How Ken Baby Got His Name

Anybody old enough to remember the t.v. series "Then Came Bronson" will get an idea of the time frame for this tale. Ken and his best friend Chuck would sit with eyes glued to the television as the scene that they had committed to memory played out on the screen before them. A Sportster rolls up to a red light and stops. The rider is wearing a wool knit cap, sunglasses and has a sleeping bag on his sissy bar. A man in a car next to him looks haggard and sweaty. The man asks the rider "Takin' a trip?" to which the rider replies "What's that?". Again the man in the cage asks "Say, you takin' a trip?". "Yea" says the rider. "Where ya headin'"asks the man. The rider replies "Oh, I don't know. Where ever I end up I guess". The man in the car says to the rider " Man! I wish I was you!". So the rider says "Really? Well, You hang in there." The red light changes to green and the rider takes off down the road to the sounds of the theme song "Long Lonesome Highway" as the man in the car looks on wishing he were on that Sporty and Ken and Chuck sat in front of the t.v. and sang along. Chuck would eventually grow out of it... Ken would not. As he would leave high school on his way to work at a gas station (they were full service back then), Ken would pass by a chopper shop called "Rootman's Choppers". Ken would look over a think that one day he'd go there and check out some of those bikes. Then the day came. He had saved his money. He had the courage. He went to the chopper shop. When Ken walked into the shop, Rootman was behind the counter. Root was big, burly, bearded and had long black hair. He said to Ken "How can I help you?"  Ken slammed his money onto the counter and said" Here's $800 worth of crap that Ive taken off of people while pumping their gas! I want a bike!" Well that struck Rootman as so hilariously funny that he could not stop laughing. When he was able to catch his breath he told Ken that he knew where there was a '56 pan that could be had and that most of it was probably there. Root said to come back the next day and that they would go and get it. The, almost as an afterthought, he asked "What's your name?" Ken replied "Ken... Ken boutwell". "Well" says Root "Everyone around here goes by nicknames. There's Spiderman, Lucky, Brass, 'Rilla, Fat Bob". He looks over at some of the guys in the shop and says "Look at this kid... What a baby face. That's what we'll call him: Ken Baby!" That name has been with him still to this day. You see, when your buddies give you your nickname then it has real meaning. When you name yourself... it's just egotistical bullshit. WAC