Red, White, and Blue

I travel 25 miles to work in a large metropolitan area in North Carolina. About three miles from my workplace, I pass through a modest neighborhood of small, frame and brick homes. The houses are weathered, but the tiny yards are neat. Many decorate their porches with flowers, baskets, and traditional whatnot.

This neighborhood would be typical of many if it were not for one unusual house and its resident. Situated on a corner lot is one of the more modest homes. The white paint on the house has dulled and peeled, and the wooden frame appears fragile as if at any time it would collapse into a pile of boards.

These details, however, tend to get lost behind the unusual display in the front yard. Strung from the porch to a tree is a large white t-shirt with the words, “I love the U.S.A,” in red, white, and blue. Two to three bikes (number varies from day to day) stand in the patch of yard, each sporting a pole with a large American flag. When the weather is nice, a young, well-muscled black man rides one of the bikes up and down the sidewalk in front of his home. He handles his bike with ease and often rears back on one wheel, performing for morning drivers stopped at the corner traffic light.

We all turn our heads to watch. Some of us laugh with him and some against him. His outlandish performance is so unusual, I question his mental health and wonder if he had been a solider at one time who left a war not quite the way he entered it. Of course, perhaps he just is an extreme extrovert who loves his country and wants to make sure that every driver who passes in front of his house knows it.

Still, he is unusual, and I’ve noticed that a For Sale sign has been posted at the empty house next to his for many months.