The Bike

I remember the first time I was able to ride a bike (men 3'eer sannadat). It was in nady el Seed and I was 10 years old. My cousin was like 6. He spent a whole summer teasing me that although he was younger, he could ride the bike and I couldn't because I am a girl. I remember quite well that I had many trials, bumps and many falls. But I had enough of the teasing essara7a. He was generous enough to help me learn (imagine!). The trick my cousin claimed was in the speed. "law mesheety bel 3agala besor3a awy, mesh hatl7a2y to2a3y". So he lend me his bike and watched me fall off one time after the other after the other after the other. It was a pretty long exhausting day, my cousin had a lot of laughs and he insisted to show off a couple of times just to show me how to ride the bike.

Until it was the end of the day, like about 12 beleel. I remember because all the grown ups were tired and they wanted to go home. "7'amas da2aye2 bass ya baba.", I said. And I was granted my wish. They weren't really watching, they saw me fall off many times already. They just waited by the side of the walking track the five extra minutes. So I did the same thing I have been doing ba2aly 6 hours: Sitting on the bike, running with my legs so that the bike could gain some speed and then I would peddle from there when it was fast enough not fall. That was my plan. Suddenly it worked. I peddled and peddled, I was going pretty fast. I remember hearing my cousin from behind running"yalla besor3a..yalla kaman". I was ecstatic. A sense of achievement and happiness that was not disrupted by fear or pain. Finally it paid off. Finally I could sense the evening refreshing breeze on my face. I wasn't laughing, but I was smiling while concentrating on the road but mostly concentrating on recording the memory. All I have to do is keep peddling. Until I was hit by the sudden of thought of not knowing how to stop. How am I going to stop the bike? If I stopped peddling I will definitly lose the accelration but eventually I will fall off. Fair enough. So I lifted my feet from the peddle, closed my eyes and decided not to fall off gracefuly. As if to add drama for the day.

The moment I fell off the bike, I started laughing hysterically. My cousin came up and said "mawa2fteesh leh el 3agala berra7a?". I replied that I did that intentionally. "Shofteny kont bagry bel 3agala besor3a ezzay??". Cousin smiled while checking his bike and said "ah shoftek, ana kont waraky 3ala tool." I was proud of myself. Our parents are like so far away now. I can see them watching. But I could not see if they were smiling. I looked at the distance of the road back and bragged again"yaaah..dana mesheet bel 3agala keteer awy"And now I have to walk the distance back because I wasn't sure if I was able to ride the bike again, and my cousin already dediced that it would be his way of transportation back. But walking wasn't fast enough. I ran. I ran after him. With a proud smile on my face.

P.S: After that incident I spent sometime learning how to go left and right with the bike. It was about 3 weeks and I was able to go a whole circle around myself without falling off.