Corinne Cole

            The injury to my shin from Wednesday night’s accident was still bothering me on Wednesday. My leg was swollen and there was a not-inflamed indentation about halfway between my knee and my ankle, under which most of the pain was living. It did not impede any poses from my yoga routine though.

            At 11:30 I took my wrecked bike up the street to wait for Bike Pirates to open. For the first time ever I was the only one there at noon when Dawn unlocked the gate. Her husband Den was inside and once I’d told them the story of how my wheel got twisted, Den repeated the story to several people throughout the day.

            The first order of business was to remove my wheel and then Den and I looked at seeing if my forks could be bent back into shape. Den wasn’t sure at first but we managed to save them. They are part of the vintage frame with the same unique lugwork so it would be a shame if I’d had to replace it with something that didn’t match.

            I replaced and re-greased all of the ball bearings in my headset.

            I had a hard time getting my tire off the twisted rim. Den found a second hand rim for me that would have cost me $10 but all the spoke screws were rusted. Den said that’s pretty normal and so I set about to try to scrape the rust off the screws. After I’d done so I decided that I might as well splurge and buy a brand new rim for $45. It still needed truing and I had to put rim tape on it but it turned out that the rim tape that Den had given me was too small. He gave me another that fit.

            Den was playing a CD that he’d brought of an all-accordion group. It sounded like a cross between tango and Cajun music. Den told me that he’s taken up playing the accordion. He builds harpsichords but they are never around long enough so he can play them. I told him that I have a song that I do about the accordion and I quoted some of the lyrics: “God knows life is vicious / for any street musician / whose wife and companion / is an accordion // Who helps him to get by? / Sits with him when he’s high? / Not you, me, or anyone / but his accordion … When her support is in danger / he’ll lend his suspenders / so what hold his pants on / is an accordion …”

            Dawn gave me a coffee. She also made vegan grilled cheese sandwiches, but I passed. Veggie cheese tastes like horse sweat.
            After about three hours I’d pretty much taken care of the damage from the accident. The thing is though that I had planned on coming to Bike Pirates that day even before my velo had gotten doored. My back axel needed adjusting and my chain was skipping. I removed my back wheel and put it aside. Den figured my chain was skipping because the spring on my derailleur had stopped being springy. He found an identical one to my Shimano derailleur but I had a hard time finding the right screw and nut to attach it to my frame. It took me about fifteen minutes. Den also said that my chain was too stretched, so I got a new one.

            Den played Pink Floyd CD that he’d brought from home. I hadn’t realized that he liked anything besides Classical music.

            Den said he needs a new furnace in its house and it will cost them $10,000

            Den and Dawn left at around 17:00 but Tom helped me after that. He adjusted my rear wheel axel and corrected the wobble.

            I took my bike for a test drive and found that the chain was still skipping. Tom said I needed a new freewheel because the new chain didn't fit the old one. Tom talked me into putting a six-speed freewheel on rather than five. It was easy enough to put on but since the freewheel came out from the frame a little more, a lot of adjustments had to be made. My chainring was rubbing against the chain, so perhaps the accident had bent it. Tom spent quite a bit of time bending it back out.

            Another bit of damage was that my right brake lever had been knocked too far forward. Tom told me there was a screw inside the lever that I could loosen, but I couldn’t find it. After about fifteen minutes of trying to use a flashlight to peer inside and even turning my bike upside down on the stand so that the overhead light would shine in, I still couldn’t find any screw. Finally I just forced the brake lever back into the right position.

            I took another test drive, this time up the back alley, and everything seemed to be working. I had been at Bike Pirates for almost seven hours when I finally packed up. I paid $80 for all the parts, plus I donated $20 for an even $100. I’ve never paid that much at Bike Pirates before.

Tom advised me to go to the police station to report my accident, and so I made a list of everything I’d paid for on a receipt and they signed it.

I grilled a chicken that hadn’t thawed out yet and so it wasn’t done after two hours in the oven. Instead I had my last slice of roast beef for dinner and watched an episode of Peter Gunn.

This story begins with a young man going into a deli when it’s about to close and asking for a burger and coffee. The man puts a silencer on his gun and shoots the deli owner, Eli. He takes the $14 that is in the till and leaves. At Eli's burial, Gunn talks with Lieutenant Jacoby, who says that Eli was conscious long enough before he died to give a description of the killer that matches that of a kid named Jimmy Blane. They are looking for Jimmy.

At Mother’s, Edie is singing “Oh! Look At Me Now” by Joe Bushkin and John DeVries. 

            A gangster named Quoit and his entourage of blondes are hanging around Mother’s. Lieutenant Jacoby comes in and threatens to arrest him if he doesn’t go back to his side of the river. Quoit leaves.

“The River” is mentioned a lot in Peter Gunn as well as the criminals that should stay on their side of it. Wikipedia says Peter Gunn takes place in LA but apparently the name of the city is never mentioned. The Los Angeles River is pretty narrow and shallow and I don’t think there are docks or yachts along it such as often appear in the stories and so the show must be in a fictional town with a made-up river.

Gunn goes to talk with Babby the pool shark to get a lead on Jimmy he says he’ll make a call. One of Quoit’s men has been following Gunn. He calls Quoit and is told to let it slip that Jimmy is hiding at the Morris Hotel. When Gunn gets the info he tells Jacoby, who goes there to find Jimmy beaten to death. The hotel clerk claims that Jacoby killed him and so the lieutenant is suspended. Babby feels bad about feeding Gunn wrong info and so he tries to make up for it. He leads Gunn to the apartment of Mooney, the guy that followed him. Gunn forces him to admit he was working for Quoit. Babby calls Quoit and tells him Mooney is going to spill his guts to Gunn by the pier. Quoit sends one of his henchmen to get rid of Mooney but Gunn stops him. A fistfight ensues, which Gunn wins with a slight assist from Babby. Gunn obviously gets incriminating info from him because next we see Jacoby reinstated and arresting Quoit for murder. Quoit is led away without paying the bill and his two blondes have to wash dishes.

The only blonde with a line was played by Corinne Cole, also known as Lari Laine, who had a few parts in movies and television and was a Playboy Playmate of the Month in May 1958.