I Give the Truth Scope!

One of my favorite movie lines is from A Knight's Tale. The character Chaucer says, "I'm a writer. I give the truth scope!" I thought I would give the truth a bit of scope in my blog post today. Maybe at the end of the post, I'll review what's scope. {{grin}}

My life had a narrow focus in recent years as my mom's health grew worse. I did few extracurricular activities, staying close to home because I didn't have someone else to be with her very often. But in the months since Mom had to enter the nursing home, I've been making little ventures "out into the world." I'm discovering lots of opportunities to enjoy other people my age. Now all I have to do is choose. One choice I made was to start biking again.

I haven't ridden a bike, other than my stationary recumbent in my bedroom, for more than 5 years, probably several years longer than that. When I moved into this house three years ago, I didn't even have room in my garage for my bike, so it was stored outside under a tarp. A month or so ago, I took it in to the bike shop to get it all cleaned and tuned up. I bought a basket to go on the front so Poppet could ride with me. I got new slime tires. Bought my first helmet. I was ready to go, if the weather ever warmed up and stopped raining. So far, no scope to the truth.

About ten days ago, there was an invitation for folks who wanted to ride their bikes Sunday along the Greenbelt, going from church to the park where the Vineyard feeds the hungry and homeless every week. I decided to go. I did a test run on Saturday, taking Poppet along to see how she would do. We both did good. Still not scope.

About half an hour after second service, a group of three (plus Poppet) started off on the 5+ mile ride. Everything was going well until about the three mile distance. We had to leave the south side of the river and go to the north side. The greenbelt took us up to the bridge. The crossing was narrow, and I was feeling nervous. That was the moment danger struck. Out of nowhere, an eagle came swooping down, its golden eyes set on Poppet, my little dog in the basket. In an heroic move to keep Poppet from being our national bird's dinner, I threw my bike to the ground, sacrificing my flesh for hers. Okay, that was the scope.

In actuality, I did something stupid. I got nervous in that narrow walk/bike way. A group of people were walking toward us. I slowed, put out my hand toward the concrete barrier, the wheel wobbled, Poppet shifted her weight, and down we went. Took skin off my left knee, several scrapes and bruises on that leg, more scrapes on my right leg, bruised my left hand. Poppet was fine, and I got up and continued the ride. That's the truth, sans scope.

One more non-scope story I must share: On the ride back to the church, maybe about three blocks from the end of the ride, I came off the Greenbelt. I wasn't going super fast, but apparently too fast for the curb. As I hit the gutter, Poppet bounced up into the air and over the side. Fortunately, I had her halter on with the "seatbelt" strap fastened to the bike. So there she was, hanging off the side of the bike. I stopped really fast, and she was just hanging there, looking at me like, "What'd you do that for, Mom?" She didn't whine or fuss at all and went back into the basket without complaint. (Wish I had a video of this!)

Well, that was my Sunday adventure. Now that it's Monday, I'll be trying to give scope to my work-in-progress. May it be less dangerous for the book writer than the bike rider.

~robin

PS  For any of you who own Kindle ebook readers (or who have the Kindle software on your computer or iPhone), my novel, A Vote of Confidence is being offered for free download for the next couple of weeks. You can find it here.

And don't forget to join me on my Facebook Page book launch party this Friday from 6 to 8 pm MDT. I'll be giving away some copies of A Matter of Character.