Author's Note: You can read the illustrated version of this on the MCL website.
The Ordinary
"Did you hear? Leigh and Lysander are getting their new wheels today!" Rosalya told me cheerfully.
"No, what kind of wheels?" I asked.
Before Rosalya could answer, Amber pushed past me. "As if it would matter to you! I'm Leigh's best customer, so obviously that means he'll be giving me rides to school from now on."
Rosalya blinked, confused. "Leigh can't give anyone rides to school."
Amber snorted. "What's the point of getting a new car, then?"
"I never said they were getting a car. I said 'wheels.'"
"What?"
"They're going to be delivered this afternoon. You'll see."
The school bell rang, so Amber just gave Rosalya a suspicious glare and walked away. I had no doubt that she would stop by Leigh's shop to see what all the fuss was about. Amber prided herself on always being up-to-date on the latest fashions and gossip, so she visited Leigh's shop frequently with her friends.
During my history class, I noticed that Lysander was not paying attention. He kept staring into space with a little smile on his face. I found this strange because history was Lysander's favorite subject.
Presuming that he could not become any more distracted than he already was, I scribbled him a little note asking about his wheels. I folded it and wrote his name on the outside before passing it to Iris, who passed it to Melody, who passed it to Lysander.
Lysander unfolded the note, and his dreamlike smile widened into a big grin. He wrote a note back to me with enthusiastic strokes of his pen. He then passed it to Melody, who passed it to Iris, who passed it to me.
The object note has been added to your inventory.
I opened it and read:
It's an Ordinary from 1884. Leigh and I each ordered one. It's a replica of the original ones from 1884, but authentic in design and materials. Would you like to come by the shop this afternoon to see it?
Would I? I had no idea what could be so "ordinary" about a vehicle from 1884, but my curiosity had been piqued. Plus, I couldn't refuse an excuse to spend time with Lysander. He was such an intriguing fellow. I wrote a note of confirmation to him and passed it through my network of friends.
After school, I met up with Lysander and Rosalya. We walked to Leigh's shop, where Lysander led us around the back to a loading dock. Amber and her friends were already at the shop, but did not know that all the fun would be happening behind the building. When they saw us, they followed us.
We found Leigh pacing expectantly behind the shop, checking his brass pocket watch every so often. "They were supposed to be here by now," he told us.
"Maybe the truck just got stuck in traffic," Rosalya said.
"Truck?" I asked.
Amber gasped. "I knew it! The only cars that get delivered by truck are fancy foreign sports cars that don't have a dealership nearby. Let me guess . . . It's a Lamborghini!"
Leigh just looked at her and raised an eyebrow while Lysander smiled deviously.
"Come on! Am I right?" Amber asked, growing impatient.
Just then, a huge delivery truck with eighteen wheels rounded the corner. "Get out of the way," Leigh told us.
We all scampered to the back door of the shop while Leigh helped the driver of the truck dock with the raised loading platform. It was clearly not the car carrier that Amber had expected, but a closed container with corrugated steel sides.
Once docked, the driver got out of the truck to help Leigh and Lysander unload. We watched as they dragged out two square, skinny boxes each the height of a man and the same length, but only about two feet wide. They also received two smaller cubical boxes about a foot long on each side. They then signed some papers from the delivery truck driver, and he departed.
Leigh and Lysander opened the smaller boxes first. Inside were some funny-looking helmets. They were made from the best modern materials, but had some intricate Victorian designs on them. I had never seen anything quite like them, and neither had Amber. "Are those custom motorcycle helmets?" Amber asked.
"Yes, but without the motor part," Rosalya said.
While Amber puzzled over this, the brothers turned their attention to the two larger boxes. They cut open the boxes carefully and removed blocks of protective polystyrene, which were strapped around their items with broad plastic ties. Gradually, they revealed two contraptions. Each one had a gigantic wheel almost as tall as the boys were and a smaller wheel behind it.
I let out a low whistle and said to Rosalya, "You weren't kidding when you said they were getting wheels."
The brothers beamed with pride, but Amber looked bitterly disappointed. "Well, this was a waste of time. Come on, girls. Let's go get manicures!" Amber turned to leave, and her entourage followed her.
"Some people have no appreciation for vintage vehicles," Lysander mused.
"I think they're incredible," I said, "but how do you ride them?"
Leigh strapped on his helmet, and then lowered a ramp leading down from his loading dock. Lysander put on his helmet as well. The brothers walked their bicycles down to street level. "We got a lesson on how to mount an ordinary two months ago at a living history museum," Leigh said.
"So, these are ordinary? How did they get that name?" I asked.
"These were built for speed, and they were quite popular until the invention of safety bicycles with wheels of equal height that had a chain ring connecting the pedals to the wheels. This was before they started putting multiple gears on bicycles. Notice that the pedals on the ordinary are attached directly to the front wheel. The larger the wheel, the faster the bicycle goes. The back wheel is needed for balance, but is small to keep the vehicle light. The first safety bicycles were also a bit slower and usually ridden by ladies. Cycling was a dangerous sport for young men, especially since nobody wore helmets back then," Lysander said.
"Dangerous?" I asked with my eyes wide.
"Yes. With such a small back wheel, these bicycles are prone to tip forward if one is not careful. Fortunately, the roads of today are much nicer than those in the Victorian era: fewer bumps."
"So, how do you even get on these things in the first place?"
"We'll demonstrate," Lysander said as Leigh put a foot on a small piece of metal sticking out of the piece of steel that connected the larger wheel to the smaller wheel, and got the vehicle rolling with his other foot by pushing against the ground as if he was on a skateboard. Then, he hopped up to the seat in one smooth motion. Lysander followed suit, and soon the two brothers were pedaling easily around the lot behind Leigh's shop. I noticed how wide and funny the handlebars looked compared to the bicycles I was used to seeing. I suppose that's how the "handlebar moustache" got its name. My heart warmed as I watched Lysander. I had never seen him so happy before.
"Let's take these out on the open road!" Rosalya suggested. She dashed through the store to the front, and I ran after her.
Leigh and Lysander rode their ordinaries through the alley behind the store and met us out front. We sprinted along the sidewalk beside them trying to keep up, but they were just too fast for us. They turned the corner at an intersection up ahead and disappeared. Rosalya and I stopped at the intersection, gasping and out of breath.
Then, out of nowhere, Auntie appeared. "Hello, dear! I just realized that I forgot your birthday last week. I feel absolutely terrible about it and want to make it up to you."
Still trying to catch my breath, I said, "That's OK, Auntie. Say, do you have anything that could help me catch up to Lysander and Leigh?"
"Oh, you mean those two dashing young gentlemen who just rode by on the penny farthings?" Auntie asked.
"Penny farthings?"
"Yes, those high wheel bicycles. My grandfather called them penny farthings because the front wheel and back wheel had the same proportions of a penny to a farthing. Anyway, I have just the thing for you."
Auntie waved her wand, and an old-looking bicycle with wheels of equal height appeared. "A safety bicycle?" I groaned, "Lysander said that these things were slower."
Rosalya took a closer look at the bicycle and said, "This isn't that old. Lysander said that the first safety bicycles were slower, but this one seems newer."
"That's right," Auntie said, "I got this bicycle as a birthday present when I was about your age, nineteen sixty-something was the year. My memory of those years often fails me. Anyway, she's a three-speed, and a very reliable one if I do say so myself."
I took a closer look at the bicycle. It was clearly a ladies' bicycle because the top bar was slanted down and there was a piece of metal over the chain to prevent it from getting caught in a skirt. It had hand brakes and another, smaller lever on the right handlebar. There were three numbers beside the lever and a cable running down from it. When I followed the cable, however, I found no derailleur and only one set of chain rings. "Three speeds? I don't see any gears on it," I said.
Auntie patted the handlebars. "Shh! Don't hurt her feelings. It's what's on the inside that counts. She has an internal hub mechanism, unlike the bicycles today that show off ten chain rings and a derailleur right out in the open. She's more refined. See this?" Auntie pointed to a miniature bicycle chain sticking out of the rear hub. "That's an indicator chain. It lets you know what gear she's in."
"Oh. So . . . does she have a name?"
"Susan," Auntie said proudly, "Susan was my best friend all through college, especially when I just needed to get away from everyone else and be on my own for a while. She took me where I needed to go, and I kept her tires filled and her chain oiled. By the way, if she gets a flat, don't take her to just any old mechanic in town. Those people have forgotten how to properly care for her. That's the tricky thing about her. When that happens, come to me and I'll show you what to do."
The object Susan has been added to your inventory.
"Wow . . . Thanks, Auntie!"
Rosalya's eyes shone with interest. "So, this bicycle is really vintage, isn't it? Lysander and Leigh just have replicas. You're so lucky!"
I smiled and nodded. "True! The real test though is whether she can keep up with the ordinary."
Just then, Lysander and Leigh came around the block. I was about to mount Susan and test her when Auntie stopped me. "Wait! Put your helmet on first." She waved her wand again, and a helmet appeared in her other hand. Unlike the bicycle, the helmet was completely new. It had an aerodynamic, shiny red shell over a protective mound of polystyrene. I took it from Auntie and put it on, but it felt a little loose. Auntie waved her magic wand again, and everything tightened into place. "Go get 'em, kid!"
The object modern helmet has been added to your inventory.
By the time Leigh and Lysander had passed us again, I hopped onto Susan and sped after them. Susan was already in her lowest gear, and accelerating came easily. When I had built up a little speed, I flipped the lever into second gear. The bicycle went much faster, and for a moment it looked like I was gaining on the brothers.
Then I realized that they were slowing down for a stop sign, which meant that I had to stop too. Reluctantly, I geared back down and squeezed the hand brakes. By the time I got to the intersection, Lysander and Leigh had already stopped and gone through. I had to wait for a car before it was my turn to go.
Fortunately, there was a long, straight stretch of road ahead. After I cleared the intersection, I flipped Susan into second gear again. A few seconds later, I felt the pedals spinning with ease and decided to try third gear. The vehicle accelerated, and before I knew it, I was right behind the brothers. "On your left," I called to them.
Lysander glanced back in surprise. "How did you catch u-oah!" He hit a piece of plastic garbage that had been lying by the side of the road, and went flying over the handlebars.
"Lysander!" Leigh and I both called at the same time, but it was too late.
Lysander hit the pavement and skidded to a stop while his ordinary toppled over, landing just short of him. It was actually a good thing that he got ejected from the vehicle because otherwise the bicycle would have crushed him as it fell.
Leigh hopped off his ordinary while I dismounted easily from my three-speed. We set our vehicles on the sidewalk and rushed to Lysander's side to ask if he was OK. For a moment, Lysander was in shock. He just kinda stared at us until Leigh asked him if anything hurt. Then, he winced and said, "My wrist feels strange."
"Should I call for an ambulance? I have a cell phone," I said.
"I think I'm fine," Lysander said. He tried to stand up, using his left arm for support, and howled in pain. "OK, maybe not," he admitted after he abandoned the effort.
"I'm calling 911 right now," I informed him. I dialed the number on my cell phone while Leigh continued to ask Lysander questions. At least he was conscious and talking; the helmet had probably saved his brain.
While the ambulance was still en route, Rosalya showed up on a white bicycle with a purple helmet like mine. She gasped when she saw Lysander lying on the ground. "LysBaby, what happened?"
"Someone littered on the road, and it caused Lysander to crash," Leigh said.
"We don't know that it was intentional. It could have been that someone was in a hurry and it fell out of their car," I said.
"Stop making excuses for people," Rosalya said, "there's no excuse for littering."
"What was that thing, anyway?" Leigh asked.
I walked back to the piece of junk and picked it up. It was yellow and rectangular, about the size and shape of a briefcase. It was open on one end and hollow, but the plastic was thick and it felt heavy. It also smelled terrible. I took it to Leigh for further examination.
The object plastic junk has been added to your inventory.
"What is it?" Leigh asked.
"Oh! I know! It's a gas can," Rosalya said.
Just then, the ambulance arrived and we forgot about the item. The paramedics put Lysander on a stretcher and took him away. They let Leigh ride in the ambulance with him because he was family, but Rosalya and I had to stay behind.
"I hope he'll be OK," Rosalya said.
"I hope so too. In fact, I know he will be. It's probably just a broken bone or two. He was wearing his helmet, so I don't think his head got hurt at all."
"That's good," Rosalya said.
"It's still kinda scary seeing that," I said, "I'm not sure I want to ride a bicycle anymore."
"Are you kidding? Bicycling is really healthy. It builds muscle and improves your cardiovascular system. In fact, you are eighty times more likely to lengthen your life than to shorten it by bicycling. Besides, Lysander has an ordinary bicycle, and we have safety bicycles with multiple gears. See? Mine has ten speeds," Rosalya said proudly.
I took a closer look at Rosalya's bicycle. It had two chain rings on the front and five in the back. Two times five equals ten. "Wow! I didn't even know you had a bicycle until now."
"Yeah. I keep it at Leigh's shop. I really like it and I don't want anyone to steal it, so I leave it with Leigh and walk the rest of the way to school."
"Cool!" I had to admit that the bicycle was gorgeous, and probably really expensive. The white paint shone under the sun, dazzling with perfection, Susan, on the other hand, had more than a few scratches. It only added to her character, though. I knew that every scratch represented an adventure that Auntie had experienced. Perhaps those scratches were nothing more than the result of a careless college student swinging a key to unlock a bicycle beside her on a crowded rack. Even so, each scratch had its own story. Perhaps said college student had just learned a profound, life-altering revelation from a lecture that distracted him or her to the point of carelessly swinging keys. Even the most accidental, tiny scratches bore some significance. My bicycle was no less beautiful than Rosalya's new, untarnished one because mine had stories to tell.
Of course, that was also the appeal of the ordinary. Lysander and Leigh chose their bicycles because of the historical significance behind them. Even though they were merely replicas of the Victorian era bicycles, they still carried the story with them. Lysander got to personally experience the thrill and excitement of speed from an era that was just experimenting with new ways to use the wheel. Thankfully, he had also protected himself with the modern technology of the helmet inlaid with polystyrene.
The next day, Lysander showed up at school with a cast on his left arm and a large bandage on his right arm. He could walk just fine, and he did not need any excuses from his classes. Peggy begged him for an interview for the school newspaper. Lysander refused to talk about it, and Peggy made up a false story about how Lysander took someone's sports car joyriding and got in a crash. The story was completely fictitious, but I can assure you of this: if Lysander had actually been in a high-speed car crash as Peggy's story suggested without wearing a helmet in addition to a seatbelt, Peggy would not have been able to hound Lysander for an interview the next day.