It's A Unicycle!

I received a call from my son this afternoon while I was at work.

He sounded distressed and was crying over the phone. He scared me out of my wits when I heard him crying and trying to tell me something over the phone.

I thought he had hurt himself, maybe an accident had befallen HamsterVille... maybe he was bullied by some god-forsaken punk.

When he finally calmed down, he told me that he wanted to cycle with his friends after receiving their call to come down. When he went over to his bicycle which was parked right next to the staircase outside our home, it was gone... stolen!

What was left, was only the front wheel that was chained to the grilled parapet.

I was relieved to know that he was safe from any bodily harm. I was glad, though surprised at the loss, but was not angry that it did. I was kind of silly even to joke with him when he asked me "What shall I do, Ayah..."

I replied to him that there is nothing we could do. He should have locked the front wheel and the bicycle frame together to the grill. He had been doing that, but did not the last time when he cycled a few days ago.

"You know what? What I can do is only to modify what is left of you bicycle..." I paused.

He listen intently, sobbing over the phone, "What?" He asked.

"I can modify it to be a unicycle for you," I said and laughed.

My burst out laughing at the same time as I did and then continued crying again saying "Ayah... please...."

"Since it is your fault for not locking the bicycle frame and front wheel together as I have always reminded you time and again, you have invited some bad person to take it away from you." I explained.

Strange that I did not become furious with him, but I joked instead... a good joke I might add.

The fact is... it is no joke.

The bicycle cost me over S$400.00 when I bought for him at Carrefour. It was light-weight and rust-proof... the two main reasons why I forked out that much money for my dear son.

Made from aluminium alloy, the body and rim will last him a long time. I figured it may very well last him all the way to his teens even, when he starts to go off-track biking with his friends.

It is no joke that I will get the classic "I told you so" from Wifey. Both my son and I will get an earful from her. I do not blame her, she has her point and our son is still not as responsible as an adult should be.

I, on the other hand seem to be guilty of splurging out hard-earned money with my justifications. Sigh. Guess both of us deserve this.

She has warned me against it... to just buy him a cheaper one for him simply because.

We had a cheaper one! It rusted and broke apart a small piece at a time... pounded by rain and sunshine even when we shrouded it with canvas. It could not survive long enough with the tropical elements here despite all the care we had done.

Well now! Our son has his front wheel in his room as a trophy-memento for his costly temporary lapse of memory to lock it up properly, as he had done those umpteenth times before.

Now, let me see... did I get an itchy palm on my right hand? Hmmm...