THE BOY ON THE BIKE

    My path of life came to a fork in the road the day the boy on the bike darted through the intersection from the sidewalk in front of me into the path of my vehicle. I was stopped, getting ready to make a right hand turn. One moment he was not there, then he was, and I thought for a moment I hit him as I began to turn. It was so close. He stopped; I stopped. We looked at each other. My mind raced; “What next. Did I hit his bike, even a little bit? Should I call the police?” It had been an ordinary day. One where little things seemed to matter more than they should. The weather was beautiful, then the boy on the bike cast a shadow like an ominous gray cloud over my life.
    As the boy got off his bike, and glanced back, it was as though all time stopped and many things went through my mind. It was as if there was a suspension of all animation, and then life continued. It was as though a judge and jury had been sent out, and as the boy got back onto his bike, it was like a heavenly force gave me a reprieve. I thought of God and thanked him profusely for his mercy in sparing me a diverted life of remorse, and I blessed the angels that rode in tandem with the boy on the bike and spared his life, his health and his family from suffering. I knew, somehow, the course of my life had been spared with the boy’s, and I felt a newfound meaning for the word gratitude. I knew that each day henceforth, was a gift. I reminisced about the pastor who had killed a little girl in the crosswalk because of a foggy windshield. I pondered the hellacious turn his life had taken and the term “accidental homicide” from stories in the newspaper about people who would desperately turn back the clock to change the circumstances of events that harmed another. I was humbled because some infinite intervention had spared me.
    Sometimes when I am out driving my car, I see a boy darting about on a bike, and I wonder if he might be my special angel, or a symbol reminding me to count my blessings, or simply a boy on a bike…or maybe all three. I just know he is out there. He is illusive, and he is seen in many places and many towns and cautions me with his presence to be careful…to slow down. He carries a powerful message. He has humbled me. He has made me feel blessed. He symbolizes divine intervention as he flits about in his dark colors on dark nights as boys do. He awakens gratitude, and he reminds me life is fragile. He gives me awareness of the adventure that springs forth from a boy busy about being a boy on a bike, with no care or thought. He comes and he goes, in my heart and my mind in the business of doing nothing, which seems to be something, then he appears again. 
    Perhaps you have seen this boy too. Perhaps next time you see him, you will see more than a boy on a bike as I do.

                                                    Jennifer Grant