Week 5 Story: Bike Adventures

https://sites.google.com/view/lilstories/bike-ride

 A man named Mike had a deep passion for the outdoors, rooted in the many adventures he took with his family. Mike's family never enjoyed a relaxing day at the beach, and instead climbed cliffs and went on week long camping trips in the mountains in sub-freezing temperatures. 

Mike was closest with his sister, Emily, with whom he continued his adventures with even after the pass of their parents. Emily's favorite activity was riding bikes so Mike and Emily took many bike rides, even cross-state bike rides using only their bikes and tents to sleep in.

On one of Mike's birthdays, Emily got him a black lab whom he named Bella. Bella became very loyal to Mike and accompanied him everywhere and waited at the door for him to come home every time he left, as good dogs do. 

Since Emily got Mike such a fantastic birthday gift, he wanted to do something for her just as great. So Mike began planning a biking trip starting at the East coast and ending in the West coast, a cross-country bike ride! He knew she would love it. 

However, Emily became deeply ill a month before her birthday and tragically passed away two weeks after. Mike was crushed and could not leave his home for a week. Bella became very depressed as well, constantly attempting to cheer her owner up but failing every time.

One night Mike had a dream, and in this strange dream he had the ability to speak to Bella and understand her replies. Bella told him to honor his sister by going on the cross-country bike ride himself. Mike remembered the dream when he woke up and decided to take on the challenge to remember his sister.

Mike brings Bella with him on the adventure by making a little sidecar she could sit in attached to his bike. Since Mike was used to such straining activities, the bike ride was no difficulty for him. However, he stayed awake all night, every night, from the guilt he had for going on the adventure without his sister.

Mike had lost so much sleep that he was beginning to hallucinate on his bike ride, he realizes this and decides to rest on the side of the path. He sees a blue light in the sky which orders him to sleep, Mike explains he can't. Then he hears Bella offer to take his place. Mike is startled from these hallucinations and tries to drink some water to help him feel better. 

Once he felt rested, he looked for Bella and saw her sleeping next to the bike. He tried to wake her but nothing would work. At this point he began to question his hallucinations. He decided not to worry about it and placed Bella with a blanket in the sidecar. 

Bella slept through the rest of the trip and Mike had constant energy, once he reached the West coast Bella immediately jumped up and began to bark with excitement. At this moment Mike felt like he had made sister proud and wondered if she was the blue light that appeared to him on his ride. 

Bike Adventure

Author's note: I based my story off of the tiny tale from the Ramayana of the sleep goddess, Neva-Devi. I used the sister's spirit to represent the sleep goddess, Mike to represent Lakshmana, and Bella to represent Urmila. In the original story, the sleep goddess approaches Lakshmana and tells him to sleep but he cannot because he is protecting Rama and Sita. So Lakshmana's wife, Urmila, sleeps for him instead.

Source: Tiny Tales from the Ramayana by Laura Gibbs

https://sites.google.com/view/tinyramayana/home