I tagged along after my father that morning, being hopeful that maybe we would stop at the Olympia Candy kitchen and I could sample some of their wonderful candies. I followed him into the hardware store there on Lincoln Avenue, I think it was called Hess Hardware or something like that. My daddy had to pick up some “this and that’s”, as he called them.
We paused for just a moment at the front of the store to admire this amazing bicycle that was for sale. It was a very special. It was a Schwinn with red frame and fenders, and sparkling reflectors and everything. It was beautiful. My daddy asked me if I liked that bike, and I said, “Oh boy, it certainly is a special bicycle.”
Well, we continued to shop there at the Hardware, and daddy picked up a few things, paid for them, and then we started to leave the store. At that moment, my daddy said, “Stanley, don’t forget your Bicycle”. I nearly collapsed for joy. I could not believe that he had gotten me that bicycle, the most beautiful bicycle in all of the world, and it was now mine!
When we got outside the store, with me pushing that amazing bicycle, and he said “do you think you can ride that all the way home?” And I said I think I can, almost too happy to get the words out. He told me to be careful, don’t ride in the street and pay attention to all those stoplights on Main Street. I’ll see you when I get home. I have to stop at the church for a few minutes.
And that was that. I loved that bicycle. It took me everywhere. I felt like I was somebody as I rode around town. I know that I number of my friends admired my bicycle, and I let them ride every now then because that’s the kind of person I am.
I guess it must’ve been a month or two after I got my bicycle, that a girl, just my age, by the name of Janet, moved to a house on Main Street, just about a block from me. We would go on regular biking adventures, around town, and along the path that followed the Race, just a canal that paralleled the Elkhart River.
One of our most favorite routes took us down Wilson Avenue to Plymouth Avenue, then across the bridge over the Race. We would then follow the Race all the way to the Elkhart River dam. It was a real adventure.
We really liked the dam and as we watched the water flowing over, talking about all manner of things, important things for two 14 year-olds. One time, when there wasn’t a lot of water going over the dam, we decided we were going to walk across the edge, like circus performers on a wire. So we started, giggling as we went, looking out on the lake to our left, but when we looked down onto the riverbed below, we both got a little scared and worked out way back to safety. That was an adventure.
There was something else that we really liked about going to the dam…the fish ladder. You don’t know what a fish ladder is? Well I’ll tell you. A fish ladder is just what it sounds like. It’s a way for fish to swim up from the river below to the lake of the dam above. It was build kind of like a slanted bridge that ran from the river, up to the top of the dam. There were two levels; the upper level which my friend and I would walk on, down to the river and back, and then the lower level where there was a flow of water and the fish could ‘swim-climb’ the ladder. I don’t know that we ever saw fish actually climbin’, but that’s what it was for and that’s what happened.
I think it was on one of those trips out to the Dam that Janet told me she named her bicycle Suzy. I asked her why did she call her bicycle that and she said it was because Susan was her favorite aunt.
I got to thinking about what I should call my bicycle and finally gave it a proper name that fit the spectacular bicycle it was. I called it Captain, because I thought that honored my bike. I had heard so much about some of the heroes in the war that had just ended, and it seemed like the right thing to do.
Well, riding that bike was an important part of my growing up years, especially 13 to 15. I would go on long bicycle rides, either by myself or with Janet. When it was the two of us, we would usually end up somewhere along the Race just sitting and talking. We talked about everything under the sun. She had a fine sense of humor and I think we both really enjoyed our time together. We stopped going on those bike rides when she began to date a boy that drove a car. I actually miss her very much and those rides we would take.
I don’t know what happened to that bike of mine. Sometime near my senior year in high school my daddy bought 1937 Studebaker Dictator, 4-door, automobile. It was bright green! I don’t think there was another car in all of Goshen that was bright green. Once we had that second car in the family, I just didn’t ride that bike much, Captain sat alone in the garage. I think daddy gave it to a deserving family or sold it at a garage sale. I don’t know. But I know this, I still remember the joy and surprise when my daddy bought that bike for me, and all those wonderful rides Janet and I would take.
I wonder where Janet is now?
For What It’s Worth.
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