A Time For Thieves

With the Christmas spirit all around, let's not forget to take precautions necessary to protect ourselves, our loved ones and our shit.

Just three weeks ago I came home from a trip to NC. This wasn't a pleasure trip for the sake of pleasure. It was a trip to my grandmother's home that was being sold to some strangers that will now make it their home, with their memories. We (aunts, cousins, brothers, etc.) were helping clean out and clean up the house for the new owners. While walking through the woods behind the house I noticed some handle bars poking out of some leaves amongst some thicket. With a little pulling and maneuvering, I was able to break the bike free from it's multi-year bondage of wood and vines. Whoa, this was an old bike. I had vague memories of playing with this bike as a child. It was a ladies bike that for a small boy was nutcracker proof, because it had the dropdown tubing instead of the dangerously rigid horizontal top tube. The bike had front and rear fenders, big flat pedals, fat white wall tires, a huge seat and little place to carry stuff on the back. The entire bike was coated in rust. It was a mixture of faint green paint and brown rust. The pedals were permanently locked in place as was the handle bars. The bike was just a relic, but a relic that meant a lot to me.

I asked permission to have the bike. My mom and her sisters, the rightful heirs to this old junk toy, figured it for trash or at least recyclable materiel, but I had other plans. Amy and I are trying to develop our green thumbs and have taken an interest in making the yard look nice and also reflecting a bit of our personal style. We had decided that the bike would look great in the yard as art. A rusty bike tucked off in the corner of the yard, hidden amongst some bushes and flowers. A sort of yard surprise. We'd seen something similar at a bed and breakfast earlier in the year and thought it was a very unique idea.

I hauled the old bike all the was back from Mt. Holly, NC to Macon, GA to see it's new home on Idleway Dr. (Ayers Rd.). A home for many years to come that would show off it's stylish body lines and be proud of it's aged look. I set the bike up in the corner of the front yard. I have two tall pine trees at the end of my house that have a huga azalea bush between them. I thought this would be a fine showplace and it was. For the last three weeks that old bike has welcomed us home, played resting spot for birds and obviously caught the attention of passersby.

Unfortunately for us, it caught the attention of a thief last night. The bike was there when we arrived home last night at approximately 10pm. We could see the bike under the glow of the Christmas lights on the front of the house. When Amy left for work this morning, it was gone. I don't think the bike would fetch much on the open market. About the only one that would pay anything for it would be an antique dealer or a collector of old bikes. Nonetheless, it was worth a lot to me and I'd pay a lot to have it back. I'm sorry I don't even have a picture of it or a name brand to mention. That had worn off long ago as has the character of someone in my community.