Journey to Love 1
A Messerschmitt KR200 is a car made just after WWII it has a Sachs 2stroke 10 horsepower engine.
While the car is a key character in the story it is the vehicle for Jack 19 and Sophie, 18, estranged brother and sister to fall in love. This is a slow burn romance as the two journey into love.
Journey to Love. Part 1.
Love is always a journey. Some fall into it, some are blindsided by love. Sometimes the journey takes one into the forbidden.
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Jack
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"I'm not going in that! Particularly not going in that with you."
These were the first words I ever heard from my Sister, well in eighteen years. Presumably she only uttered goos and gaas when last in my presence. I normally lived in Western Australia. Sophie, who uttered these words, lives in inner Melbourne. In fact we had not met since our parents parted company when we were small. I mean by that, she was one and I was two. No, we had never really met. That was until this fateful day when our wisened old Grandpa called the family together to divide up the inheritance before he passed away.
Well I think he had a few years in him yet, but the cranky old bugger had an apparent mischievous nature. He was mum's side of the family. It was some sort of device to divide things up in front of him so the problems of family fighting could be resolved without legal battles. But it was soon to become apparent there would be other battles to be fought.
Mum and Dad, technically and here after called Deborah and Brad, had what all thought was a perfectly romantic relationship and marriage. The result being, after a few years trying I came along. The I being called Jack. And followed, in Irish twin style, my little sister Sophie. But the strain of two small kids brought the romance to a halt. Apparently Mum and Dad had irreconcilable differences. So much so that Dad went off to Western Australia with me the son. Deborah kept Sophie, particularly as she was still on the breast at the time.
Grandpa, old Gus, tried to get them to see sense but to no avail. The parentals were determined to make life easier than navigating mutual shared access, while still sharing the cost of raising two kids. Dad got a job in Boulder WA, working the mines. Deborah, I really can't call her mum, left Sydney to work as a office girl in Melbourne. No communication and no nothing for eighteen years.
Old Gus did yearly visits to both of us. All I really remember were wonderful, holidays with him in Geraldton, Albany and similar Western holiday spots. Mostly this involved fishing with him and going on little adventures in whatever car Dad owned at the time.
Sophie told me later that she had similar holidays. But they normally involved coffee shops and buying new cloths for the year ahead. Gus was Deborah's birth Father so he had a special relationship that my Dad missed out on. My dad passed away on a FIFO flight out to an oil rig two years ago. I was at uni. So I became independent. Dad had remarried, so I struck out in gaining much inheritance. My university fees were paid but not much else.
Was Dad a miner? Well no! He quickly moved up into engineering, so I was raised more as a private school kid than an rough and tumble redneck. It appears that Sophie and I were to inherit a lot of Gramp's wealth, but the 'go in that' was some sick gateway to that wealth.
'That' was not a car! We walked around it with our jaws scrapping the driveway. That, that odd bubble with googley eyes. It looked like a Second World War plane cockpit on three wheels. What was the actual body of the vehicle was a ridiculous cannery lemon yellow.
I hadn't really laid eyes on Sophie properly yet. She spent much of her time hiding behind her mum as if she was a shy three year old. Yet I was supposed to ride off into the sunset in that thing, on an adventure to get to know my sister. I didn't think I could trust that thing. But I'm certain that Sophie was worse off, as she had to trust me also. Some random guy, from now on to be called brother, with life and limb.
We circled the car on opposite sides, sussing out both the car and each other. Sophie had a hoody on and looked at me suspiciously through appropriately hanging bangs. I couldn't see much.
Grandpa had a cheeky grin all over his face. The truth was we both loved him dearly. We both knew him well enough. We both trusted him until now. So what had changed? Why was he doing this?
There was a carrot of inheritance. Not that either of us knew what that really meant or added up to. It wasn't some sort of million dollar race the winner gets all. It was cooperate or nothing.
It was a quest to find out about my sister. In truth, that was the carrot for me. I sort of knew I had a sister. I was the older one and always had a hole in my heart for a sibling lost in the fog of time. Dad never talked about it. She could have been a brother for all I really knew.
Was I the confident one? Shit no. I was a bit of a loner. Dad working often on the mines. It meant I was farmed out for weeks at a time. This was to his relatives who lived in Perth, or Narrogin, or were ever the hell they lived, when it was their turn to keep me for a while. While I wasn't orphaned, I certainly felt like I was. Different houses, different rules, and different cousins to learn to play with. So I was used to adapting and surviving. Hopefully that would help see us through this coming quest. When I had grown up enough, I was put in boarding school. This meant much less strain on the family and friends. I think Grandpa probably paid for the boarding school.
We both received an envelope last night. It was marked top secret and confidential. I assume both of ours were the same or similar. Except for Grandpa's personal letter to me. This letter was actually very special and sort of showed Grandpa knew me well enough to trust his precious granddaughter to my care. More on that later. But the rest outlined the duck's guts of the nature of the challenge. Without the whys and wherefores.
There was a list of places to visit. Along with longitude and latitudes for each location. As neither of us ever lived in NSW, we had no idea where we were going or what we were to experience when we got there. We had to take a selfie, of us together, at each location and post it to Gramps. Sixteen locations, and presumably sixteen places to stay at when we got there. We didn't have any time limits, but it was suggested we take our time and enjoy the journey.
The thing looked like a peddle car. I could see a bike handle bar, as in a pushbike type handle bar through the canopy. Shit, I said out loud, and immediately got down on my stomach looking for the peddles. Thank god there were none.
So I gave the thing the once over. There was a motor in the back. But it looked like a lawn mower motor. I had done some lawn mowing and actually reconditioned an old lawn mower when I was thirteen.
I could tell this was a two stroke. It also looked like it had a motorbike type enclosed chain drive to the single back wheel. It had two wheels up front. Rather like those big motor bike three wheelers that you see now and then. I think BMW make one. That was as far as the comparison went.
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Sophie.
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My first impressions was ugly cute. Or is that cute but ugly. As I circled around opposite Jack, I guess he was sort of cute in a, I would never go out with him, ugly sort of way. While he wasn't tall, he was gangly, wiry, and sort of fit. Unkept wind swept hair tainted with the bleaching sun. Not surfer, more farm boy, but not built. He sort of matched the car, cute in a way but ugly. Not something I would consider taking a ride on. Oops, I meant in. The thought made me blush a bit. I quickly squashed the thought, particularly as the idea of being squashed in that thing with him was frightening.
So I had a brother, a big brother. All my life spent thinking I was an only child, this was a shock. But I was also quietly pleased. I had always wanted a brother, a big brother. I often found myself jealous of my friends who had big brothers. I'm glad he was older. The idea of a shit little brother stuffing around in this thing was unimaginable.
I still hadn't decided to go yet. I'm not sure any inheritance was worth this. For all we knew it could be inheriting the milking cow that was demanding our attention in the home paddock. Grandpa Gus lived on a farm just out of Albury, NSW. I had visited the farm when I was young, maybe seven. But I had not been back since. I actually loved it and enjoyed the freedom or exploring. That was until the day I came across a Brown snake. I hightailed it back to the house and wouldn't go outside for days. After that I became a lot less adventurous. I decided girly girl was more for me.
My girlfriends sort of secretly crushed on their big brothers. It was, I guess, a safe crush to have. Someone to ask about boys with. Someone to quietly checkout without the threat of the physical. A big brother to stand up for their sister when things got hard in the playground. The protector I didn't have. So I sort of developed a shell around me. I was shy. I found the hoodie I was often seen in a good escape from the boys ogling my growing body. It was harder in summer, but I still managed long sleeve blouses that were discreet.
So I'm out there with the oldies grinning about the prospect of the big adventure we were to embark on, and I'm thinking girl stuff. I could drive. I had my licence. Thinking back on Grandpa Gus, he was the one who in his last few visits had been taking me out and helping me get my licence. The sneaky bugger! He was planing on this all along! Shit. I was sort of sunk. I love Gramps and didn't want to disappoint him.
But there were strings attached and that string was Jack. String bean Jack. Jack and the bean stork Jack. I giggled and giggled. Jack looked at me over the car quizzically. I turned and pulled my head into my hoody embarrassed.
Grandpa spoke up. "Well, I think it's time for the test drive. You should go first Sophie. Take the bull by the horns. Besides I don't want Jack thinking it's some sort of male right and you being stuck in the back being submissive. I'll ride shotgun to talk you through it. There's not much to it. Literally not much in the car to learn. "
There was one drivers seat and it was really like grabbing a bull by the horns. The handle bar was almost steer horn shaped with down turned ends. Thus your arms were outstretched. And it handled like a frisky animal. To get in, you lifted up the whole roof and dropped into the seats like you did an old style kid's peddle car.
Getting it started was straight forward. There was a choke for early cold starts. Turn the key and. Now this was where it was interesting. We lurched forward a few hundred yards away from the crowd and Gamps told me to stop.
"Now turn the key backwards"
It started but..
