The Way Back

Here is a story. As you read, ask what you would do.

Fiction, founded on truth. The people in this story are imagined; the choice they face is real.

The game at the park started at four o’clock, and Sam was hurrying to make it when his bike chain came off. It happened right in front of Mr. Hollis’s house. The pedals spun with nothing to push, and the bike rolled to a stop at the bottom of the driveway.

Sam knelt down and pulled at the chain. It was jammed tight between the gear and the frame. His fingers turned black. His friends Jonah and Ruby circled back on their bikes. “Come on,” Jonah said. “They’ll pick teams without us.”

Then the garage door rattled up. Mr. Hollis came down the driveway. He was the neighbor who waved from his porch every morning and never seemed to be in a hurry. Sam’s family had known him for years, and Sam’s parents had told him he could always stop at Mr. Hollis’s house if he needed help. He did not ask any questions. He crouched beside the bike, turned it upside down, and worked the chain loose with a screwdriver and his thumbs. It took him a long time. He scraped a knuckle once and shook his hand, then went back to it.

At last he set the chain on the teeth of the gear, spun the pedal with his palm, and the wheel hummed. “There you go,” he said, and he walked back up the driveway, wiping his hands on a rag.