Defeat the Mother Brain!

My buddy Mitch mentioned that shock of discovering Samus was in fact a woman (not a man, or a robot) was a big deal, back in the day.  That was indeed the case, but the comment jarred a memory of when I found out about it.

Learning to ride a bicycle came pretty easily.  My first non-training-wheel-aided ride was red, and it had those (really lame and girly) multi-colored beads that would move up and down the wheel spokes when you rode it.  I quickly outgrew it, and my folks knew it.

My Dad’s co-worker said that he had a son who outgrew his bike as well, and it would fit my needs perfectly.  So, we got in the car, went to the bustling suburbia that is New Maryland (New Brunswick), and checked out this guy’s used bike.  I can’t recall the bike’s brand name, but I just called it a “BMX”.  That’s what was cool to have, after all.  It was yellow, and the wheel spokes weren’t spokes at all – there were only five of them, made of plastic, and also yellow.

This was the bike I wanted.  No if’s and’s or but’s about it.  On the ride back home, I confirmed this with my Dad, and he set things in motion for us to eventually go back and buy it from the guy.

In the meantime, I thought of nothing but this bike.  As I waited for my Mom to get off work, one day, I made this drawing…  well, not *this* very one, but I remember the drawing very well, and I have re-created it thanks to the modern marvel known as MS Paint.

It was my future ride, sitting on a baseball mound, with the sun shining ever so brightly on my “BMX”.  I was so excited about the bike and proud of my drawing, I showed it to my Mom!  She thought it was great!

(I also once drew a picture of me pooping – she didn’t find that one nearly as charming, for some reason.)

Anyway, we finally headed over to the guy’s place and picked up the bike.  I was psyched!  I couldn’t wait to ride it!  But, of course, there were formalities that your average kid doesn’t really understand.  I don’t get it – I have the bike.  It’s right there, in the car.  Let’s go home, I’ll ride it, and everything will be great.  No need to go in and socialize.  Let’s just get out of here!

The guy invited us in, offered (kid) drinks and stuff.  His teenaged kids were in the living room, playing Nintendo.  They were playing Metroid, and were in an area I had never been before.  “It’s near the end of the game!”, they said.

Intrigued, I sat and watched them play the last few minutes of the game.  Once the battle with Mother Brain was over and the intense escape was completed, we were treated to the credits.  All of us sat and watched as the ending text rolled in front of us, then Samus started flashing a bunch of different colours.  Was she a robot and about to self-destruct?

While the other guys ooh’d and aah’d, it didn’t really register on my give-a-crap-o-meter.  Sure!  Why couldn’t it be a woman?  I never really pondered what could be under that suit Samus was wearing.  If it was a woman, fine and dandy!

While the guys were all psyched to find out it was a chick in a unitard (“Oh man, she’s cute!!”), it didn’t really matter to me.  I had a BMX bike waiting to be enjoyed.

I was thinking about what happened to that bike last night as I fell asleep.

One summer, we brought it to my grandmother’s in Baie Sainte-Anne, NB.  Once in a while, I’d dig it out of my great aunt’s shed and ride it around the huge yard they had.

That was in the early 90’s.

My great aunt’s mini-home\trailer is no longer in that shared lot, the shed has long since been demolished (it was, in fact, they house they used to live in before the trailer), and my grandmother’s house was sold in early 2000.  It has since been renovated, but barely resembles the house I once considered a second home.

It struck me that I have no idea what became of my precious BMX…  not that that really matters, in the grand scheme of things.