I woke up Saturday morning at my best friend's house. In a daze I realized the house was completely empty, no mom, no dad, no friends. Shrugging off the strange absence, I began to get ready for another invigorating day at work. I was an usher at the local movie theater. This job gave me many opportunities to give back to the community through the means of ripping off the bottom of tickets, making sure tools didn't sneak in girls on their first date (happened all the time), and cleaning up the sticky floors with vigor and determination before another mob of butter popcorn face stuffers broke the hinges off the seats. I buttoned up my white shirt, actually white, yellow, and spots of brown. I zipped up my lovely top of the line black vest and pinned the appropriate movie paraphernalia to it. Last I slipped on my black elastic dress shoes. I was ready to go.
I walked out the front door of my friends house, making sure to lock the front door behind me. He did live in the rough neighborhood known as Carl Junction Fir Road (my sarcasm only works if you realize this is out in a wooded area and not rough at all). That's when the stress set in. I couldn't spot my car. Was it stolen? Did a friend play a joke on me and park it somewhere else? Then I realized. My friends drove me to Patrick's house from the school. My car was 5 miles away. I called my family. No answer. I called my friends. No answer. Work was slowly approaching, and I was running out of options. That's when I spot it on the front porch. My salvation was pink with handlebar streamers and a nice basket to keep all my stuff in.
Patrick's sister left her bike on the front porch and it appeared to be my only way out of this mess. So I saddled up on my pink chopper, knees touching my chest, and peddled down the country road. At first the ride was peaceful. Once I ignored the intense pain in my knees, the scenery (minus the burnt down trailer homes) was nice. Cars drove by every now and again, and I could always tell I caused a lot of laughs. The people behind me weren't laughing as much. The occasional car pile ups that waited for me to slowly peddle up a hill were not very happy with their wait. How fast can a 275 pound high school boy go on a tiny little bike? I was half way to my destination, ignoring the ever growing flow of traffic that poked fun at my predicament, when it went from a good idea to a bad one. There is this dog that I remembered very well. Mainly because this dog played chicken with cars on the way out to my friend's house. I could hear his aggression swell as I peddled closer. I'm much smaller and slower than a car. This wouldn't be fun.
As I rode by the house I peddled faster and faster. I even stood up on the bicycle to get optimum speed. The big brown and black dog had drool flinging off its jowls as it's eyes turned blood red. My heart beat faster. Sweat flooded my nice fancy work clothes. The dog charged. I put out my leg to kick him in the face, but the tiny bike didn't allow much balance. The dog jumped and pushed the bike with its front legs. Luckily for me it was a rainy couple of days, the puddled ditch broke my fall as I tumbled down the embankment into it. Satisfied, the dog let me be as it pridefully pranced to its porch. I stood up. Wiped as much mud off as I could and walked the bike until the house was out of eye-shot.
Now the ride was horrible. I was getting rashes from the wet clothes. The tiny bike seat was beginning to hurt my non-tiny seat. The cars driving by, which were increasing as I made my way to Briarbrooke, were having more and more fun at my displeasure. Then hope drove by in the form of a bright green mustang.
I was saved. My friend noticed me peddling by on my pink bicycle and did a u-turn. Once he was done laughing we loaded the bike in the back of his car, and he drove me to his house in Briarbrooke. I cleaned up, left the bike in his garage (my other friends sister wasn't to happy about that), and was on my way to my work. I know you're probably wondering, "Did you make it to work on time?" Yes, please stop worrying. I did make it to work. I didn't get employee of the month for my determination to show up. I didn't even get a well done. But I did learn a lot that day. If you there is no other options, a pink bicycle will never let you down.
