![\"Coolest](\"http:\/\/psolis.com\/thepoint\/wp-content\/uploads\/RaleighChopper-738881.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nA Chopper bike! It was nice! The sissy bar; the ape-hanger handlebars; the shifter; the tiny wheel upfront; the lean-and-mean slope it had; even the Kermit-the-frog green to match the family car. This bike was moving – even standing still! <\/p>\n
The first thing my brother and I did was modify it. We leaned those ape-hangers as far forward as I could possibly reach. I barely had my butt on the edge of the seat, but I was hanging – out at the outskirts of my dreams! <\/p>\n
It really was cool! My parents planned the whole day. We went to the park for a picnic by Indian Pond. The sky was a beautiful shade of azure with those little puffy clouds that slide into place every once in a while just to give us a burst of shade. I had all the hot dogs I could eat and spent the whole day riding. Everything was incredible and this was the best day of my life. <\/p>\n
I even learned to ride a bike today. My brother, running out of patience in teaching me, wanted to ride it more often and would not let me have a turn riding my bike. “They got it for US!” was his reply, but I know it was mine – right? They didn’t get me anything for my birthday so this must be a way to make up for it – isn’t it?<\/p>\n
At about 5pm, my brother and I got into a fight. He would not give up the bike and I ended pushing him off. My parents have had enough and loaded us back into the family wagon “the green machine” for the trip back home.<\/p>\n
When we got home everybody was tired and all my brother and I did was argue – like brothers are supposed to do. We pull into the perfect parking space right in front of our brownstone – right in front of our basement gate. We unload the car but my brother and I argue over who will put the bike away. In the morning we woke up all excited about how wonderful our 4th-of-July had been. I run down to the basement just to feel the bike – after all, it could have been only a dream. I get there and no bike. Was it really a dream? <\/p>\n At the moment my brother comes up behind me and says – where’s the bike!? Didn’t you bring it in, fool? We look at each other with that little-kid-in-trouble look of – ooh-ooohh! <\/p>\n Running outside in our pajamas, we are struck by the glaring heat of a July morning in New York. Our eyes, adjusting to the brightness, start to focus on the green machine. Only to realize that the side-rear window, of the wagon, was shattered – like my dreams – into small bits, all splattered out on to the sidewalk.<\/p>\n I should have just put the bike away, but I guess it does not matter, at some point someone would have stolen it anyway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I finally got my birthday present! My birthday was back in May, but my parents could not afford to get me what I wanted – that is until today. I got a great surprise! A Chopper bike! It was nice! The sissy bar; the ape-hanger handlebars; the shifter; the tiny wheel upfront; the lean-and-mean slope … Continue reading “Bittersweet Fourth of July”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7,32,17,33,22],"class_list":["post-33","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-birthday","tag-family","tag-freedom","tag-musing","tag-playground"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/psolis.com\/thepoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/psolis.com\/thepoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/psolis.com\/thepoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/psolis.com\/thepoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/psolis.com\/thepoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/psolis.com\/thepoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":335,"href":"http:\/\/psolis.com\/thepoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions\/335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/psolis.com\/thepoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/psolis.com\/thepoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/psolis.com\/thepoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Home_](\"http:\/\/psolis.com\/thepoint\/wp-content\/uploads\/NYBrownstone-750900.jpg\")
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