The Silver Redline

Glenn grew up a kid who liked baseball, movies, riding his bike, and all the other things a 9 year old loved to do in the 80's. Only things were really tough for his parents. They had to save every penny just pay the bills, never mind vacations.

The bike store at the strip mall had a Silver Redline BMX bike displayed in the window that had all the 4th graders within a 20 mile radius looking for lawns to mow, papers to deliver, and chores to do, begrudgingly, just get enough money to get that bike. It was everything a pro BMX bike should be. It was our centerfold. Hanging smack in the middle of the display window was a chrome framed, BMX REDLINE. Those knobby tires making that unmistakeable hum as you pedal down the newly paved streets of suburbia. The steady, rhythmic sound of the free wheel humming when you coast is the pinnacle of cool. Dreaming about owning it and riding it, seeing those chrome V bars right in your crosshairs as you pedal quickly to bunny hop over the dirt mound in the pathway just over the walking bridge where the shade of oak trees keep you cool on a hot, summer day. It was everything a 4th grader wanted. It was freedom, prestige, and just fun.

By Christmas in 1982 and the bike was gone from the display. We all came back to class after winter break only to find out that someone from OUR own junior high school got the Silver Redline. It was as if we had a celebrity in our midst.

There was a buzz at school going around that a kid named Glenn had got the bike. We all met at the neighborhood BMX track that was built by kids before us, so it might as well have been there forever, fr all we knew. We had our typical Stingrays, Schwinns, Raleighs, and if you were really cool you had a Mongoose.

Glenn was there. That's why we were there. We HAD to see the new bike in the wild. It was a reality. It was right in front of us and we all wanted to ride it. Glenn wouldn't let us, and for good reason. It was his baby.

Little did Glenn know his bike felt the same about him.

Glenn rode faster than ever, and faster than any of us, too. Jumped farther. Farther than any of us. Pedaled uphill as if he had a motorcycle. It was effortless. He was our God.

1984 came around and Glenn was in high school now. Many trophies later, and Polaroids all over the wall of his bedroom in between the Iron Maiden, and Black Sabbath posters were photos his wins at BMX races up and down the state stuck onto the wall carelessly with thumbtacks. He was proud of his lifestyle. The kind of kid we all wanted to be. He still rode his bike to school every day, and always made a detour for the track to get that high of making it over the first woop de doo right to the second, effortlessly. He loved his new bike so much. He kept it clean after every ride. He even went as far as getting Armor All for the tires. One day he was cleaning his bike and decided to put it upside down to clean the under side of the bike and get that chrome really shining. He saw a sticker on the bottom of the frame that looks like a DMV registration tag that said "SELL YOUR SOUL TO ME. GIVE ONE, GET ONE." It had an 800 number, but it was disconnected, so he figured it was null.

So, he made a deal with his bike, instead. He didn't know that would work, and he could have anything he wanted, but it came at a price. He had to give up something dear to him, willing, or not.

Glenn was the team captain of the biking team at 14, and even participated in the chess club for extra credit giving him a 4.2 average. His future seemed set, and it came to him so effortlessly. You know, one of those straight A students who never studies.

When Glenn turned 16 his father gave him the hand me down Ford Pinto. It was not the coolest car, but it was a free car. He put in a loud sound system, of course, and big back tires on it to make it look more like a Cuda. He no longer had to ride his bike ! It was a freedom he dreamed of since he was a kid.

As soon as he stopped riding the Silver Redline to school everything changed. His grades dropped, his left arm got injured, and he lost his after school job. He was dong everything right and nothing had changed in his routine, so it made no sense to him. Nothing had changed. His life seemed like it was falling apart at the seams.

Glenn had no more money to fix his car, so with no job he had to ride his bike.

All of a sudden, Glenn's life got better. Everything fell right back into place and within few days he had found a new job. He even got offered manager position. His grades improved, and he got a new girlfriend.

One day Glenn was having some friends over and they ran out of snacks, and so on. His brother, Owen offered to pick up, and the mini mart was only a few blocks away, so he took the Silver Redline. On his way to the store, Owen was cruising along when the Silver Redline had come to a dead stop and thrown Owen into traffic, where you guessed it, he was run over by a bus. Owen was loved in the community and he was Glenn's mentor.

A few weeks later after the dust had settled, Glenn and his friends tried to return to a normal life. Again, like a million times before, Glenn's best friend Steve makes a run to the mini mart, only this time he borrows the Silver Redline. As he is leaving the store his foot falls off the pedal and he's thrown into traffic, where he run over, and the bike is stolen.

Years later, Glenn is destitute. He has lost everything. He was doing great, but slowly just like a frog in water that's about to be slowly boiled, he doesn't know it, he winds up on Skid Row. He doesn't know what the hell happened.

He had lost all respect, and relationships because he was falsely accused of stealing money from work, and that made him look untrustworthy. It took years, but slowly his old relationships were mended and it seemed that things might get back to normal.

He is desperate for change and will do anything. He is offered a cleaning job to empty out a hoarding house that is ready for demolition. It's got the typical dusty furniture with rat feces, packages that were dated from a year before still unopened, newspapers of the Moon Landing, and Kennedy Assassination, stuff like that.

Glenn meets a woman named Tina at the job site who is also there to get her life straight. They totally hit it off and hang out all day together. They end up doing more jobs together and end up married, with a kid they call Junior flipping real estate. Things are good. They're great.

Like a storm with no notice, the economy changes and Glenn, Tina, and Junior find themselves broke and homeless, again. Again, they are cleaning houses for quick cash and possible goods they can use themselves when Junior goes into the garage and behind some boards is a bike. It is a silver bike. Junior takes the Silver Redline and goes for a ride...