girl would actually kiss him.

Between his acne and being slightly overweight Adam was quite easily picked on. Sure there were kids that had worse acne then him and kids who weighed a lot more then he ever did, but none that had quite so little self-worth. For graduation his parents bought him a bike. They offered to help him get his driver’s license and find a car but he only wanted a bike, and so that is what he got, A bright red K2 Mountain bike. He graduated with decent grades and started work immediately at Tim Horton’s.

Bike riding had always been passion for him, back and forth to work everyday, as well as several long distance rides on the weekend. It was a sport that he could enjoy on his own, and that was the way he liked it.

After two years of dedicated part-time service he was offered a full time evening position. Adam was very excited about his new shift, it meant he could sleep in everyday, and bike at night, when the streets were quiet.

“Have a good night Adam” Tom his supervisor told him as he made his way from the washroom to the exit after changing out of his uniform for the night.

“Thanks, you too” he replied.

Every night it was the same routine. Leaving through the loading door into the alley where his bike was locked up to a waterline that ran out of the building and into the ground. Turning the combination plates over in his hand until the proper order was found and the lock released itself, Adam then un-wrapped the vinyl covered chain and re-wrapped it neatly around the frame of his bike. At exactly three minutes after eleven every night Adam mounted his bike and began his ride home. Sometimes this ride lasted only the short fifteen minutes straight back to his house, in which case he was home and in bed before midnight. Other times, more often than not, Adam took the long way home, not any long way in particular, in-fact there was seldom a time that Adam rode the exact same way more then once. Up and down the streets and avenues in and out of what little traffic there was on the roads. He knew enough to stay away from the main drags where the bars were located and traffic didn’t seem to cease until well into the morning. His favorite ride however was along the river paths, after all of the dog walkers and recreational joggers were long gone for the night.

The river path crossed a bridge and then came to an intersection where the quiet, semi-rural, park setting merged once again with the hustle and bustle of downtown. Memorial drive, being one of the cities main roads, was often busy right through the night, particularly on the weekends. The lights changed quickly enough that it never took long to get across.

Once across the intersection Adam could see home. The shop was on the corner of a bend, which could easily be seen from the far side of the intersection.

Rob’s Convenience Store in big red letters adorned a sign above the entrance. Two windows full of various pop and candy-bar ads were all that broke up the rust red bricks that made up the rest of the lower level. Adam always found the name funny since the owner’s name was definitely not Rob, If it had been Rob, Adam could have pronounced it, Instead his name was Kumer Al Brar or something close to that. The store having remained Rob’s Convenience Store through four owners. The original, being the only Rob, and the only proprietor to have actually lived above the establishment. Adam was the sixth person in as many years to call the small apartment home.

The tenant’s entrance was in the alley out back. Past the phone booth that looked more like a bar toilet at the end of a Saturday night then anything resembling a telephone. Past the dumpster that waited to be emptied each Friday morning, and finally up the fire escape type stairs that scaled the rear wall to his front door.

When Adam first moved in he would carry his bike up the stairs, but after lugging it up a couple hundred times he decided that a good lock would be sufficient protection against theft, and so started locking it to a pipe on the back wall behind the dumpster.

The past few weeks had been very exciting for Adam. The purchase of a new computer and an Internet connection allowed him contact with the outside world in a way that he felt comfortable. Every site in Adam’s bookmarks fell into one of two categories, Mountain Bikes, and Chat rooms. He always met interesting people late at night after his bike rides, people like him who also had no use for society, people who couldn’t fit in, couldn’t find their place in the world.
Two major things happened recently in Adams life. The purchase of a brand new K2 21 speed mountain bike, blue this time, and the meeting of Mary, a girl from Edmonton who shared his inability to fit in with the world.

ii

Mary was very attractive looking with her dark eyes and her long, straight, light over dark colored hair; however her keep-to-herself attitude kept her from making many friends, or boyfriends for that matter.

After working as a waitress to put herself through business school she landed a job at a large insurance company downtown. Having grown up in Edmonton she was glad to have found a job there.

She had lived on her own in the house that she grew up in since the plane crash that killed her parents five years before. Having just turned eighteen at the time, her family lawyer suggested selling the house for fear that she would not be able to afford the bills. Determined to keep the house that her parents had worked so hard for she used the money she got from their life insurance policy to pay off the house and have enough left over to cover property taxes for at least three years. Tips paid for the rest of the bills; this allowed her entire income to go towards schooling.

The contact with the restaurant patrons had basically been her only social life through college. Even now she preferred to chat online then to talk too people in person. After putting in her usual ten-hour day at the office she usually ate out then went to a local coffee shop to read for anywhere from half an hour to most of the night. The coffee shop closed at eleven and more often then not closed with Mary walking out the door saying goodnight to the staff with her nose still shoved in her book.

After taking two buses home she arrived a block her house. Whitemud Ave. was known as the artsy area of Edmonton. “The Fringe” being just one of numerous outdoor events that were held each year along the street, performers from all across Canada come to showcase their many talents. Mary loved the outdoor entertainment and usually spent a lot of her time at the fringe during the week it was on. The street stayed busy through the night sometimes not resting until two or three in the morning.

After getting home, no matter what time it was Mary checked her E-mail as well as the many personal sites that she frequently visited. Most recently to get her messages from Adam, the perfect loner from Calgary.

iii

“Have a good night Adam” Tom his supervisor told him as he made his way from the washroom to the exit after changing out of his uniform for the night.

“Thanks, you too” he replied.

Adam left through the back door as usual and unlocked his bike. It was twelve thirty AM; Adam had put in an hour-and-a-half overtime as per Tom’s request. The shipment was late that afternoon and so the baking was behind.

Wide-awake and ready to ride he took off down the street and through a poorly lit alley that appeared to be deserted upon first inspection. Adam rode slowly, keeping an eye out for anything that might jump out of the shadows when something did just that, almost scaring him off his bike.

Adam didn’t even notice the boxes lying there let alone the cat that was obviously hiding in them waiting for his approach. Black as the shadow that had hidden it from his view the feline fled faster then the heart that was now rapidly beating inside Adam’s chest.

“You scared the shit out of me cat!” Adam called, then took several deep breaths and laughed aloud as he resumed his ride through the alley.

The ride through the park seemed darker tonight, perhaps due to his frightening encounter with his dark feline friend or perhaps for another reason.

“Always look on the briii-ight sii-ide of life….” Adam sang his rendition of the Monty Python song; as he rode along to keep his mind off the darkness that confined the light to the small cones beneath the lampposts.

It was at that intersection that night that Adam saw something that would forever change his life.

Rarely did Adam ever see anyone on the path, especially this late at night, so when he saw the person riding up ahead it came as a surprise to him, even more so since he could swear the person hadn’t been there before. The rider rode a red bike; Adam recognized it because it was the exact same bike that he had parked in his apartment. The thought that this person may have stolen his bike crossed his mind, but soon passed due to the un-likeliness of the idea. As the rider approached the intersection and glanced down at his watch, curious himself as to what time it was, Adam did the same. One-eleven a.m., The time he would remember as the time that he saw the impossible.

The sound of the horn sent Adam’s heart into a race. As he looked up to see what was happening, the rider still looking at his watch, didn’t have time to see the car racing through the intersection toward him. Adam prepared for the worst, he was going to see someone get run down and no doubt killed considering the speed at which the vehicle was moving. That’s when it happened, right when the inevitable came to a head everything was gone. The rider on the bike that looked exactly like his own. The car that was racing through the intersection, even the sound of the horn stopped instantly. Adam couldn’t believe what he had or had not seen. He rode to the end of the path and looked all around the now empty street, not a car in sight. There was no one around anywhere within eyesight. Shaken, Adam made the rest of the trip home.

iv

Weeks went by, Mary and Adam got to know each other quite well, eventually they started phoning each other every night. Adam had told her about what happened the night of the bizarre almost car accident and they both figured that he must have just been over-tired.

“It seemed so real” He had told her

“The mind is a powerful thing, it doesn’t take much for it to come up with a convincing illusion, especially when you had already been startled that night” Mary told him. He had also told her about the cat that almost caused him a change of shorts.

He loved their talks, he wanted to meet her but not having a vehicle made it tough. He thought about taking the bus but didn’t want to come across too forward. He had never met anyone he talked to online and was afraid of how she would take it if he told her that he wanted to meet her. She felt the same way.

One-eleven a.m., more often then not this was the time that either Adam or Mary called the other, not on purpose, it just seemed to happen. At first they were surprised by how frequent it happened, eventually it became a ritual. At one-eleven a.m. Adam was home from his nightly bike ride, time to call Mary. At one-eleven a.m. Mary was back from the coffee shop, time to call Adam.

v

It was almost time for Adam to get to work. He made his way down the stairs and unlocked his bike before realizing that the front tire was flat. After checking his watch he knew he didn’t have time to change it so he went back upstairs to get his good old red K2. He kept it in his bedroom due to the lack of space, several times he thought about getting rid of it, today he was glad that he hadn’t. On his way back out he noticed the light blinking on his answering machine. Pressing the button marked listen he did as the button suggested.

“Hey you, I know you’re on your way to work right now which is why I’m leaving you this message, by the time you get it tonight I will be in Calgary. I have business there next week so I figured I‘d come out early and spend the weekend with you, I hope that’s all right. I may even be there before you get this message, I have a few things to take care of after work but I should be there sometime late, I’ll probably end up ringing the door bell at one-eleven, just to keep up the tradition. I can’t wait to see you in person! Hope you had a great day at work, ciao for now.”

Adam was overwhelmed with joy, he couldn’t wait to meet her. Best of all, he didn’t have to make the first step, she was coming to him. His apprehensions about telling her that he wanted to meet her were gone. Tonight he would meet her for the first time in person.

After a hectic day at work Mary got home and packed her bags. It was ten o’clock before she made it downstairs and got into the car that she rented for her ‘business trip.’ She did have business in Calgary, however it was not for work. She had wanted to meet Adam for some time now but was afraid to tell him. She figured if he thought she had to be there anyway, he wouldn’t get freaked out that she came all the way just to see him. She had to drive quickly if she wanted to make it there by one-eleven. She drove twenty kilometers over the speed limit hoping not to run into any police.

Adam got off work at his usual time, he wanted to go straight home but decided that sitting at home would drive him crazy with anticipation so he decided to go for a bike ride instead.

He was halfway through the alley before he realized that he hadn’t taken this route home since the crazy night that made one-eleven so significant. A chill slid down his spine once again as the same cat jumped from the same boxes. His scare wasn’t quite as bad as last time because he half expected the cat to be there.

His old bike rode as good as new, making him wonder if his new bike was really worth the money that he spent, he concluded that it was worth having two bikes anyway for nights such as this.

The park was deserted as usual, however he felt as though someone was watching him. It didn’t feel like someone was hiding in the bushes or that someone had their eye on him from across the river, this was different, this didn’t feel so much like a person watching him, as it did that a presence was lurking all around.

No traffic on the road as he expected, soon he would be home, and soon he would be meeting Mary.

Mary made it to Calgary in record time. She had his address from the envelope that he sent her with a picture of himself in it, she had done the same for him. Having been to Calgary on several occasions she knew the city enough that it wasn’t hard for her to find the main streets which took her to where she was going. The clock on her dash read seven minutes after one Am as she pulled into downtown with four minutes to spare, now she just had to find the street that he lived on.

The lack of traffic gave Mary the time to read the street signs as they went by. She had no doubts that she would make it to his door at exactly one-eleven. Between her thoughts of finally getting to meet the man that she spent so much time getting to know, and trying to find the right street to turn, she didn’t see the bike enter the intersection until it was too late.

Adam flew out of the park in fear that Mary would already be at his home waiting. He glanced down at his watch. The last thing he saw was the digital display on his watch before he heard the horn. One-eleven a.m.