Texas Gentlemen

This morning sucked. I was on my way home from Ronny's on Ollie and decided I should stop to get a bite to eat and maybe a Dr. Pepper too. I stopped at Thundercloud which has a delicious "Nada" Chicken Parmesan sandwich. It was a hot, hot morning too. It must have already been 100 degrees at 10:30 A.M.! I noticed how hot Ollie was before ordering my sandwich and though, "Shit, this bike isn't going to start for me." I was dead on. At this point, I was about a mile away from my house so I figured I'd start pushing. I'm not sure anyone knows how awful it is to push a scooter never mind when it's a million degrees out and you're already feeling a bit icky but I can confirm for you, IT SUCKS.

I got to the hill I live on at Riverside and Pleasant Valley, took a deep breath and started pushing Ollie full-force up this hill. By the time I got to the top, I was in Taco Cabana's parking lot looking for shade. I was seeing spots and couldn't breathe! I got Ollie on his stand and sat in the shade gasping for air but no matter how hard I was trying, I couldn't catch my breath. I took a small sip of Dr. Pepper and began to feel very sick. As I was sitting there, I almost passed out on the ground. I mustered enough strength to walk in to Taco Cabana when I was greeted by a very sweet boy with awesome tattoos and dread locks. He handed me a cup of water and said, "I saw you pushing your bike and you look like you could really use some water." I thanked him but really didn't know what was going on as I was on the verge of passing out. The white spots were getting bigger and my lungs were hurting so badly. He introduced himself as Avery and went and sat with his friends outside. I walked in to TC and sat at the first seat I saw. I was sure I was going to either faint or vomit on the floor. I did neither and eventually was able to breathe again.

The table was covered in my sweat when Avery walked back over to get some soda. I thanked him so much for being so kind and he then offered to push Ollie the rest of the way home for me. Turns out he's in a local punk band that is renting an apartment at my complex and was going home anyways. I was reluctant to allow him to touch my scooter, as I am with any stranger and my scooter, but at this point there was no way the bike was being pushed home by me. There was still another big hill and that would have done me in. After pushing my scooter all the way to my courtyard, I shook his hand and gave him a big hug. There are so many very kind people here in Texas. I know that would have NEVER happened in Chicago. I'm lucky to have met Avery today and will keep him in my best thoughts and prayers for being such a kind human being.