Trail Bikes

Nearly every weekend, the parents would go away.  We soon came to realise from the yelling and shouting that went on constantly, that it was the mother who ran the house.  The father simply didn't care.  The father drank constantly.  When the son brought his mates over, they would all sit and drink.  At this stage, the son was only 13-14.  Many a night we would be woken up with the sound of the son smashing timber, or whatever else was handy.  When he drank too much, he became violent.  No-one was able to control him. 

Then the trail bikes started.  At first, it was only for a few minutes.  Start the trail bike and ride it round the yard.  Then it began.  Most days the son didn't go to school.  His mates would arrive and then all day, they would ride the trail bikes round and round the yard.  The constant noise was incredible.  The roar of the bikes, the swearing and yelling of the boys as they slowly became drunker and drunker.  Then they began taking the trail bikes out onto the road.  They would ride them up and down the road for hours. 

During the week, if mum and dad were going to be late home, the noise would continue some nights until 9.00pm or later.  Friday afternoon and night, the noise would continue all night.  Early Saturday morning it would start again, go through until about 8.00pm.  Then the boys would go out for a couple of hours.  They would come home drunk and yelling abuse, and smashing whatever they could find.  Sunday morning early, it would all begin again.  The boys spent Sunday afternoon cleaning up the yard and house, so no evidence would be left for the parents to find.

We were forced to shut all the windows and doors of our house.  Still, we couldn't hear the television.  Couldn't hear ouselves talk.  The stink from the trail bikes filled our house.  To walk outside was like walking in the middle of a speedway. 

Late Sunday afternoon the parents would arrive home from their trip away.  The son's friends would all be gone.  The house was cleaned and the yard spotless.  The parents never knew what the son had gotten up to while they were away.