Off the seat of a bicycle
Chapter 36)  Six month sentence

The day before they were going to put me away for six months, I was riding up Fifth Street and six patrol cars pulled me over as I rounded onto Madison St. All of them got out, and ushered me up on the sidewalk where they surrounded me. My guy was there but a different fellow, in a gruff voice, demanded to know if I was ‘gonna show up tomorrow,’ and I said, ‘yeah I’ll be there.’ I was being frank and honest but directed my gaze forward and dispassionately avoided their stares. I didn’t dislike any of those guys; I just disliked the way they drove around me.

I didn’t spit. And they got back in their cars and drove away, except for my guy, who got in a car waiting behind me. One glance back told me somebody else was in the car with him, maybe the judge, and I could feel their eyeballs running over me.

Somebody in that car wanted to know about me so I decided to show them.

From a dead stop, I started pulling that big gear uphill on the sidewalk. As soon as I gained balance and not a moment later, I dropped back in the seat, took my hands off the bars, and flipped the bicycle left, going immediately off a 14” curb in an impossible low-speed double-direction move, and then dropped the rear wheel off the curb, and flipped the front wheel again to continue uphill on the street. Doing the entire thing without hands.

It is impossible to drop off a high curb without hands while turning at low speed, but I wanted my guy, and whoever else, to see I was not a gamer; these were real talents. This was my work.

So this was my ‘work’ eh? I had no job, a checkered history since junior high school, problems setting proper limits in society, a brawl with a policeman, an assault charge, multiple incidents running from the police, 16 traffic tickets, unkempt appearance, living at home with my mother, spitting at the police, yelling and screaming at people, and walking around at night talking to myself … well, that was quite a résumé to boast. Did I expect further promotion from this ‘job?’ Do you think six months behind bars was a fair expectation?

I deserved six months for sure. But they went light and the bike rider slipped the net again.

Chapter 37)  Fifteen policemen block the door
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