The Hollow Body
Part 1 - Major Minor
Chapter 1
Spring Valley Road
Cards and bicycle spokes go together like hot dogs and mustard. The sputters are heard blocks away as Danny and Edmund pedal up Spring Valley Road. You can tell by the sound whether it's a playing card or baseball card. Baseball cards are thicker and have a thump to them. Playing cards produce a high-frequency pop. Together it is music.
In synchronized strokes, the brothers pedal the steep incline, the sound slow and deliberate. They know the work they need to do to get the payoff on the other side. They stand on the pedals using the weight of their adolescent bodies to grind to the top, yard by yard, conscious of only each other, like a magic wire, their heads in the same place. If one grew tired, it would only take a glance at each other to reconnect and share the energy.
The crest of Spring Valley Road is prize number one. The expanse of the valley opens before them, grand and stunning. Danny and Edmund take a long deep breath and look ahead at the high-speed downhill ride they are about to take. From where they are sitting, life is perfect.
The brothers look at each other, nodding with little boy acknowledgments before they let gravity take them on their last ride together.
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