{"id":783,"date":"2010-12-17T09:15:09","date_gmt":"2010-12-17T16:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=783"},"modified":"2010-12-17T09:07:59","modified_gmt":"2010-12-17T16:07:59","slug":"christmas-story-a-father-for-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/783\/christmas-story-a-father-for-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"A father for Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie story<\/i><\/p>\n

“Shame about the bike,” I said to the strained young black man at the bus stop. His head was down and he was staring hard at the ground.<\/p>\n

He grunted, a sound that conveyed two ideas: “I heard you” and “I’m not listening.”<\/p>\n

“Just as well, I guess. A bike like that…”<\/p>\n

He looked up for a moment, piercing me with hard black eyes. “What about it?”<\/p>\n

“Oh, you know. Wouldn’t last too long, now would it?”<\/p>\n

He scoffed, and that was that. Or so he thought…<\/p>\n

What happened was this: I saw a bike going in<\/i> to Toys ‘R’ Us, about a week before Christmas, and that’s the kind of thing I just have to follow up on.<\/p>\n

It was a girl’s bike — a girly bike. Sixteen inch white wheels. A white frame speckled with iridescent pink and purple flakes. An iridescent pink and purple flaked saddle. And matching pink and purple flaked streamers cascading out of the white handle-bar grips. It was the kind of bike Toys ‘R’ Us loves to sell: Thirty-five dollars worth of bike with three dollars worth of plastic ornaments is priced at sixty bucks. Ten dollars extra for professional assembly.<\/p>\n

The bike had been dragged into the store by my companion at the bus stop — tall, thin, with an expression of anger etched into his face. Maybe twenty years old; certainly not twenty-five. He was wearing a Michael Jordan warm-up suit and Michael Jordan basketball shoes. That sounds very casual, but we’re talking three hundred dollars, maybe more. At first I thought he might be bringing the bike in for a minor repair, but something about the way he was dragging it — sideways by the saddle — made me think again.<\/p>\n

I didn’t go into the store, but I stuck around to see what would happen. Sure enough, he came out bikeless and stalked over to wait for the bus. Three hundred dollars worth of Michael Jordan haberdashery but no car.<\/p>\n

I said, “A little girl has a bike like that, she’s just bait on the hook. Doesn’t have a father around to stand up for her, Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie story “Shame about the bike,” I said to the strained young black man at the bus stop. His head was down and he was staring hard at the ground. He grunted, a sound that conveyed two ideas: “I heard you” and “I’m not listening.” “Just as well, I guess. A bike […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-casual-friday","7":"category-egoism-in-action","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1448,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1448\/renet-waist-loss-challenge-mid-term-report-cards\/","url_meta":{"origin":783,"position":0},"title":"RE.net waist-loss challenge: Mid-term report cards","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 19, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"We're about half-way through the RE.net waist-loss challenge, so it seems like a good time to pull out the scales and the tape measures. This was the plan I laid out for myself in March:My goal: A 34-inch waist by August 1st. My plan: A half-hour a day on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2694,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2694\/day-of-the-long-tail-how-broadcasting-lost-its-chokepoint\/","url_meta":{"origin":783,"position":1},"title":"Day of the Long Tail: How broadcasting lost its chokepoint","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Continuing, briefly with the idea of chokepoints and the economics of abundance: Broadcasting -- radio and television -- offers us a perfect example of how much bigger the economics of abundance is than mere data processing. Broadcast outlets, at their beginning, were both natural and man-made chokepoints: There were a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":596,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/596\/how-do-you-sneak-up-on-a-freeway\/","url_meta":{"origin":783,"position":2},"title":"How do you sneak up on a Freeway . . . ?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Reflecting upon today's Arizona Republic column, here is a story I've been sitting on all week:Work is under way to build a bridge on Cotton Lane and expand the road from Maricopa County 85 to Estrella Parkway. The project will produce a half-mile, six-lane bridge over the Gila River complete\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14828,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/14828\/from-sunny-phoenix-a-love-letter-to-the-summer-heat\/","url_meta":{"origin":783,"position":3},"title":"From sunny Phoenix, a love letter to the summer heat…","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I wrote this four years ago at DistinctivePhoenix.com. Given all the pissing and moaning going on nationwide about -- get this -- summer weather, I thought I'd give you a taste of what real heat feels like. --GSS We're in negotiations to list a house in the Coronado Historic District\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Casual Friday"","block_context":{"text":"Casual Friday","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/casual-friday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17160,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/17160\/overnight-news-california-ghouls-what-has-grasshopper-government-begot\/","url_meta":{"origin":783,"position":4},"title":"Overnight News: California ghouls? What has Grasshopper government\u00a0begot?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cCalifornia Dreamin\u2019\u201d of what, precisely? Sad to say, the Golden State is badly tarnished. The good news? The Ants will emigrate. Forbes: Here\u2019s Why The California Real Estate Market Is Hot. CTRL-F 'riot'; not found. Amy Alkon: L.A.\u2019s Failed Homeless Policies Turned My Home Into a Prison. New York Post:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ya think it's easy?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/BHBNewTopImage-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15173,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/15173\/an-unchained-melody-for-bocephus-red-white-pink-slip-blues\/","url_meta":{"origin":783,"position":5},"title":"An Unchained Melody for Bocephus: Red, White, Pink Slip Blues","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"My favorite Hank. I and III got the voice, but Junior got all the heart and then some.","rel":"","context":"In "Casual Friday"","block_context":{"text":"Casual Friday","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/casual-friday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13814,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783\/revisions\/13814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}