Good deal

I have a young neighbor of modest means.  She is almost 11 and she rides a purple bike.  The tires are fissured with cracks.  We have developed an arrangement for when her bike needs attention.  She leaves it in my carport, understanding that when I find the time I will fix it, and place it against the porch rail by her front door.  There is no risk of the bike being stolen, as her yard is wildly overgrown.  A drooping cedar tree blocks the view from the street and thorny vines as thick as her wrist twine up through shaggy Azaleas and wrap her house in a web of summertime green.

My neighbor is a good kid, and will be a fine person.  Her life is tough in ways she isn’t even aware of, and this will serve her well as an adult.  She speaks in a tiny thin voice and this is my only point of contention I have with her.  I wish for her to be able to grab life by the collar and shove it up against the wall when it crosses her. Instead, she speaks like she is apologizing.  I ask her to answer me in a big booming voice, or sometimes to yell for no reason, like “HEY! HOW ABOUT FIXING MY BIKE!”  When I do this she grins, assuming I am teasing her.  I’m not teasing her.  I am serious.

She put the bike in my carport over a week ago, and it took me that long to find time.  She doesn’t nag, or complain about it.  She goes on about her bikeless days and waits.  She calls herself a Buddhist.

Sunday morning, after my own insufferable steamy ride, I tear down her purple bike. I am careful not to separate the brittle bead from the sidewall, and I put a brand new tube in, after removing the guilty thorn.  I scrub the chain, blast it with the hose and enjoy watching the sheets of greasy black water pool in the corner of my driveway where it will then seep into the carpet in the laundry room.  I pump up the tires, then sit on the front wheel and torque the handlebars straight.  I  lube the brake cables, hubs, shifters, levers, and both derailleurs, before wiping the frame down with my dirty t-shirt.  The last thing I do is take it for a test ride, knees jacking up beside my ears as I run through the gears and kick out the back end in a power-slide.  Rock and roll ready.

The bike is delivered to the stoop– the transaction completed last night with a construction paper thank you card and a vase full of wild dandelions out of her scraggly yard.  Better compensation than one has any right to expect in this world.

 

Juancho

16 Responses to Good deal

  1. Some smart guy I sorta know said to me, “We are like planets flinging messages at each other across a great, unfathomable distance.”

    She is doing a pretty good job Jaunch…..as tiny as her message is. A pretty darn good job.

  2. That’s awesome that you do this for her. If there is anything that her bike needs in the future please shout out. No doubt many of your Facebook friends have various nick nacks just sitting around their houses looking for a good home.

  3. I, too, want her to grab life by the collar and shove it up against the wall and use her loud voice, but I’ve been doing that for a long time and only get hoarse when it knocks me flat again and again. Maybe her small expectations will hold back a dam of injustice, insult, and disappointment. And just maybe she’s wise enough to know that. Thanks for reminding me how many simple acts of kindness are waiting for my recognition and action. I hope those new tires arrive soon.

  4. I want her to yell it out too for you to fix her bike. You’re doing a good thing. A very good thing.

  5. I live on your street and know this child.
    I’m always glad to see her rolling again after some time in drydock.

  6. The more I think about it, the more I think the way you’re doing it, and she’s doing it, is just right.
    🙂