This Is Reality, Dear Reader

Bend Resident With Bike Trouble

By Joseph Friedrichs, 8-07-08

If you were to ask Kale if he would ever steal a bicycle he’d likely tell you that he wouldn’t. But if you offered him $1,000 in cash he’d probably do it. Who wouldn’t, you know?

Nonetheless, people keep stealing Kale’s bicycles. Kale, 16, is an employee at Newport Market. He does the grunt work there and they pay him for it. During our interview he was picking up bits of dried tangerines and crumpled cigarette butts.

The last time someone stole Kale’s bike they had to rip down a tree with their bare hands. It was a small tree that showed serious potential on this planet.

“That was my transportation,” Kale told me, and he was serious.

The wheels this scumbag took were precious. It was a gray specialized mountain bike with red, black and white stripes. Kale pedaled that bike everywhere when he possessed it.

“Why the fuck, oh sorry,” he said, “why the heck would someone break a tree down just to steal a bike?”

There is a small patch of brown grass where Kale’s bike once stood next to that tree. It is a sad display.

I agreed with Kale when he acknowledged the fact it was possible that if the person truly needed the bike more than he did, well, then that was the reason they ripped it off in the first place.

Kale was wearing tan pants and a green shirt as he was explaining all of this to me, an outfit typical of Newport Market employees. His green eyes were glorious with wonderment about the conversation. I wanted to ask him more, about his reactions to so many situations and feelings and life in general. Instead, I just sat there calm on my purple bench and let him speak.

“I felt confused as to why someone would break down a tree to take a bike,” he said.

It was a serious thought. I gave it space.

I enjoy giving people and various situations space. 

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