“There’s nothing quite like the smell of new rubber,” Will thought, as he sat at the bar alone in The Blue Bike Shop. This was the third time this week Will had been in there looking for that one tire, looking to satisfy his desire; just like a true addict.
Sniffing the crisp new rubber odor, each squeeze expelled was pure pleasure for Will Riley.
Will knew all too well the smell of greasy stained tires because his crusty auto repair shop had lots of them lying around. On a hot summer day like today, the stench would slither under his nose, hovering long enough to make him first queasy, and then faint. It was hard enough on his neck, having his head under the hood of a car all day, without the occasional sensation of vomit thrusting up his throat from the stench. It had just happened today, just exactly that same way, like all the other hot days in that greasy shop.
“Why do I come here sniffing tires,” Will thought. “There has got to be something wrong with me. I guess I can’t seem to get any new ones in my shop so I come here instead. My life is full of greasy tires.”
As Will let that thought go, he realized he had been sitting at the Bike Bar for too long . It was 5:15. His wife would be pissed as hell if he came home before dinner drunk again from the bar for the third time this week.
“Thanks for the beer. Are you sure I can’t pay you for this one?” Will said, as he looked back at the clerk on his way out the front door of The Blue Bike Shop.
“Nope,” replied the clerk. “Just come on in again Will. Maybe one day you can pick out a blue bike and take it for a spin, see how much you like it.”
“Oh, I could never do that,” replied Will. “That would ruin the sweet smell of some new tire and I might never feel the same about this shop. I just come in to look and you know, dream a little.”
With that the clerk replied, “But Will, your dreams can’t possibly come true without checking out how your favorite blue bike rides.”
Will’s face turned red as he clenched his teeth pulling the door to the bike shop firmly behind him, “I’ll be damned if anyone’s going to tell me that I have to do anything with my dreams. I am a tire sniffer, damn it, and there is nothing more to it than that. I ain’t ever leavin’ Nowhere.”
