A Distant Winner

Every day I wake up to an empty house. I get out of bed and make myself coffee. It's hard for me to go one day without coffee. I need a source of energy since my body doesn't have any. As I look out my kitchen window I see a pink and red flower. It's the first flower this year. Finally, winter is coming to an end and it won't be so cold anymore. I continue to look at the flower, thinking of what spring will be like this year. Will I get a new job, or will things be the way they always are?

I go outside to get the mail in front of the mailbox. The mailbox is still wet from the dew the night before. I go inside and open bills that I'm falling behind on. Even though I'm living in my father’s house, I still can't figure out how to pay for my car insurance or my water bill. I open a letter that's addressed to me, Braxton Marshall. It's from my sister. As I'm reading the letter, I wonder why she didn't just call me or send me a simple text. She tells me she's moving back to be closer to family and to see Dad before he's gone. My sister Jane and I never got along, but we were kids back then, so maybe things will change. It will also be nice to have someone help me with Dad and the house. It's been getting a little overwhelming these past weeks.

I go into my garage and pull out my bike. The bike my grandma got me for my tenth birthday. A navy blue BMX bike with silver pegs and black handlebars. She bought it for me thinking I would be like my dad and want to learn tricks and compete in races, but that never applied to me. I just liked to ride to school and to the store. Now I ride it when I don't need to go too far because I like to think I'm helping the environment, but I really just can't afford gas.

Every morning I bike to my dad's retirement home. It's a mile down the street. The bike is slightly downhill so it makes the ride there easy. I check to see how he's doing and get breakfast with him. It's hard to see him like this. He can't get up fast and can barely use a fork. My dad used to have a lot of energy and would never sit down. Now, we eat and watch action sports on the TV. We don't talk very much. We have nothing to say. Every once in a while, my dad will tell stories about the contests he would compete in, but that's it. There's nothing new happening in my life. The only other person who takes care of my dad is my Aunt Robin. She comes to see Dad at night before he goes to bed.

I wake up early the next morning to pick up my sister from the airport. I pick her up at terminal two. It's been ten years since I've seen her and it feels like it. I barely recognize her. She cut her hair shorter and looks old. I pick up her heavy bags and put them in my trunk. We get in my car and drive home. While we are catching up, I get a phone call from a number I've never seen. I pick it up and it's my aunt Robin on the phone.

She says, “Hi Braxton, this is your aunt. I'm unable to take care of your father tonight because I am in jail.”

“What the hell happened?”

“Oh, nothing crazy, but you need to bail me out.”

“Why do I have to?” I shout. “I don't have any money.”

“Jane just got in town, she'll help you. I don't care who does as long as I'm out of jail by tomorrow night.”

Jane and I both pick her up. Jane bails her out and I drive her home since I have a car. The car ride is silent. No one says a word. No one really wants to. Finally at the end of the ride Jane breaks the silence,

“So what happened?”

“Well, I've been stealing from Target and selling everything online,” says Robin.

“Why?” I shout.

“Because, I don't know if you guys noticed, but we have no money and your father’s hospital bills are adding up.”

“Everything is fine,” I say. “I've been working double shifts and now Jane’s here to help.”

“Well, I was kicked out of my apartment because I guess I haven't been paying rent. So now I have to move in with y’all again until we can get some money for a new place.”

The rest of the drive is silent. I can’t stop thinking of what would happen if I just moved to another country and all of this wouldn't be my problem, but I can't. I don't have any money.

The next morning I do what I always do, make a cup of coffee. But now I have to make enough for three people instead of one. My aunt enters the room looking like she just woke up.

“Braxton, you need a new job,” says Aunt Robin.

“I made you a cup of coffee.”

“Oh, how sweet of you, but the job you have just isn't stable enough.”

“Why don't you get a job?” I grunt.

“This isn't about me, it's about you. You need to support your family.”

“That's a good point,” I say sarcastically.

I look out the kitchen window at the old bike pump track my dad built for himself when we were kids. He would spend hours riding around the dirt track going in circles seeing how much speed he could get. He would get me to ride with him but I never liked it. I would always fall and it would end with me in tears. My dad would force me to ride with him. He expected a lot from me. I think he thought the sooner he got me to start riding BMX the better I would be when I got older. But that wasn't the case. Once I got older and my dad couldn't force me to do it, I stopped. It just wasn't fun. Especially when someone was forcing you to do it.

I go to the garage and grab my blue bike. I take it to the backyard and ride around the wet track. It starts to sprinkle rain. I continue to ride, getting more and more speed. I start to jump over every other bump. The rain starts to pour, turning the dirt into mud. By the time I run inside, I am drenched. I put on some dry clothes and wait for the rain to stop.

Once the rain stops, I ride my bike to Dad's retirement home. I don’t want to tell him I rode the track this morning, but I do. He is surprised and happy. He can’t stop talking about it.

The next morning, I get up early. It is dark and cold outside. I ride my bike to the skatepark. There are puddles on the ground and a few BMX bikers. The bikers have to go early in the morning because they are not allowed in the skatepark. That rule would always piss my dad off and it never stopped him from riding around even though he would get kicked out every time. I just personally like to go early because there's no one around.

I ride around the ramps of the skatepark and jump over cones. Relearning my tricks is a lot easier than I thought. I guess now I'm stronger than my eleven year old self. I am at the park for three hours, not realizing it. I was talking to one of the guys at the park. His name is Jeff.

“There's a contest next week at this park,” says Jeff.

“Are you competing in it?” I ask.

“No, I don't do contests anymore after I injured my knee. You should compete though, I've seen you riding around you're pretty good.”

“Nah, I've just been riding around for fun, I'm not good enough anyways.”

“Might as well try,” Jeff suggests. “Just practice all week, you'll be good, and if you do well you'll get a cash prize.” Jeff starts to ride away on his bike.

I think about competing and I think about the money. I've been trying to figure out ways to get extra cash so Aunt Robin can move out. It's frustrating living with an old woman. She's been making a mess around the house. She doesn't contribute to the family at all. The least she could do is take out the trash. All day she sits at home and watches her reality TV shows.

But am I even good enough to win the competition? Why would I even try? I try to get the negative thoughts out of my head and just focus on the positive. The money will be good and I'll be doing something that will make my dad proud.

I ride my bike to Dad's place. On the way I stop for a sandwich from the store. I get an extra one for my dad just in case he is hungry. I open my dad's front door and walk through the hallway. I get to the living room and see him on the couch. He is happy to see me. He's never this happy to see me. I wonder what's going on. He tells me to take a seat.

“How's the BMX working for you?” Dad smiles.

“It's going well. I was at the park this morning and a guy told me about a contest. I think I'm going to compete in it.”

“That's amazing!” Dad shouts. “Let me help you, I know exactly what tricks you need.”

“That would actually be great,” I say. “I think it would be great if I won some money and I can afford your medical bill and get Aunt Robin moved out.”

“Braxton, you're not gonna win if you're doing it for the money.” Dad lowers his voice. “The only way to win is if you want to be there, not because of any other reason.”

“I understand and I do want to be there, I just think the money will be a bonus.”

“It is, but that's not why you're there. What park is it at?”

“The local one down the street.”

“Hand me that paper, would ya?” Asks Dad.

I hand him the paper. He gets a blue pen from his pocket. He starts to draw the park. On the back he writes a list of the tricks I need to be able to do and where. He shows me the layout of the park and which angles I should start from and how to get the most speed. I haven't seen my dad this focused on something in a long time. I didn't think he could.

I go home that night. I see Jane and Aunt Robin on the couch.

“I've noticed you've been riding that little bike of yours in the backyard,” nags Aunt Robin.

I ignore her while walking to the kitchen.

“I don't want you to end up like your father. Being distracted by the bike,” says Aunt Robin.

“That's how he got this house,” I mumble while looking in the refrigerator.

“You're not going to make any money from this.”

“I have a contest tomorrow morning down the street if you want to come by.”

Jane chimes in, “Oh that's great Braxton, I'll be there.”

I've enjoyed my sister Jane staying at the house. It's nice to have someone on my side.

The morning of the contest I wake up nervous. I don’t know why. It's not like I have anything to lose. I actually have nothing to lose but I have everything to gain. I eat breakfast and get to the park. There are a lot of people there, more than I expected. More people came to watch. I take out the paper my dad wrote the list of tricks on. I mark the ones I am able to do and circle the ones I practiced yesterday. I know I can do it.

My heat starts and I'm riding with three other guys. I try not to focus on them and just focus on what I am doing. In the crowd I see my sister and my aunt. I'm surprised Aunt Robin showed up. She didn't seem that supportive of my riding, but maybe she changed her mind after she saw the money. The heat finishes. I am breathing loudly and heavily. I sit on my bike and rest my head on the handle bars. The crowd is cheering loudly.

A man begins to talk on the microphone. I hear him call my name. I finished in third place. Third place! I can’t believe it. I stand on the podium with the first and second place winners. I did it. I am on the podium. I earned 500 dollars.

Later that night, I go to see my dad. I tell him what tricks I did and that I finished third. He tells me I have to keep going. I trust my dad. I thought this contest was just luck, but I think I have something. That night, we sign up for every contest in the area. I know I need this money, so I practice everyday, doing the same tricks I did in the contest.

My next contest I finish second and the next one I finish second. Everyday I train harder. I just want to win first place but I can't. There's always this one guy who gets in my way. His name is Grant Smith. He's been riding since he was ten years old. He's good, but I know I can beat him. At the next contest, he is there. I see him warming up. I am furious. Why does he have to be here? As Grant is riding in his heat, I notice the judges seem to really like him. Even when he messes up, they don’t make jokes like they usually do for the rest of the contestants. This makes me wonder why. I look up who the judges were. One of their names is Dave Smith. Grant Smith's dad. He's been favored this whole time. There's no way I can beat him.