Page 82 - REALLY What A time Book IX

REALLY SO WHAT
What A Time

BUSTED BIKE

rubber tires and real spokes.

I never rode it outside our block, so my travels were limited.
Near the far end of the block the sidewalk came down a hill
and turned abruptly. I had made that turn often, but
occasionally I would lose my balance and tip over. Once, and
only once I fell off and tumbled over a 5 foot wall. Some big
boys came to my rescue. They were the oldest in the area,
probably in high school. I didn’t cry and the outcome was
they gave me a nick name ‘Tuffy’. It didn’t last very long, but
was probably the best nick name I ever had.
By the time I was 6 I had grown beyond the tricycle and could
handle my brothers big bike, ‘The Rainbow’. I often borrowed
it for a joy ride around the neighborhood. My roaming now
took on a different character. Miles were now in my new
expanded world. It was more than our block, but included
North Fairlington, South Fairlington, although limited, the
woods and Shirlington.

On one expedition, about a mile from home, near the end of
North Fairlington, was a particularly fun and exciting ‘trail’
ride. I remember it something like this.
Behind the row of duplexes there was a 6 foot wall beyond
which was a sloping grassy area. Beyond the wall the hill, still
grassy, intensified it’s slope dropping sharper along the
apartment’s backyard. The grass came to an abrupt end at the
edge of a cliff, dropping through trees to a small creek far
below.

82