Sidelined

I’m in a sidewalk diner on a downtown side street, sitting at a little table that faces a large bike rack. I’m window-shopping without arousing suspicion, watching people and how they leave their bikes, hoping for a high-end number to come through. Even locked, I’ll have that bike released without anyone even noticing, will wheel away across town to my parked car, and whisk it into the spacious trunk.

Just as I recognize her bike securely u-locked to the rack the waitress recognizes me; the girl from outside the college library says hello and thanks me again for my kindness and I realize with dismay that I’d broken my cardinal rule.

A Scott road bike catches my eye through the window and I watch a middle-aged businessman prove that he has no business keeping such a machine, but I may have to let it go, for I am no longer invisible.

***

From Cutting Loose, to Good Business, to this Six Sentence Story, the story is continued. The word from Denise this week is “cardinal”, the rules are to use that word in six sentences, no more, no less. Go to GirlieOntheEdge for more cardinal stories.