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Bike Shop

April 16, 2020

It was in the summer. I was pushing my bicycle on the sidewalk of a wide road. My bike had a flat tire. I like to ride a bike. It's good for my health. It's eco-friendly. And it costs nothing. Triple merits! On that early afternoon Saturday, after exercising at the gym, I was riding on my bike which I bought recently. I was riding on a paved river-side road that was only for pedestrians and bike riders. It was refreshing. When I approached the bridge, I chose the dirt road to go under the bridge. I should have slowed down on the downslope but didn't. Soon I realized something wrong with my bike, my rear tire had a puncture. I sighed and started to think about bike shops that were located nearby. The bike shop that I knew was about 3 kilometers away. I didn't want to push my bike that far. I pulled out my smartphone and started to look for the closest bike shops. Soon I found a bike shop that was about 500 meters away from where I was. I started to go. The bike shop was supposed to be on an old shopping street. I had sometimes used the supermarket that was on the main road, but rarely went down the street because I knew it was a dead end. I couldn't remember the existence of a bike shop. Walking down the street, I noticed handmade lanterns hanging here and there. Maybe it was the Buddhist Souls' Day event of the community. In this season of the year, some traditional communities would have those events with folk dancing with drums, and worshiping at the local shrine. I noticed a sign for XXX Bike Shop, but its shutters were closed. I was shocked. But I realized that the shutter at the end was half open. I went towards it. I found an old man was sitting on a stool doing something. He seemed to be the owner. I called in a small voice, "Excuse me." The guy raised his face and looked at me, but said nothing. So I said, "Sorry for interrupting, but one of my tires had a puncture." The guy looked at my bike, and then at me and said, "So?" I felt weak but I didn't want to give up and walk another couple of kilometers to get to the next bike shop, so I said in a lauder voice, "I know this is trouble when you are not open, but I was wondering if you could fix this." After a little pause, the guy stood up and said, "For the sake of today's sacred event, why not?" He opened the shutter and took my bike in and started to repair it. I thanked him very much, and he offered me a stool to sit and wait. He looked to be in his late 60s or early 70s. He took off the punctured tire, and took out the tube and started to put air into it using a pump. Soon leaking air sounded. I was looking around the shop. The shop had twenty or so bicycles, mainly for women and children. In these days, even DIY shops and shopping centers sold bicycles. It must be hard business for small bike shop owners. Suddenly he asked, "How did you get this puncture?" I replied, "When I was passing under the bridge on the dirt road, it happened." He asked, "Wasn't it a downward slope?" I replied, "Yes, that's right. I was careless and sped up there." He nodded and said, "Punctures always happen on the down slopes." His way of saying was somehow mischievous.  I started to feel that he was a good guy, but was hiding it because of his shyness. While he was repairing my bike, an old woman came. She was his neighbor and sat on another stool and they started to chat. Their way of chatting made me feel nostalgic. I checked my wallet, and I realized I had only a 10,000 yen bill. I didn't want to make trouble for him to give me change. The repairing cost should be at most 2,000 yen or so. I remembered that there was a supermarket nearby. I told him that I would be back in a little bit. It took only five minutes or so to walk to the supermarket. Browsing, I was looking for something to either eat or drink. I found a set of powdered sports drinks. I had some before. There were five bags, one bag contained powdered sports drink for one liter of water. You can put it into a one liter water bottle, and shake it up and drink it. In the summer time, one is warned not to dehydrate. It seemed to be the ideal product to break my 10,000 yen bill. When I walking back, I got an idea. How about giving some to him? For old people, dehydration was a big risk. I picked out two bags from the package. I returned to the bike shop, while he was just finishing up. I sat on the stool again. After a little while, he finished. I received my bike and pushed the rear tire with my thumb, and nodded. He said that maybe the tire won't be in the same position as it was originally, so be careful. I said I would do and I thanked him. I asked how much. He said that it was 1200 yen. It was cheaper than the price that I thought it would be. I paid it and he received. Afterwhich I said, "This is something for you if you don't mind." I held two bags of sports drink out to him. He looked at them for a little while, and then received them. He said ok or something, but I couldn't understand exactly, but I was relieved that he accepted. The old woman was watching us without saying anything. I thanked him again and left the bike shop. I put my knapsack on my shoulder, and got on my bike and started to pedal. My bike moved smoothly. I started to think that getting the flat tire wasn't such a bad thing as I could have such a meeting.

*paved :舗装の
*dirt :土の
*be supposed to be :あることになっている
*lantern :提灯
*worship :崇拝する
*I was wondering if :していただければ
*for the sake of :ために
*sacred :神聖な
*mischievous :いたずらっぽい
*contain :含む
*dehydrate :脱水