A Bad Choice

On Monday Chad walked in the door after work and immediately said, "Why is the garage door open and where is my bike?" The answer to both questions was, "I don't know." We immediately had a sinking feeling because this is not our first time dealing with theft (Chad's truck was stolen when we lived in El Paso), and also because Chad had just recently purchased the bike after saving up for almost a year. It's a road bike that he loves! At this point in his life, I think he would have rather someone stolen his vehicle than that bike!

We immediately called the police who came out and took a police report as well as Bike Town, the shop where Chad purchased the bike, to get the serial number. They let us know they'd post a note on their computer that the bike was stolen. Chad has gotten to know the guys at Bike Town pretty well since he goes in for adjustments and equipment from time to time, and he browsed for quite a while before he made his purchase. It's a small town so the biking community is fairly well acquainted.

We were bummed all night Monday. Kate treated us to ice cream and Chad was trying to make the best of it, but I could tell he was truly disappointed. I felt awful because everything we've ever had stolen are Chad's favorite things. . . truck, golf clubs, and the bike! We had pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that it was gone.

But Wednesday morning around 10:30, we got a call from the Abilene Police Department letting us know that the bike had been recovered! Apparently, the guy who took it showed up at Bike Town with the stolen bike wanting to know how much it was worth! The employees immediately guessed that this guy was not the original owner of the bike, and when they checked the serial number, they realized it was Chad's bike! The guy clued in to the fact that he was caught and took off running down the street! Two Bike Town employees chased him on foot and caught him, bringing him back to the shop and calling the police. Then we were called to identify the bike and file a complete report!

Gotta love a small town. . . where the thief is knuckle headed enough to take the stolen property back to the one Bike Shop in town the day after stealing it, and the employees recognize the stolen property, then chase the thief down!

The great thing about this whole ordeal is that we now we are both thankful and appreciative for a bike Chad owned in full and might have taken for granted a few days ago!

Also, Ava and I have had some interesting conversations about policemen, stealing and jail. Her commentary on the story is hilarious! She explained to me that a boy took daddy's bike, but it wasn't his and that was very ugly of him. She wanted to know what his mama was going to say!

Then after the bike was recovered, she asked me if the police man was going to put that boy in time out because it's not nice to take other people's things. I explained that he might have to go to jail which is like a very long time out for grown ups. She replied, "He made a bad choice, didn't he?"

Yes he did.