I have a motorbike called The Scorpion. I called it The Scorpion because it has an enormous scorpion embossed on the seat. It’s an old bike, but it’s never given me any trouble except for having an upside-down speedometer and a few other faults. It gets me around Dili, no worries.

Most importantly, though: it’s never broken down. So last night I was at a friend’s house drinking and playing cards. It got quite late and I ended up sleeping on the sofa. I woke up at about 8 am and decided to head home. My motorbike had been parked outside all night and I went to start it, but something was clearly wrong.

It was like trying to kickstart a mangosteen. This had never happened before. I tried and tried, but it was no use. I wandered around and saw there was a mechanic just down the road.

The mechanic said he could fix my bike, but luckily for me, as I was walking back to The Scorpion, a friend from the office stopped by and asked me what I was doing. “Come! Help!” I said.

He came and had a look at my bike and figured out what was wrong. Something had mysteriously unplugged itself in the front bit. My friend plugged it back in and we were away.

Maybe it’s the old CIA spook inside me, but I couldn’t help wondering if maybe someone had been fiddling with the bike.

At about lunchtime I was riding along the road near the dock opposite Hotel Timor when all of a sudden I heard a zzzz and then a whir and then a thud as something fell off the underside of the bike.

I attempted to keep going, but couldn’t. I pulled over and tried to play it cool in front of the dock boys. “This happens all the time, no worries,” I said.

Amazingly, the chain and its cog had fallen off. I tried to find the said items on the road, but I think someone picked them up and ran off with them. I don’t know how often chains and cogs just fall off motorcycles, but this seemed like a rare occurrence.

Coupled with the thing being unplugged, I’m curious to know what happened. Either The Scorpion was sabotaged overnight or else it’s just a really old, dying motorbike. Perhaps I’ll never find out.