Bicycle Thief Be Gone

I was adding to my froogle wishlist and thought I would put a bicycle on there, which triggered something from 1977! I was given a used bike with a banana seat and I turned the ten speed handle bars upside down, got some red paint and gave it a good coat of paint. The tires were bald and my dad said that I had to earn new rims and tires. Bummer. We didn't have much money so I knew that answer was coming.

After collecting what seemed to be a bazillion bottles and taking them to the local 7-11, I finally saved enough to buy some new wheels for it. I didn't have a car so one of my friends dad took us to Pep Boys. Back into the truck and back home. The drive home took FOREVER (about 7 miles). I ran into my backyard (now the trolley station) and took apart my bike and put on the spanking new rims and tires.

It was getting dark but I could still see the the tracks my tires left in the dirt as I looked back. I had the "you can go as far as you want as long as you get back before dark" rule. The darkness came and I let my mom know that I was home and rode in front of the house in the dark doing figure eights.

My mom told me that I had to come in so I locked up my bike in the makeshift shed in the back. The school day couldn't be over soon enough. I got home, changed and went straight to the shed and then my heart sank. I saw the lock on the ground and the door slightly open.

Of course the only thing missing was my bike. I even went so far as to follow the tread tracks to see where they went as if I were actually going to find something. The last trace was to the railroad track and then nothing. My two friends rode up to my house about 20 minutes later wanting to go riding.

The bike was gone for good, although I did hear that there were "sightings." A month or so later, a grey mountain bike was outside my house with cool knobbie tires :) I made sure this bike didn't go anywhere, as it was stored in my bedroom!