Page 30 of Nuts

“Does it hurt?”

“Not so much anymore.”

He took another quick look. “That’s cool.”

It was that simple. He didn’t dispute my claim, stare, or ask any other questions.

Throughout the course of our busy morning, a few of the customers asked, but that was it. Upon hearing a bee stung me, they all replied in the same manner.

It was unfortunate.

As I watched Percy walk across the sales floor, my heart initially raced. And then, it sank. Lying to him about my eye wasn’t going to be as easy. And, he wasn’t going to be near as gullible.

He stepped up the counter, leaned forward, and looked me over. “How’s it going?”

“Good.”

His eyes remained fixed on my cheek. “Didn’t see you all weekend. Everything okay?”

“Yeah. Everything’s great. Why?”

He shifted his gaze to meet mine. “Just wondering.”

“What brings you in?”

He took another look at my cheek and then dropped his eyes to the counter. “Looking for a one-piece dash. Got to be H-D, not an aftermarket fucker. I’ve seen an aluminum one. Polished. It’s got flutes that run the length of it. Baseball card deal went well, and I want to give the old chrome on a toss.”

“Your tank isn’t stretched, is it?”

I knew it wasn’t, but I asked anyway.

“No.” He looked up. “Standard tank.”

“Hold on a sec,” I said.

I pulled up the color catalog, went to the page of dashes, and turned the monitor so we both could see it.

I pointed to one of the polished aluminum custom dashes that Harley-Davidson offered. “This one?”

“Like that one, but fluted.”

I looked at the three on the following page, none of which were fluted. After a quick check on the internet, I determined the dash he wanted was discontinued.

I clicked on a Google image, enlarged it, and then pointed to the screen. “Like that?”

“That’s it.”

“Discontinued.”

“What the fuck for?”

“Hard saying with Harley. Could have been a great seller, and they pulled it because they wanted to introduce something else. Might not have sold well because of the cost. It could be anything. Want me to see if I can find one in stock somewhere?”

“What’s it cost?”

“$229.30”

“Shit. I figured it’d be $500. Fuck yeah. See if you can find it somewhere.”