Oct 30 '06 - 932 W, 3 I - Vote Good + 8 :: Bad - 17 Malcolm BMX in "Gnawing Doubts"
Published October 30, 2006 by C.I.C.L.E.
Contributed by Brady Russell
Rabbitboy and Goliath met Malcolm BMX atop an abandoned dumpster behind a decaying office building off Massachusetts Avenue, very near the secret headquarters of BMX. They had a bag full of Julia's Empanadas. The owner cut them a deal on the empanadas they still had a around at the end of the day, and usually the crew bought all of them after a long day of cycling.
Rabbitboy kept taking off his hat and scratching his head nervously while they chowed down on goldenly encrusted goodness. Goliath did not notice. He concentrated on eating as many of the desert empanadas as he could as fast as he could.
BMX held up his Nalgene bottle and shook it, saying, "Eating my weight in empanadas is one of the things I love about living on the back of a bicycle."
Goliath smiled. Goliath looked like the sort of guy who would eat an incredible amount of food no matter what life he led. He lifted his Nalgene, too. One of them. This one was filled with Ovaltine and he'd drain that quick before sipping on his water through the late afternoon.
"That's what's been bugging me," Rabbitboy said.
"Rabbitboy, have you been thinking? We've talked about your thinking habit," BMX said.
"Yeah, man, it's bad for your digestion. You gotta not think so much, man." Goliath said.
Rabbitboy went on, "I been thinking that maybe we aren't as efficient as we claim. It's freaking me out."
Goliath rolled his eyes at him and grabbed a turkey and roasted red peppers empanada. BMX had a garbanzo bean and cauliflower empanada in his hand. Rabbitboy shook his sausage and feta empanada at Goliath,
"I've been doing math, right? If you think about it, a car could probably cover 30 or so miles in a day in the city, like we do, and that might be one or two gallons of gas. Maybe three if it's really stop and go, right? So that's like thirteen to twenty cents a mile."
Goliath nodded, "So what?"
"Well say I spend $10 a day on food, which I do, easy."
"Oh man, just ten? Man. My egg and cheese sandwich and my two donuts every morning get me $5 already."
BMX nodded. He liked a few muffins in the morning. Plus an energy bar. Plus coffee.
Mmm, coffee.
"Let's say it's ten, right. Just ten. That's thirty cents a mile if I do 30 miles. Maybe I do, maybe I don't."
"So what?" Goliath said. "Where you getting a six dollar lunch, anyway? I get a burrito and a big cookie at Qdoba and I'm out $7 no problem."
"So, what I'm saying is a car is running thirteen cents a mile and we're running almost twice that. Easy! Worse for you."
"Well I ain't doing just thirty miles a day. I don't know what your problem is," Goliath said, and rolled his eyes at Rabbitboy, which caused him to notice a pear empanada he'd almost missed and he snatched it up, setting down his beef, carrot and cheese one.
Rabbitboy shook his head. He was troubled. He picked up a spinach and ricotta empanada and nibbled on it absently. He thought about drinking wine out of a box later.
Malcolm BMX let him think for a little while. The air was cool and it had been an easy day and he was in a good mood. He wanted them to rise before dawn the next morning and spray paint some government SUVs that would be parked along a parade root on Pennsylvania Avenue. He thought he better make the kid feel better before he gave him his orders later.
So, at last, he said, "Two things you're missing, Rabbitboy. Those drivers got to pay for parking, insurance and other stuff we don't got to pay and never mind the fact that they eat all day too.
"But the other cost, the bigger cost, the external cost is worth. Man, we make emissions on our bikes, but they don't hurt nothing. Not as long as we don't make 'em inside a small room anyway."
More Malcolm BMX:
--Malcolm BMX in “Do Good, Mentor a Child”
--Malcolm BMX: Charisma, Please
--Malcolm BMX: Good Ideas Don’t Leave You Stinky
-- Malcolm BMX: The Bulldozer
-- Malcolm BMX: Dupont Circle Adventure
-- Malcolm BMX: Being Neighborly
-- Malcolm BMX: Meet the Boss
-- Malcolm BMX: Pedaling Revolution
Brady Russell works in politics. He has been a national
organizer, a local organizer, a campus organizer and is currently an Organizer with the Philadelphia Unemployment Project. He started writing in elementary
school and never stopped. In fact, he remembers his second grade
teacher scolding his class for not trying any of the writing exercises
she had put out for them, which she finished by saying, "except for
Brady and he's done all of them."
Sometime in high school he decided he would not pursue studies in writing and just try to do it himself. Brady had a few opinion pieces published in some small magazines around the country, but so far he's largely been writing in a closet and keeping his work there.
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RIDE-ON!
Steely-Rida - October 31 '06 - 20:19