This story is dedicated to all the good people who participate in the English Roadster discussion group of "oldroads.com" and are dedicated to preserving the classic English bicycle. Author's Notes on "Old Dependable"
The premise and most of the outline for this story came to me one sleepless night while I was recovering from surgery. Even the locale was defined for me,(if you haven't figured it out it is Yorkshire in England). Whether the story came as a dream during a period of half sleep or while I was fully awake I can't say. After the idea for the story came to me, sleep was hopeless as my mind began filling in all the details of the story. This prevented normal sleep for several nights. Each night I would mentally go over and over the story until falling asleep in the wee hours of the morning. Each day I would enter my nocturnal thoughts into my PC. Finally the story was complete and somewhat normal sleep returned. This has never happened to me before and may never happen again. In the meanwhile I'll hope for inspiration of a more normal type. I need my sleep
The instinctual perception of death on the part of canines has been demonstrated beyond doubt. I saw evidence of this on the occasion of my fathers death. Our German shephard commenced howling the night my father died in a mine accident. In the early morning the dog went away and was never seen again.
The photographs that accompany the text of the story are typical of Yorkshire and are true to the images that formed in my mind as I wrote the story. The photograph of the fox was kindly provided by my friend Carol Rosh. The photograph of the bicycle, one of mine, was taken in NE Pennsylvania, an area that abounds with old stone fences. The restored fence shown in the story is located at Indian lake Pa. The choice of using a Raleigh DL-1 Roadster was logical given the time and place.
Fred Hajny
July, 2000
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