[CBP #12] May 18th Was NOT My Bicycle's Birthday, Therefore...

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I had to pay $7

for the pleasure

of her company

on the island of

Catalina

             

I had considered
a  faux birth certificate
for my bicycle
to avoid the $7 fee
but it would have cost
$6 and might not
have worked.


The bicycle's name is Eleanor
and had I walked the distance
she enabled me to travel
on Catalina, my legs
would still be rehabilitating 
on the Island.


We traversed at least
twelve miles
of Paradise.
 *****************

On the ferry,
Eleanor was treated like
Negroes in 1930:
she had to go to the back
of the "bus" like the rest
of her kind.


But what a spectacular view
Eleanor had:
surrounded by the wet
and wild wave of the flag
and the frothy white wake of
the CATALINA EXPRESS.
*****************
   
When we got back to Long Beach,
I had to buy her an ice cream
but I ate the whole damn thing.
 
It was a "Rocky Road" cone
with gravel-shaped
sprinkles. 

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