Three months ago I had to stop driving my car. It wouldn't pass inspection and it would cost about $3K to get it up to par.
Well, it's a 98 Honda Accord with about 179 thousand miles on it, what did I expect?
Anyway . . .
I decided I would switch to riding a bicycle instead.
It has worked out fairly well.
I put about 10 miles a day on it. That's about 300 miles a month.
It keeps me healthy and active.
So, this evening I was riding home around sundown and it was about 99 degrees. I had drunk all my water and I stopped
at a Whataburger to fill up my bottle. I was never more than ten feet away from my bicyle and had my eyes on it the entire 5 minutes.
Well hell!!
As I'm walking up to the door to exit I notice this guy making straight for my bike.
He was about 28 years old, clean cut, black trimmed hair, anglo. He grabs the handlebars and I yell, "HEY!"
I thought he was goofing around and I wanted to let him know I didn't appreciate it.
He yelled, "Hey" right back at me and threw his leg over it and starts peddling away!
I yelled "HEY!" and he smiled and yelled, "Hey" mockingly as he took off right across the street.
Well, shit fire!
I was wearing my back pack with my laptop in it. I couldn't run after him.
I followed on foot about a quarter mile and lost sight of him.
I dialed 911 and within fifteen minutes I had four squad cars! Wow.
It was not a good neighborhood, I have to say that.
I gave my description of Perp and Bike and filed a report.
I asked why so many cops.
They said they would cover the neighborhood prowling in and out better with 4 cars in case they spotted him
and tried to maneuver away.
I was impressed!
I have to say I feel really bad about this for three reasons.
First, I never should have left the bike unattended right in front of Whataburger even though I never lost sight of it.
Second, I'm stuck on foot without transportation now. That bike was $650 bucks. That's a lot of money when you live on Social Security. I only have myself to blame. I'll have to save up and buy another one. And by thunder I'll never leave it unlocked again!
Third, I really didn't think this thing through ahead of time like an intelligent person should have. I know good and well there are people who
are opportunists for crime. They simply see an opportunity and go for it.
It galls me he saw me not four feet away and knew he could get away with it!
I'm sort of glad I didn't catch him. It would have turned out badly for both of us.
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Tomorrow I'll call the local pawn shops and alert them to call me if he tries to pawn it. I'll also call the neary bicycle shop to give a description in case he tries to buy some sort of accessory for it. I'll call the police station too.
One of the policemen said he remembered a notice about a bike thief who had been released from jail not 2 weeks earlier. There have been 2 stolen bicycles in the last two weeks.
I told them I'd like to see his mug shot--I could certainly identify him.
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Well, I'll just have to settle down now and stop kicking myself in the ass for being an idiot!!
