Page 28 - Publishing Inspiration Christmas Card 2014

One Ugly Bike

l

Martin, my colleague, said, “Your bike is

so ugly, I want you to ride at least 100 yards

away from me so no one knows I know you.”
“It’s not that ugly,” I said.

“It is that ugly,” he replied.
We were twenty years old, living and

working in New York, and bikes were our only

means of transportation. After my previous one
was stolen, I bought an ugly girl’s three speed

that was stuck in third gear. It only cost $6, it

was never stolen, even when I didn’t lock it up,
and, most importantly, it always worked.

Sometimes trying to get it moving with it in
third gear was a challenge. If I started from a

full stop, I could hardly press the pedals. But I

found out that if I ran alongside of it, and then
jumped on, I would have enough momentum to

get it moving more easily.

This embarrassed Martin even more, and I
found that he did try to ride a good distance

ahead of me. When we would end up being

stopped at the same stoplight, intersection, or

24