What Did My Bike Do In Thunder Bay?

            On Friday I tried to trace the serial number (J56986 though the second symbol only looks like the bottom of a 5 or a reverse “c”) of my bike but I don’t think it’s possible to figure out the brand from the serial number. The “J” might indicate the month that the bike was made and the 69 might be stating the year, but I don’t know for sure. That serial number might exist for several bikes made by different companies. I’ve mentioned before that there is a sticker from a place called the Cycle Shack on Cumberland Street in Thunder Bay. I know that the Cycle Shack no longer exists and it’s fairly safe to assume that it existed before the internet because any store like that would have some sort of web track from having been mentioned by someone online. My writers open stage, The Orgasmic Alphabet Orgy, for instance, ended in 2000 but there are still references to it online.

            Something I only recently noticed on the sticker is that The Cycle Shack was a division of the March of Dimes. That would mean that The Cycle Shack was a non-profit, for charity bike shop, which would mean that my bike was probably already second hand when it was sold there. I wondered if the March of Dimes would have records of the bikes that they sold at that store, so I sent them an email to ask. It’s a long shot but they’ll probably get back to me next week with some kind of answer, which will probably be that they have no idea.

            I took a bike ride in the afternoon but only as far as Bay and Bloor and then south to Queen and home again. There were still too many puddles from melted snow on the streets to venture too far. Queen Street has some pretty deep potholes and cracks.

            I watched an Alfred Hitchcock Hour teleplay starring Phyllis Thaxter as Elsa, the wife of Keith, who has forced her to live in a beautiful rented beach house, which she hates because the house gives her the creeps and she thinks the ocean sounds are mournful as death. and wants to move back to their apartment in Pennsylvania. Another problem with the house is that it’s damp and so Keith claims he is fixing that problem by digging a hole in the basement for drainage. Keith loves the house and the location and is planning to buy it whether Elsa likes it or not. The owners of the house are another unseen married couple that have rented the house out because the wife also refuses to live there and left her husband over it.

The beach is frequented by young people that are always around surfing, dancing and partying. Keith refuses to act his age and still wants to run around with pretty young things.

When Keith finishes the hole in the basement he calls Elsa down to marvel at his accomplishment. She tells him she’s glad he’s enjoying such a sense of accomplishment but tells him to fill it up and take her home. He says he will and then kills her with his shovel. He buries her there and then cements the floor above her grave. A few days later the police arrive with pickaxes to tear up the floor. Keith asks how they found out. The sergeant answers, “Your wife told us.” “My wife told you?” “She tried to write Mrs Wilson, the co-owner of the house but she couldn’t find any change of address for her down at the post office. She was supposed to be in Texas but all of her mail was being forwarded to Mr Wilson in Seattle. Your wife told us that any fool know that if a woman leaves her husband she wouldn’t let him get her mail. That proves that Mrs. Wilson is dead and Mr. Wilson must have killed her.” When the cops questioned Mr Wilson he broke down and confessed that he’d buried his wife in the cellar. Just then one of the cops calls up from the basement that they’ve found something and they’d better bring Keith downstairs.