I'm feeling sad about it. She had left it in the front of the driveway, but it's really my fault. I failed to put it away in the garage. Truth is I was just feeling so relaxed and comfortable in my neighborhood that I got lazy. There was a huge all city event half a block away last week-end, and my guess is that's when it got stolen. Rose thinks someone who needed a bike for their kid took it. I hope so. I hope some child is thrilled with the streamers and the basket. I hope they were always hoping for a pink bike with a kick stand. I also hope they already have a helmet because we found that in the garden a few doors down.

We went door-to-door checking with all the neighbors, looked in the school yards on the off chance some punk went for a joy ride (a joy ride on six year old's bike?) and then dumped it. Nope. So, we explained to Rose how incredibly lucky we were that we could afford a new bike, and last night she and Daddy went out and bought her one. It's purple, a good color to pass down to David, and it has just hand brakes and six speeds. Oh yeah, we also bought a lock.