Rob's Indian Motorcycle

Rob's Indian Motorcycle is both a means of transport and a recurring material reminder of Jessica Mastriani’s history with Rob Wilkins. First associated with a ride he gave her years earlier, it returns at moments when their relationship is uncertain: first when Jessica has come back to town and rejects Rob, and later when she rides behind him again on the journey from the airport into Indiana.

Identity and First Association

The motorcycle is identified as the Indian on which Rob once gave Jessica her first ride. When he comes to her house the afternoon he learns she is back, he arrives on that same bike. The narration calls it the self-same, cherried-out Indian, emphasizing its continuity: this is not merely another vehicle in Rob’s possession, but the one that carries the memory of their earlier closeness into the present.

That history is attached to a particular point in Jessica’s life. She has returned at eighteen, having lost the unusual ability that had distinguished her from the other girls in town. The motorcycle’s first reappearance therefore belongs to a homecoming marked by change and loss. Its familiarity cannot make the reunion simple; instead, it brings an earlier version of her relationship with Rob into collision with what she has just seen and what she now feels.

Arrival and Rejection

Before Rob visits, Jessica has seen him with a blonde woman. He does not know she witnessed them together; he learns only that Jessica is home when Douglas Mastriani tells him during a visit to the comic shop. Rob then rides over that afternoon. Jessica tells him to get off her property and makes clear that she saw him with the woman. His arrival on their old motorcycle thus accompanies not a romantic reunion but a confrontation shaped by a misunderstanding and Jessica’s hurt.

Rob is surprised by her rejection and initially thinks she is joking. When he realizes she is serious, he becomes angry and insists she does not know what she is talking about. He contrasts her response with the more combative Jessica he remembers, who, in his view, would have stayed and fought rather than leaving after seeing someone kiss him. The Indian is not described as causing this conflict, but its presence gives the exchange a pointed history: Rob has come on the vehicle linked to their first ride, while Jessica responds to the present evidence of another woman and refuses the role he expects her to resume.

The Return Ride

A later journey gives the motorcycle a different place in their relationship. After a quick flight, Jessica and Rob leave the airport carrying only their carry-ons. She discovers that Rob has come there on the Indian. He apologizes and offers to rent a car because he had not expected her to return with him. Jessica says the bike is fine and asks whether he still has the spare helmet.

The helmet makes the continuity especially concrete. Rob does still have it: the same one he used to lend Jessica back when their relationship had no settled name. She puts it on, straddles the seat behind him, and wraps her arms around his waist. The return is not simply a repeat of their first ride: Jessica knows the history the motorcycle carries, and the narration registers her effort not to notice how good Rob smells. Yet accepting the helmet and taking the passenger seat show her choosing to travel with him rather than retreating from the shared past the bike recalls.

Recurrence and Significance

The motorcycle’s meaning develops through these contrasting arrivals. At Jessica’s house, Rob’s familiar vehicle cannot overcome the hurt that drives her to send him away. At the airport, the same vehicle initially unsettles her, but she agrees to ride it and uses the old spare helmet. The object’s recurrence makes the difference between those encounters visible without erasing their connection: the history remains, while Jessica’s response to it changes.

The ride also places the old relationship inside a changed landscape. As they travel into Indiana, Jessica notices the lush midsummer green after the comparatively gray streets and buildings of New York. The Indian carries her back into a place she has not visited since spring break, as well as toward Rob and the memories bound up with him. Its narrative significance rests in that double movement. It transports Jessica physically, while its return, together with the helmet and familiar position behind Rob, makes the past tangible at the moment she is deciding how much of it she can accept.