A custom automatic compression release? In 1986 maybe not stock. But Dutch modified. Perhaps a hidden mechanical advance not returning, or starter drive binding due custom primary. Need another plausible issue.
Leo remembered Arthur saying Dutch had installed a second battery drain trick? Hidden switch already. Maybe current drain comes from old alarm relay beneath seat partially shorting. The hidden switch prevents start but battery drain from a stuck relay. Could explain. Leo notices heat near a small relay.
He touches? Better mechanic tests.
Leo says:
“Dad always touched under seat after crank.”
“Why?”
“He said if little silver box got hot, kill it.”
They inspect.
Old relay warm.
Rusty disconnects.
Battery drain disappears.
But engine still won't fire fully.
Then Dave says maybe fuel stale? They had fresh. Hmm.
Could have decompression and ignition advance? Let's use old centrifugal advance assembly sticking from sitting after Dutch death. Even with correct timing static, dynamic advance jammed. Arthur’s note maybe says "if it kicks back, check weights under points conversion." Yet Evo electronic ignition maybe custom older. It's fictional. Leo has memory: father once tapped side cover with screwdriver handle. They open and find custom mechanical advance gummed.
Clean/lubricate.
Now at 5:02, try.
Engine fires once.
Dies.
Everyone jumps.
Jim stands.
Again.
Fires.
Runs two seconds.
Dies.
Rusty grins.
“Fuel starvation.”
This is ordinary.
Now they can solve.
Carb float needle stuck? They had rebuilt. But petcock vacuum line reversed? Maybe due nonstandard tank. They fix.
At 6:18, engine starts and runs.
But hold for emotional bigger moment? Maybe don't start Thursday; save Friday when Jim returns with club and mother. Could have test run after tune late Thursday. Let's do at 9:16 Thursday, they start. Jim not there? He had to club meeting. Rusty video? Leo hears first. Nice.
However, memorial ride requires reliability. Need road test Friday.
Thursday 7 pm, engine roars alive.
Leo gets to press hidden switch maybe. He does not start it himself due safety; Rusty presses.
The sound hits garage.
Leo covers ears, grins.
Rusty tears.
Dave yells.
Then engine knocks? Wait no. Could create new concern but maybe too many obstacles. Let's keep starts but oil pressure low because old line? Need road-test reveals charging issue? Hmm. The story can shift from mechanical to emotional/legal twist with bike ownership.
Friday noon Jim arrives, expecting failure maybe. The bike is under cover.
Rusty makes him start using secret sequence. Jim flips hidden switch, starter. Engine roars.
Jim cries quietly.
Club men cheer.
Leo stands back.
Jim tells him “Your father just fixed Dutch’s bike two years after dying.” Leo replies “We fixed it.” Nice.
Then test ride. Bike runs but Jim notices idle rough. Leo says “It always did.” Because Dutch tuned it lumpy? Fine.
Friday evening, club preparing memorial. A lawyer/executor arrives at shop with sealed envelope? Dutch's niece maybe. We need twist.
Could reveal through locker 42 maybe there is another envelope not opened, addressed "JIM – AFTER RIDE". But legal ownership should be via will. Jim knows? Perhaps Jim purposely didn't tell because he wanted bike to lead first. But surprise for Leo stronger if Jim didn't know.
Maybe Dutch had filed will with attorney six months prior. Executor hadn't found Arthur's family because Arthur predeceased, and clause says "to Arthur Hayes, or if he is gone, to his child". The attorney had been searching and hears from Jim about Leo. He comes Friday evening. This is plausible.
But if bike is Dutch estate, Jim had temporary possession. The will can specify "FXR to Arthur Hayes, provided it leads my memorial ride first; if Arthur predeceases me, to his oldest surviving child." Great.
The executor tells Maria and Leo after memorial? Could reveal Saturday after ride, more emotional. Maybe Dutch wanted them to know before? Legally they should consent to bike being used? Executor can tell Friday. But title "Then He Asked About Locker 42" maybe story includes deeper final twist. Let's save reveal after ride through a letter inside locker? We can make attorney found a codicil. Hmm.
Maybe inside locker 42 is a sealed envelope with Dutch’s handwritten deed/bill of sale to Arthur from 2018 transferring bike for $1, but Arthur never accepted/recorded? Motor vehicle title requires state registration. Better not.
Will is clean.
Need perhaps Saturday memorial ride. At dawn, near 1000 bikes. Leo and Maria arrive, boy wearing clean blue work shirt too large, father's old patchless mechanic jacket? Could be. Jim rides FXR. Before start, he asks Leo to flip hidden switch as ceremonial. Leo does. Jim presses starter. Engine catches first try. Crowd cheers. The ride leads coast. Leo rides in Rusty’s pickup with mother at front? Could maybe ride pillion on Jim’s larger touring bike? But Jim is on FXR. 8-year-old passenger maybe legal with proper footrests/helmet, but highway group ride not ideal. Better he rides in chase vehicle with mother, safe.
They stop at overlook. Jim speaks about Dutch and Arthur. Maybe he publicly credits Leo. Leo embarrassed.
After ride back at club house, attorney arrives. Jim gathers. Will reading not formal; attorney provides copy. The motorcycle belongs to Leo, held in trust until 18, with mother trustee. Dutch wrote letter: "Arty told me his boy listens. If Arty goes before me, the bike goes to the kid. Not because he is blood to me, but because machines should go to people who listen." That's emotional.
Maria initially says they can't afford maintain/store. Jim offers club trust/garage storage. Rusty offers permanent free bay? Better not unrealistic. They create "Arthur Hayes Apprenticeship" fund? Maybe Dutch left small maintenance fund? Could be $10k, but not necessary. Jim and club say the bike stays at Apex with Leo as owner until old enough; club pays registration/insurance for memorial use by trust? Legal complexities. Let's keep simpler: Maria accepts ownership; Apex stores it at no charge because Arthur's family. Jim asks permission to ride it in future memorials. Leo says "Only if you pay labor rates without complaining." Callback. Great.
Locker forty-two turned out to be much more than a place where Arthur Hayes had hidden four custom pushrods.
It was a time capsule.
Rusty stood in the basement doorway with one hand braced against the dented metal frame while Leo carefully pulled the remaining boxes from the locker. Dust rolled through the beam of Jim Mercer’s flashlight. The concrete room smelled of old rubber, machine oil, and the faint dampness that lived permanently beneath the garage floor.
The green metal case containing the custom pushrods sat open on a workbench.
Beside it lay the photograph of Arthur and Dutch Sullivan standing next to the black FXR nearly thirty years earlier.
Leo had already looked at that picture five times.
He could not stop.
His father appeared younger than Leo remembered him.
No gray near his temples.
No tired hollows beneath his eyes.
No hospital bracelet.
No thinness from the illness that eventually took him.
Arthur was laughing.
Not smiling for the camera.
Laughing hard enough that his shoulders had lifted.
Dutch stood beside him with one middle finger raised toward whoever had taken the photograph.
Jim had stared at the image for so long that Rusty finally said quietly, “You all right?”
Jim nodded.
He was not.
Leo opened the first cardboard box.
Inside were old gaskets wrapped in newspaper, two used ignition modules, several spark plugs, brass carburetor jets, a chain tensioner, and half a dozen small envelopes labeled in Arthur’s handwriting.
One said:
DUTCH — PRIMARY
Another:
DUTCH — DO NOT LET HIM THROW THIS AWAY
Big Dave picked that one up.
“What is it?”
Leo opened it.
Inside was a tiny machined spacer.
Dave turned it between two thick fingers.