the little pink bike

Every night, as I wait for the elevator on the ground floor, I see a little pink bicycle in the corner. It’s covered in dust and has been in the same spot forever (and it has no lock). I thought it was a bike without an owner. Night after night, I told myself, If this bicycle is still here tomorrow night, I’m gonna take it. I had wanted a bike for a while now and the cheapest I’ve seen is about a 100 bucks. It would be great to just take that one! It’s pink and it will do the job just fine.

A few nights went by and I couldn’t stop thinking about the little pink bicycle. I really like it now. Ok….if it’s there tomorrow night, I will take it!! So the next day I went to work and came back and there it was. Sitting there in the corner, looking dustier still. Not sure if anyone owned the bike and not wanting to steal…I decided to leave it.

A few more days passed by and it was still there every night! Sitting alone in the shadow, beckoning me to give it a home. Finally, one night, I could not resist anymore. I gave in to temptation after Tommy egged me on "C’mon! Just take it! It has no lock and it has been here forever! What the hell, I’ll even take it up for you!" Taking a deep breath, I said OKAY. So in the little pink bicycle went into the elevator up to 6th floor. With shifty eyes I looked around making sure there was no one and into my apartment it was wheeled.

Excited…I told everyone about the cutest thing I picked up. A few days later, notices went up all around my building. Of course, not literate in Korean, I paid it no attention. Until Sooheun was in the elevator with me and I asked him to translate out of curiosity. As he translated, my eyes grew bigger in horror. "There has been a theft of a kid’s bicycle and it has been caught on CCTV. Put it back before further actions are taken." SHIT! I had stolen a kid’s bicycle!!

I felt horrible. I felt like I had commited the lowest act ever. Some poor little kid (most likely a little girl) was crying her eyes out because someone without conscience, ME, had taken away something that belonged to her. It was hers. And I had taken it without her permission or knowledge. I had commited theft without even knowing it. I felt like a horrible person and I vow never to take things home unless its got “trash” labelled on it……if I had known, I would never have done it.

Then it hit me. Was it really my fault? There was nothing to let me know that there was an owner to the little pink bicycle. There was no lock, no name, no nothing. It didn’t even look like anyone rode it anymore. It was covered with dust and just dumped in the dark corner. So really, I was deceived, wasn’t I? But then why do I still feel so bad about my unknowing act of theft?

And it got me thinking….is there anything as innocent wrong? I guess life is never just black and white…there’s always some unknown part of it, no matter how obvious things seem to look on the outside…

In the end, the bike was returned to where I had found it…well, stolen it, for that matter.