Crack Pipe

My car was found the day after it got stolen. My cell, wallet, my school bag with student work, and paint from my trunk--- all gone. Oh, and I saw a crack pipe for the first time.... in my back seat.

My Bike Ride

I hadn't been on a bike for over ten years. The guys at the bike shop made fun of the Huffy bike I own. My car just got stolen. Now that I'm on the street, all vulnerable, I am fearful of True Chicago drivers, especially driving on Milwaukee Avenue. Especially, because I don't pay attention, I like to daydream. I am afraid of being crushed underneath a truck. I don't like how I look in one of those bike hats. I don't want to sweat in my work clothes. I am going to ride on the sidewalk, I don't care about bike ettiquette or the bike rules of the road. I dont like my nieghbor calling me a yuppie for riding my bike. I made it home safe, I'll it try again tomorrow.

Crime Victim

I have lived in Chicago all my life, I have been known to fight tooth and nail against anyone who says that the city dangerous place or isn't a safe place to raise kids. I could say that I never had been a victim of crime in my own city, but today changed all that. Today, I was a victim of grand theft auto.
Here's the story: I had been wanting to ride a bike to work for about two years and I had been in the market for a bike. While I was pricing one out, my brother informed me that he had one stored away in the basement of my school, he use to ride it when we worked together. It was a nice day so I decided to take it to Kozy's bike shop, to get it's tires filled and seat adjusted. While it was getting serviced, this scraggly skinny lookin long haired dude comes in bugging the guy fixing my bike to fix one of the chain links. He mentioned he wasn't from around here and kept insisting that his chain link get fixed. He opens up a crumpled paper towel and produces this rusty old chain, lays it on the floor and begins talking to himself. I thought it strange, but paid no attention and went off to browse the store. I found a clip on bicycle rack, bought it, then brought it back downstairs to get it installed. After it was installed, I left and went to test out the bike around the block. I came back and realized my car was missing. At first I thought, maybe it was towed. Then I checked my pockets for my keys. Missing.
I proceeded down to the service counter and asked if anyone had seen keys; the clerk mentioned he had seen the keys on the counter and asked the man with the chain if they were his. The guy said no. Then the clerk and I realized that this dude took my car.
I called the police, they arrived twenty minutes later they arrived. I have to mention that they were very kind to me and helped me think through the whole chain of events, for the police report. They questioned the fact that some crazy, scrappy fella could have the wherewith all to pull grand theft auto in broad daylight. They thought it could be an inside job, bikers running a car theft ring . Quite plausible I thought, my car, stolen near a bike shop, maybe some bicycle activists took it and junked it in the name of our fragile planet. At 5:00, I stood in front of the shop, a young man stranded miles away from home, without the comfort of my vehicle and my sedentary lifestyle, alone with a bike. i rode home, wet, sweaty, back hurting. Could this event been the prelude to a life live much more fully. Nah, I missed my car.