Owen had wanted to ride his bike on a bike-run forever.
Bike-runs were when his father and mother exercised together and the children had to come along. Owen faintly remembered a time when he and James would ride in the double stroller together--they often would run up to the bakery, before his mother decided that Too Much Sugar was a Bad Idea--but then their baby brother was born, and James would ride his green bike and Owen was stuck riding in the stroller next to Felix.
Owen liked Felix well enough, but he hated feeling like James was a big kid and he was a baby. At the dinner table James would eat neatly without spilling any of his food, and Owen and Felix would both need wipe-offs because of the food they'd spilled all over the table and down their shirts. Owen could eat more neatly if he went slower, but then he didn't get to have as many second helpings as James, and that was even worse than getting a wipe-off with the baby.
Riding in the stroller while James got to ride his bike on a bike-run was the worst. But now that Owen could ride his bike without training wheels he was ready to ride next to James.
Mother sprayed all of the children with sunblock while Father buckled Felix into the jogging stroller with his Curious George. Felix was such a baby. Owen snapped his own helmet on and scooted his yellow bike up behind James' green bike, heart thumping with excitement. Both parents had already stressed to him that this wasn't going to be a race and that James was going to be "in the lead" the whole time, but Owen didn't care about racing today. This was going to be a rite of passage.
There could hardly have been a more beautiful day for his first bike-run. The sun was shining but not blazing hot yet, and the sidewalks were carpeted with magnolia blossoms. Owen got started from each stop sign without tipping over once and his parents shouted encouragement (increasingly winded as they tried to keep up with James and Owen) to him over and over again. Owen knew that this was because it was his first big road ride, but he didn't care. Hearing his parents call out what a great job he was doing loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear was better than Christmas morning. And they didn't even say a single thing to James to make sure it was fair.
They biked all the way down Shelford Road to Merchants Road, and then turned up Winton Road and started biking back towards home. Owen had sweated through his shirt and his legs were aching. When they got to the big hill on Spencer Road where his parents always slowed down to a walk and James hopped off of his bike to push it up. Owen didn't want to push his bike up the hill. He wanted to keep on riding.
He pedaled harder and felt his legs burn. Sweat was dripping into his eyes, but he kept on pushing up the hill. He wasn't listening to his parents anymore, but he could tell from their voices that they weren't giving polite praise anymore, but were genuinely amazed that he was making his way up the hill. He was halfway there, and the bike kept zig-zagging as he tried to gain upward ground. He heard thumping behind him as he started to reach the top crest, and saw his mother out of the corner of his eye, shouting encouragement and cheering him on. There were just ten more sidewalk squares to go, then seven, then five, then three...
Mother and Father both clapped and cheered for him as Owen hopped off his bike and danced at the top of the Spencer Road hill. He had done it! He looked at James, still pushing his bike halfway up the hill, and even James looked happy for him. He'd secretly hoped James would be jealous and sad, but he decided that he was happy that James was proud of him too.
Owen wasn't ready to be done biking yet, so the family "cooled off" by taking all of their bikes (Mother and Father's too, with Felix riding in the baby seat on the back of Father's bike) over to the school parking lot and doing endless circles around the edge. Owen mostly went in the clockwise direction that everyone else did, but sometimes broke off to ride over the storm drains and listen to the clanking sound that they made as his tires hit them.
When they got home and Owen parked his bike in the garage they discovered that their three-doors down neighbor had left a sprinkler on in his front yard, and Owen and Felix took turns pushing each other through the spray on Felix' tricycle. Owen didn't even care that he was playing with a baby toy, because the sprinkler water felt wonderful after his hot bike ride and the whole neighborhood had seen him riding his bike just like James.
All of his clothes and his shoes were soaked through by the time Owen came in for lunch. He changed, and then ate an enormous lunch without smearing any avocado on his dry shirt, and then when it was time for nap he and James were the only ones that didn't fall asleep. Even Mother and Father fell asleep, judging by the funny lines on their faces.
Supper was hamburgers with ketchup and mustard and homemade french fries, and a dish of ice cream for dessert, and then a hike in the woods on a trail that none of them had ever explored except Father. They didn't see any snakes--Owen sometimes pretended he saw a snake even when he didn't, so that he could keep up with the number of snakes James found in the woods--but they did see two deer standing in a clearing and looking at them, plus a dead mole and four wooden bridges and a parked dump truck by the landfill entrance. When Felix was too tired to walk anymore Father carried him on his shoulders and Owen held his mother's hand. He was tired too and part of him wanted to suck his fingers, but that was a baby thing to do and today was a today was a day of being a big kid. Plus, his fingers were very dirty and wouldn't have tasted any good.
But the best surprise of all was as they were driving home and his parents kept driving straight on Culver Parkway instead of turning on to Helendale Road to drive home. The only place they ever drove to on Culver Parkway was the local ice cream stand, and that was exactly where they pulled in. James pointed out that they had already had ice cream that night, so they weren't going to get ice cream again, were they?
Father put on his mask and went out to stand in line, and Mother told the boys the story of how she and Father had been waiting all summer for the ice cream stand to put out their favorite type of ice cream, and that tonight was the first night that it was out, so that even though they had already had ice cream once they were going to get TWO ice creams tonight as a special treat. Owen's family hadn't had a special food treat from a restaurant or a bakery or ice cream stand for all of quarantine (except for the pizza that James earned by reading 25 chapter books), and tonight was a Very Special Night.
Owen's whole body was sore as he watched the sun setting on the gas station across the street. His parents were going to get coffee ice cream--coffee ice cream, in Owen's opinion, wasn't worth waiting all summer to go out for--and each of the boys would get a soft serve twist. He almost fell asleep waiting for his father to come back, and then a real fire truck pulled into the gas station and filled up its tank. This was the best day ever.
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