and the land fed them through the Depression until his death, when the Colonel assumed possession of the homestead. Having never had an interest in farming or anything non-combat-related, the Colonel allowed the fields to grow into pastures. He and Patty purchased a few cows and one angry and disgruntled mule and set them about in the pasture. The livestock was not so much for any agricultural purpose but to appease the Thomas County purists who preached of a farming community.
An old red barn behind the home was the sacred lodge and meeting place every afternoon for the Colonel and Seven. School was a necessary nuisance that Seven endured so that he may one day have the basic knowledge and credentials to fly helicopters, but other than as a social resource for meeting girls he really had no use for it. The barn was his real school. He rushed to it every afternoon after school and all day during the summer for his advanced masculine classes taught by the master.
The afternoons were spent learning the basic workings of the internal combustion engine, proper techniques for applying house paint, and bicycle building and design. The bicycle-building class came about after Seven discovered a dusty old two-wheeler in the loft of the barn. The Colonel inspected the battered machine and began to tell his grandson stories of flight and adventure with the bike when he was just about twelve years old, coincidently the same age as Seven when he found the relic. The Colonel was midway through the telling of his first adventure on the vehicle when Seven conceived the restoration project. Always fascinated by anything the Colonel flew, drove, or rode, Seven politely declined the offer of a new bicycle in order to revive the rusted and ancient vehicle of his idol. The restoration project was given birth on a warm July afternoon amid stories of the Colonel’s various travels aboard the bike, seeking adventure and pursuing the affections of the lovely ladies of Thomas County, Georgia.
The project lasted from late July until the end of August. The rush to complete the work was compounded by the Colonel’s self-imposed deadline to have his grandson ride the restored bicycle to