Bike Stolen….Cadillac Returned!

                                                     The Bad News    

So, …..  it’s just after Christmas, and I’m tooling down Sunrise Boulevard on my new (thrift store) bike, looking forward to my first ride on these fine wheels along our fabulous beach front when

                   BAM…CRASH….SMOKE…  

    …… two cars violently collide just a few feet from me and the bike. I’m shook, but jam on the brakes and hop off.
                                                                              
                                                                      
                                                                  not actual crash!
                                                                               
     The rear car was filling with smoke, the woman looked dazed and the kid in the front car (driving Daddy’s Lexus) was shrieking!

     I open the woman’s car door and ask if she can move. She shakes her head yes and I help her out. The kid bolts out of Daddy’s Lexus screamin “Oh My God,Oh My God” . It takes a minute, but I get him to chill. 
                                                           
                                                                                                                        
                                                        not actual screaming kid
    
    
     I call 911 .

     I feel good about my good deed, tell both drivers that the Cops are on the way, and turn back towards the sidewalk and 

                                             POOF ..
…… my new (thrift store) bike was gone ….amazing ….. just like that ……. damn thieves !!! 
                                         ………………………………………………………………..

                                                         The Good News

     The next day the story shows up in the Local section of the Sun-Sentinel newspaper, in a piece entitled “His Good Deed Comes at a Price”. They give me credit for my actions, but then rib me because I had yet to register the bike (even though I was the Commissioner who got the bike registration law passed).

     I take it all in stride. The next morning I read my e-mails and there’s an e-mail from TREK BIKES ( the bike that Lance Armstrong rides)!

     They say they read the story in the paper, felt awful, and were going to replace my bike (free of charge)!
      “Wow”, some company, I thought. I e-mailed back, and tried to talk them into adding another bike for a needy kid that got theirs stolen too ! (Pushy, I know!) But, to my amazement,they say OK, but we will have to settle for bikes with a maximum price of $600 each! OMG! …This tale was working out alright.

     So, today we got our new bikes. 
                                   
                                                        
  &nb
sp;                                                actual  bikes ( or should I say actual cadillacs!)

             …….  oh, and we got them registered right there at the bike shop!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
                                                           Proof of Registration!

 ..              ……….     maybe there’s hope for mankind after all!