The Bike

Hmmm. My story.
So I don’t know if this is
What you are looking for
But.
If I were to ever tell a story for The Moth
This is the story that I would share.

The theme would have to be something about
Knowing that you’re going to be okay or
Something like that.

So this story is about how I knew I was going to be okay, entering the real world, after university.

It was my senior year, second semester, so close to graduating.
It was spring. It was beautiful outside. I had my window open. I was on the second floor.
And you could kind of walk out onto the roof over the patio from my window.

And I’m sitting on my bed finishing up some homework,
Aaand I just happen to look up, at this moment,
and I see this guy,
Riding a bike, past the window,
and I look again and I step toward the window,
And then I even step out onto the roof and I’m like oh my god – that’s my bike.
And I look around the side of the house and my bike is gone

So I run downstairs,
barefoot.
I grab my roommate’s bike.
I start pedaling, down the street toward this guy.
My adrenaline is out the roof.
I have no idea what I’m going to say.
And, honestly, I have a terrible potty mouth
And I curse all the time.
But, in this moment, for some reason, I didn’t curse.
I— even though I was—have reason to
But I just pedaled down the street.

I whip
This bike
In front of this guy
And I stop him and I’m just like
“HEY! GIVE! ME BACK! MY BIKE!”
And he looks very—puzzled and confused
And he’s like “ohuhuhah I’m sorry I’m sorry
I – I – I had to use it uh duh duh” all these things
I was like, “I don’t care. Just give me my bike
Right. Now.”

And so he you know gets off the bike
And he like awkwardly hands it to me
And I very awkwardly try to get off
The bike that I’m currently on
And start walking back down the street
With these two bikes and no shoes

And he just looks at me and he’s like
“Umm. Do you need some help?”
And I was like, “uh actually that would be really nice if you would help me”
So this gentleman rode my bike back with me to my house.
We returned both bikes. I put them inside this time. And I was like
“Well where do you need to go? Where were you trying to get to?”
And I ended up taking him to wherever it was he needed to go
Umm but I also took my roommate with me because
She was not about to let me go into a car with a stranger.

So that was the story
And after that I was like, “You know what? I think I’m gonna be okay in this world”
It reminded me that even in a moment of crisis, you can still find humanity.

And I got my bike back.