Bikes, the Universe, and Everything by Elly Blue

Author:Elly Blue
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Microcosm Publishing LLC
Published: 2024-02-07T15:36:26+00:00

Falling

Annie Carl

I’m in the back seat of a bike cab heading for the Edmonds train station. It isn’t too far from my house, just two miles past my bookstore that Dad will be watching for a week.

The cabbie pulls up to the drop-off curb and unloads my small rolling bag. I slide ungracefully off of the bench, ankles wobbling beneath me as I settle my weight on them. I run my wrist over the cabbie’s wrist to pay them for the ride and turn to face the station.

Nerves twinging in my midsection, I nearly tip over as I try to sit down on a bench. Cheeks burning, I manage to get myself seated.

How could I possibly learn how to ride a bike? It hasn’t worked out before. My balance is shit, my legs are weak, and how am I supposed to stay upright?

A conductor calls the train as it pulls up in front of me, still smelling a bit like the diesel it used to run on. An attendant stands just inside, scanning wrists for ticket information. They watch me pull myself aboard, raising an eyebrow at the conductor.

“Thank you for riding the Coast Starlight today,” they say as their ticket scanner chirps.

“Thanks,” I mutter, grabbing my suitcase.

“Are there really disabled people, still?” I hear the attendant whisper to the conductor. Glancing back, I see the conductor shrug and lean over to whisper a response.

Ugh. Not every parent decides to genetically alter their baby.

Settling myself in my window seat, I glance at the other side of the car. The windows there look out on the glorious Puget Sound, shining in the spring sun. I grin at a little girl sitting across from me. She smiles back. The car lurches forward as the train sets into motion. I pull the new Melissa Chambers book out of my backpack, flipping to my spot.

The train is nearing downtown Seattle. I set my book down and inhale. Seattle has changed dramatically since the West Coast State Coalition secession. Plants drip down the sides of skyscrapers, moss grows in fluffy clumps along guardrails and concrete walls and brick facades. Plantlife in the WCSC has never been happier during human colonization.

The citizens of the WCSC agreed to sell their cars when the West Coast states seceded from the United States. Which means we all get around via walking, scooters, skates, biking, or bike cabs. Disabled people get special dispensation to keep their cars, so I could have kept mine. I didn’t, but it turns out that taking bike cabs everywhere is expensive. So now I need to learn to ride a bike. The WCSC provides free bike lessons, so I signed up.

Setting my book down, I pull my tablet out of the side pocket on my backpack. I run my fingers along one side and it unlocks, stretching an onion skin–thin piece of processing chip between the two fingerholds.

“Call the store,” I order at the background of my cat Rosco. The screen blanks out, then reforms around Dad’s face.

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