A Small Portion of My Life

When you’re seven, it doesn’t take much to scare you. When you’re seven,
small things look big.
When I was seven, I decide to go for a bike ride. I did this pretty much
every day. First, I would come down my driveway as fast as I could. I liked doing this because my driveway was both long and steep. By the time I’d get to the bottom, I’d be going so fast, that sometimes I would have a hard time staying on the bike when it hit the curb! I always loved a good adrenaline rush from a very young age. So this day’s ride started just like any other day’s. I came down the driveway as usual and made the sharp left turn that would send me racing down towards the cul-de-sac. All of the kids in my neighborhood loved doing this. We would race each other (or when alone, some imaginary competitor), peddling as fast as we could, all the way to the cul-de-sac. Whoever finished in last place would usually get taunted the whole ride home. I was the youngest and smallest kid on my street, so yes, ordinarily I’d receive most of the taunts. (This had a large part in my liking of riding alone)
On this day I was riding alone. I had no idea what lay ahead for me. In
fact, I hadn’t even thought about the possibility of there being anything out of the ordinary down at the end of the street. I had no idea that there was something down there that later that day I would think had changed my life forever! When I entered the cul-de-sac, I slowed down a little to make the wide swooping turn. As I reached the halfway point, out of the corner of my right eye I saw something take a great leap. Then, I turned my head and saw a beast! A Jack Russell Terrier! It stood at an astounding thirteen inches tall! With epinephrine rushing through my veins, I turned and peddled as hard as I could. I was going uphill now, and my bike was a one gear bike. I didn’t have the option of dropping into the lowest gear to make things easier. My bike was completely old fashioned.
I peddled harder than I thought possible. My thighs and calves throbbed in
pain. I looked back to see this great beast gaining ground on me. His muscles rippled as he ran. He was eighteen pounds of pure power, and I was no match. My fear started to overwhelm me, when all of the sudden… he stopped. He walked into the grass and started to urinate. “Finally! A break!” I thought. I knew that this might be my one and only chance of an escape. So I kept peddling. He stopped urinating.
The chase resumed. As he started to regain ground, I wished for my luck to
repeat itself. And it did. For a second time, he stopped to urinate. “Yes!” I thought to myself. I quickly regained the ground I had lost. And he finished relieving himself.
Finally, I reached the hill’s peak! I knew that since it was downhill from
here I could easily outrun him. So, after peddling for a few more moments I stopped. I took in as much oxygen as I could in one breath. Then I turned my head towards the thing which I had fled from. I wanted one last look at this dog. I looked and I saw him stop, walk into the grass, and urinate, one last time. He then turned and went home.
When I thought about my bike ride later that day, I thought I had had a
near death experience. When I think about it now, I don’t think a Jack Russell Terrier could kill a person. I doubt it could truly injure one, even a person as small as I was at that time. I guess it goes to show, “When you’re seven, it doesn’t take much to scare you. When you’re seven, small things look big.”