Wednesday, October 10, 2007

This morning during my walk to the metro, I saw two brothers on their way to school via bike. They both had white helmets, they both wore black backpacks, and they both appeared to be riding the same type of bike. I ran into them at the crosswalk, where they stopped and waited for the "walk" sign like good responsible bikers.(a sharp contrast to the irresponsible adult bikers who ride in the middle of the street and refuse to adhere to the written and unwritten biking laws). Anyway, I thought this was a cute sight, so I removed my headphones and said, "Hey little buddies, how's it going?", and they both gave me a sheepish, "fine". I quickly put my headphones back on, because these days you never know how an innocent hello could turn into Mr. Hansen jumping out of the bushes asking me what the hell I'm doing. As they passed me again, I wished them a good day, and I went about my merry way.

Seeing these two kids riding their bikes, reminded me of living of my brother and I riding bikes together. We never rode to school, since we lived within walking distance, but on the weekends we would ride our bikes all over the neighborhood. We didn't have those silly helmets to wear, so we were way cooler and more unsafe than the bike riders today. My father had this 30 minute rule, which meant every 30 minutes we had to check in to make sure we were alright, and then we could go back out into the world. This was before cell phones and all that. Back then I thought this rule was stupid, but given the aforementioned predators, and the other types of dangers kids run into these days that was pretty smart on his part. I remember that I would lead the way, and my brother would pretty much follow me wherever I went, and it was fun. Sometimes we'd race, other times we'd explore a new part of the neighborhood, sometimes we'd ride up to the local community center to play basketball or pool. Then one day I left my bike in a bad spot, and it was stolen, and my father never bought me another one, so that put an end to our bike riding days. But it was nice revisiting that memory this morning. My brother is going through some personal problems right now, so Jamal hopefully you'll read this and feel a little bit better.

Me and Baby Brother - War

5 comments:

Janelle said...

That was so nostalgic, so sweet, and I pray those little boys don't give your description to the police. hahahahahahaaa

Miss Black River said...

Just when I expect you to clown someone you go and tell a nice story like that. I'm getting misty :)

redhotmama said...

hey jamal, rashad's brother, we love you!

£ said...

what a feel good entry!

lol @ "hey little buddies" too cute...and no need to worry about mr hansen, he only appears after the candy offer...

Anonymous said...

Back in the days Rashad, you painted a pretty picture. Your father is no joke, LOL

and for Jamal...

Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Be strong and of good courage!

God bless