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The van rumbled down the street two hundred yards ahead of hi inland

Kurt followed, nearly taking out a bicyclist and a street vendor selling fish He swerved and went up onto the sidewalk, nearly du the scooter in the process A moment later he was back on the street

The van had widened its lead substantially, and Kurt was afraid he ht not be able to catch it on his underpowered ride

“Great,” hehi to Dirk tell stories about the Duesenbergs and Packards he borrowed, and I end up on a thirty-horsepower scooter”

He ducked down, trying to make himself more aerodynamic, and decided to count himself lucky that the scooter didn’t have tassels on the handlebars or a basket for Toto on the front

A group of pedestrians lay ahead,the crosswalk Kurt’s thumb found the horn

Meep-meep

The annoying, high-pitched buzz was just enough to part the line of people Kurt zipped through the gap like a madman and focused in on the van

They were racing inland now, traveling along a road with soto read or re the delivery van in sight

He wasn’t sure how fast other scooters went, but this little Vespa topped out at about fortyhis task was ie for the better

Despite the guard’s rhetorical question as to who needed a car, plenty of people seemed to have them The narrow streets were filled with cars—not to East Coast rush-hour standards perhaps—but enough to make the road into an obstacle course

As Kurt swerved around one sedan and then cut between two others traveling side by side, he found hi to bull its way through a busy intersection

As he whizzed around another slow car, he could hear the van’s horn blowing loudly It ht

Kurt negotiated the turn easily, knifing between a pair of stopped cars and hoping no one decided to open a door

They were headed west now, and Kurt was closing in on the van, suddenly thrilled with his little orange steed He saw the water approaching Somehow, they’d reached the other side of the island already