“Hey,” she said, “can I ride your
bike?”
I was completely shocked. Oh,
wow, I thought, I made a friend.
“Yeah, of course,” I said.
I got off and she got on and
rode about twenty or thirty feet.
Some random older kid came
running up to the street, she
stopped and got off, and he climbed
on and rode away. I was so happy
that a girl had spoken to me that it
didn’t fully sink in that they’d
stolen my bicycle. I ran back home,
smiling and skipping along. My
cousin asked where the bicycle was.
I told him.