In Tandem

by Pat Antonopoulos

Uh oh. Patti's tandem story equates with marriage wisdom. My tandem story won't make that cut.

Driving down a country road, twilight softening the end of the work week and catching the last dribble of sunlight...propped against a mail box was a tandem bike with a dangling crayoned 'For Sale' sign.

Cannot ever remember buying anything else on a whim...always do the pro/con thing before handing over the cash. But I had to have that bicycle built for two. Twenty dollars sealed the unbeatable bargain.

Our house sits atop the center of about three acres so all path options were down hill, giving us an easy start. Talk about 'down hill from there'. Bob's zigzag steering sent us careening across the slick grass towards the feeble wire fence that protected the cows from this bit of our nonsense. Beyond that was the spring fed but murky pond. Bob laughing and my feet hopelessly back pedaling on non-existent brakes. Maybe, just maybe, my body panic caused the tilt. We ended on the ground sliding easily through the fresh mud.

OK. It was fun. We laughed for a long time with the audience of six heifers munching grass and twitching tails. But not do-over kind of fun. The first person who answered the ad handed me $20.00 and drove away oblivious to my smirk of satisfaction.

What a mistake. Never should have let it go. The buyer hung it on the side of a barn to rust into ruin and I lost the chance to make more muddy memories.
Not a break-even deal.