A very Baja Christmas

What the hell was that?” my dad asked. “I couldn’t find the break in time, switch my right and left hands” I yelled above the engine noise. I hit the kill button and extracted myself from the Baja mini motorbike. I noticed dirt on my sleeve and lower arm and a big scrape that started on my upper thigh, disconnected and then began again on the inside of my ankle. I’d thought about the effects of smothering heat verses possible motorbike injury when I’d gotten dressed this morning, but it seems my calculations had been wrong.

We’d been testing out the presents my parents were giving themselves for Christmas when I’d hit the broad side of the local psychics air conditioning unit. The unit seemed fine but the bike had lost a headlight and added a major scratch to the wheel cover. “Your mother is going to be upset when she sees you’ve maimed her bike!” my father said enthusiastically. I noticed that he didn’t volunteer his as a replacement. “We can buff that scratch out, and I suppose we should tighten the breaks up, they might have been a little loose”.

We did that and then took off toward the water irrigation system, where we spent the next hour riding around the bayou and the surrounding long fields, forests and muddy tracks. As I blinked dust out of my eyes I thought that it wouldn’t be so bad being a daddy’s girl, if this is the sort of activity one participates in.

Later though, when mom found out she was less thrilled “you took my Christmas present out and played with it before Christmas, ran it into things and got it dirty in the bayou? I haven’t even seen it yet!” she said, waving her arms around as an emphasis to her point.
Dad seemed unfazed and continued eating his dinner so I showed her my scrapes “see” I said “we were test driving it for you, working out the kinks” I said “and now you know that driving over a small tree isn’t a good idea” I pointed to my blood-crusted left ankle “you should probably wear pants instead of shorts and maybe get a helmet for safety’s sake”. “And remember where the breaks are should an air conditioning unit pop up unexpectedly” my father added. I rubbed my right leg at the memory and mom put her arms down as a sign that she’d given up.