The Great Bike Saga (Part III)

If you are interested in reading about parts I and II of the great bike saga, you may read them here and here.

Today, the plan was simple: ride my bike to E-mart to see Captain American 2, and then ride it to dinner for a friend’s birthday. While I did get to do both of these things, there was quite a bit of trouble along the way.

On the way to E-mart, I was switching gears and my pedals locked up. I pulled my bike onto the sidewalk to find that my chain had come off and had gotten caught. After several minutes of pulling on the chain, getting my fingers caught on the chain, pushing on the pedals, almost having my bike fall over, I got the chain back in place and was on my way.

After going to the bathroom to wash my very dirty hands, I arrived at the movie theater as the movie was supposed to be starting. Thankfully my friend had bought my ticket, and we sat in our seats just as they were turning off the lights. The movie was excellent, and I am looking forward to future Marvel movies.

When the movie was over, my friend had a headache, so I tried to give her some ibuprofen, but the little packet that I had would not open. We tried to go to the stationary store to use a pair of scissors, but it was closed. Therefore, we went into main E-mart grocery store so we could use a pair of their scissors in order to open the packet.

With the medicine working its magic, we headed to the restaurant for dinner. Now, as we were leaving E-mart, I know that I put my bike chain in my basket on top of my purse. I purposefully put it there because I don’t want my purse to get stolen. In order to steal my purse someone would have to open my basket, pick up my chain, which is fairly heavy, and take my purse without me noticing. I don’t know that my bike chain is all that heavy, but it makes me feel better when it is on top of my purse. Well, either this plan worked really well or something else happened because when we got to the restaurant, my bike chain was gone. I don’t remember anyone being close enough to us to steal it, and I don’t know how it could have fallen out (I think I would have heard something), but it was nowhere to be found.  To top it off my bike tire was completely flat. There was a place not too far from the restaurant where I could take my bike, but some of my friends were already there, so I figured I could take my bike to a bike repairman after dinner.

I knew that I should have gone before dinner, but I didn’t. Dinner took longer than I had planned, so by the time dinner was done, the bike repairman had packed up for the night. So my plan was to ride my bike, very slowly, home and hope to find a bike repairman along the way. I figured that I would probably need a new tire, but if I could at least get air in it, I could get it home. I stopped at a gas station (in the US, they usually have air), but no luck. Then I stopped at a car tire place, but they did not have the right part for a bike. As I continued to ride, I questioned whether my bike would make it home. Then I remember that a family from my school lived near where I was. I don’t know them well, but I called someone for their number. Then I called them to ask if they either had a bike pump or would let me stash my bike at their place, so I could take a taxi home. We tried the first option, but then I realized that my tire had come out of it’s tube, and the newly inflated tube looked like it would burst, so I opted for the second option. I locked up my bike in the stairwell of their apartment with the intention of coming back to get it another day.

The next part should have been easy. I was going to take a taxi home. I walked to the corner and wait and waited for a taxi. As I was waiting, the wind picked up. Dust was blowing in my eyes, and there were no taxis to be found. The dust was bothering my eyes, so I put on my sunglasses to try to protect them while I waited. They didn’t really help, and it was just harder to see since sunglasses are not meant to be worn at 8 o’clock at night. After a while, I decided to walk back to the apartment complex and ask the guard to call a taxi for me. I’ve never had a guard do this for me before, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask.

When I asked the guard, he told me he couldn’t call a taxi and that I should walk. It is not that far of a walk home, but I’m not sure that it would be the safest walk home. Instead I walked to another intersection, and I waited some more.  The wind was still blowing pretty heavily, raindrops were beginning to fall, lighting was striking, and everyone and their brother wanted a taxi. Finally, by a miracle of heaven, after a total of over 40 minutes of waiting, I got a taxi.

In all of this, I can see the Father’s hand. What if I had tried to ride my bike home in the wind and the rain? With or without a flat tire, it would have been difficult. Also, He put people in my life who were able to help me. I’m not sure how I will get my bike home, but that is a problem for another day.