Bikes

What do you have hanging above your fireplace?  A family portrait? Perhaps a photograph of a family member who has passed.  Maybe you have a shelf of figurines, chosen to fit the personality of your family.

I bet you don't have a tricycle.

No, we aren't cyclists, or even bike enthusiasts, really.  Said bicycle is really a red metal tricycle, flattened to become a wall hanging.  I never thought it odd as a child - it was just there, as much as any other picture, collage, or wall hanging was.  But eventually, I wondered what the heck was up with the bike.

Over the years, my brother and I have questioned it, but my mother always said that she just liked it.  It became a joke between us.  Why is there a bike on the wall?  How the heck would anyone ride it?  

So, a few years ago when my parents were packing up our childhood home, my brother and I joked that the bike was going to meet its demise during the move.  My mother took extra care (I think she went as far as to drive with it in her lap), and up it went at the new house - above the fireplace.

Circumstances forced my parents to move again within a year, and when I went to see their new house, I was surprised - no fireplace.  

"Mom, what are you going to do with the bike?"

She tried it a couple of places, but it ended up in her office, on the wall, for her to admire every time she went in.  The first time my brother and his fiancee visited he was thrilled to see the bike in her office.  We both thought we were finally rid of the weird bike-on-the-wall.

Tonight, I spent some time at my parents getting things sent out for my future sister-in-law's shower.  A lull in the proceedings prompted my mother to ask if I wanted to see how she had re-done the spare bedroom, where my brother and his fiancee stay when they visit.

We walked into the room.  I commented on the pretty white comforter and the new white-and-teal curtains.  Then, I stopped and stared at the wall.

"Oh, do you like it?  I got it from work - they were just giving it away."

I took a picture, sent it to my brother.  He'll have a good long laugh when he gets home.

This is the bike-on-the-wall.

This is the new painting in the spare room.
Cute kids - on bikes.

What is the word for "obsessed with cycles"?