Again the car horn blared.  At first, I just started to crawl off the road, because I didn’t want to become a road pancake.  Then I remembered the bike. Man, C.J.’s going to kill me if the car runs over his new bike, I thought. With my head still swimming, I crawled toward the bike and grabbed the handle bars. I looked up as the car was bore down on me.  It seemed as if the driver had no intention of slowing. There was no way I was going to drag the bike and me off the road without us becoming one with nature. I did the only thing I could do–I hurled the bike toward the shoulder. I then crawled for all I was worth since I still didn’t have the ability to stand. Soon as I hit the grass, I rolled on my back and groaned.  The car roared past. I looked up just in time to see the front wheel.  The driver, clearly intent on continuing to the next county unimpeded by the fact that both the rider and the remainder of the bike were in a heap on the side of the road.

I opened my eyes a few moments later to see Carrie and C.J. looking down on me.

“You dead yet, Tommy?” Carrie said.

“He’s going to wish he was dead when I get through with him,” C.J. hissed. I could see that C.J. was not in a very good mood.

“What ‘ya do to my bike?” he screamed at me.

“I didn’t do anything,” I stammered.

“Where’s the front wheel? I don’t see the front wheel.”

“Probably in Philadelphia by now. Did you guys fall in a hole or something? Didn’t you see what happened?” I whined.

“All I know is one minute you were riding along, the next minute you’re crawling off the road, and all I see is my new bike reduced to scrap in less than thirty seconds. Where is the front wheel, Tommy?”

I started to get to my feet.  “Last time I saw it, the darn thing was going up over that hill. You want it, you go find it. Far as I’m concerned, you can keep that demon bike. The thing has a mind of its own, and I’ll be darned if I’m going to keep letting that bike ride me.”

I started walking toward the house.  I realized I was either not quite right in the head, or a complete waste of talent in the cycling department. While most kids try to increase speed and performance of the bike, I was looking for ways to tame the beast.  What in the world did I need a ten speed for? I only need two speeds, slow and slower. Any more than that and I’d be living on the edge, and according to my last tally I only had one or two lives remaining. At this rate, I thought, I’ll be lucky to survive to until my next birthday.

[1]Parents, abbreviated. We used it as if there were two opposing teams–the kids, and the P’s.