A nightmare that wasn't

Tuesday night was one I would rather forget but one that still shows up a lot about my personal behavior.

Originally I planned to buy some Chinese food for dinner because my mother was out at Parent/Teacher night and my brother was not at home. However, after I contacted my mum from the public phone in Elgin Street, I though I might as well try for something cheaper and/or less oily than is offered by the Chinese restaurant on the eastern side of Rathdowne Street. Therefore I went into the plaza on the western side of Drummond Street and had a quite luxurious toasted baguette and a milkshake as dinner.

I had always planned to spend the evening in the Bailleau Library, but for a moment I thought I could walk there. This is where the trouble began because during my time in the Bailleau - which lasted from about 18:30 to 21:00 - I thought I had left my bike in Elgin Street and when I walked back from the Bailleau I found it was not there. I thus rang up an already-worried mother and brother who told me to talk to the police.

The police, though frustrated by how rapidly I spoke, told me when I gave a description of the bike that it was likely to have been stolen by young kids who were wanting illegal drugs. After this I went home for the night but in the process I had hallucinations that some of the kids in the old housing blocks on the western side of Rathdowne Street had stolen the bike and were joyous as making me pay for my bad behavior. I was as I walked east down Palmerston Street that these hallucinations began, and when I heard a black boy talking and playing basketball with himself I began to really scream violently. I said he had seized my bike and that he should have his house searched for M-rated movies and violent heavy metal or rap music that I have imagined to make people want to do these things. At my worst screaming I was telling him that he should be restricted to movies and music rated "G" until he was fifty years old! However, the boy was saying in very rude language that he would kill me and two other black boys whom I was passing said that I should cut out the conversation if I did not want to be killed! Though I was really angry, I did that and called home.

When I was home, I told my mother about what I thought had happened. She agreed she would pay half the cost of a new bike, and told me I should ask Cash Converters and recheck the area whilst it was light. She said I had improved dramatically despite my description of the vivid screaming on Rathdowne Street.

On a warm day today, after much work with washing and food, I finally walked to check for my bike and confirmed it was not where I though I left it in Elgin Street. However, surprise of surprises, I had actually taken it to the Bailleau and it remained there when around 14:00 I visited the place again! I do not know what hallucination prevented me from even checking the stand outside the Bailleau on Tuesday, but it is still a relief the bike was not stolen!