The Married Life of Jeremy & Andy

Bicycles

It was a lovely sunny day. 

Matt and Lucy were riding their bicycles in the garden.

Also in the garden, Jeremy had just grown a huge pumpkin. He loved it very much.

"That's a wonderful pumpkin, Jeremy" said Andy. 

"Pumpkins are really the only thing I can grow" said Jeremy. "Probably because I love pumpkin pie."

Lucy rode her bike up the hill where her friends Kristen Stuart, Dhani Harrison and Stella McCartney were waiting for her.

"Dhani, Stella, Kristen!" Lucy squealed. 

Lucy, Stella, Dhani and Kristen were riding their bicycles. 

Matt was riding his tricycle. 

"He's going so slowly" said Lucy. 

"Let's race to Jeremy's pumpkin" said Dhani.

"If we race to Daddy's pumpkin, we must be very careful not to bump into it" said Lucy. "Daddy would be very sad if the pumpkin got broken."

"Don't worry, Lucy. It'll be fine" said Dhani. 

The children raced on their bicycles down the hill right towards Jeremy's pumpkin.

Dhani won the race and, fortunately, no one crashed. 

Lucy was close to crashing, but she didn't. 

Matt finished last because he was carefully peddling his tricycle. 

"Look at Matt; he's going so slowly" said Lucy with a smile. "Matt's still riding a baby bike."

"Yours is a baby bike too, Lucy" said Dhani. "You've still got stabilizers."

Lucy looked at her bicycle and saw that she did still have stabilizers, or training wheels. 

"I can ride without my stabilizers" said Stella. 

"Me too" said Kristen.

"And me" said Dhani. "Let's ride up the hill again. Coming, Lucy?"

"No, I think I'll stay here" said Lucy. 

Her friends rode back up the hill without her. 

Lucy wished very much that she didn't have training wheels on her bicycle.

"Daddy, I don't want stabilizers anymore" said Lucy. 

"You think you can ride without them?" said Jeremy.

"Yes" said Lucy.

"Alright. Let's take them off" said Jeremy.

He snapped the training wheels off Lucy's bicycle. 

"Are you sure you can ride without training wheels, honey?" said Andy. "You've never done it before."

"I can do it. I can, I can" said Lucy.

She tried, but she couldn't even start without falling over.

Riding without stabilizers is not easy.

"Here now, Lucy luv. I'll help you get started" said Jeremy. 

He held onto Lucy as she started to pedal. 

"Don't let go, Daddy" said Lucy. 

"Don't worry. I've got you" said Jeremy. 

"You're doing great, Lucy" said Andy.

Matt clapped his hands to cheer his sister on.

After a few seconds, Jeremy let go and Lucy was riding on her own. Without stabilizers!

Then she got scared and hit the brakes. "Daddy, you let go!" 

Jeremy laughed. "You've been cycling on your own for ages."

"Have I?" said Lucy.

"You're really good at it" said Andy.

"Am I?" said Lucy.

She tried again and she rode her bike perfectly. 

"Oh, I can do it!" she squealed.

She rode up the hill and joined her friends. 

"Dhani, Stella, Kristen! Look! I don't need my stabilizers anymore!" she exclaimed. "Race you to Daddy's pumpkin!"

The children rode down the hill and Lucy was in the lead. 

However, she wasn't looking where she was going and she was cycling too fast. 

When she saw how close she was to Jeremy's pumpkin, she hit the brakes!

But she broke too hard and that sent her flying. 

Lucy went flying away from her bike and landed on Jeremy's pumpkin. 

Oh no! Lucy has squashed Jeremy's pumpkin. 

"I'm sorry I squashed your pumpkin, Daddy" she cried.

Jeremy lifted his daughter up and hugged her. "Never mind the pumpkin. The important thing is that you are okay. In future, you must look where you're going, my love."

"I promise I will, Daddy" Lucy whispered. 

Jeremy kissed her head, then put her down. 

"Right then. Now the pumpkin is broken, I can make it into pumpkin pie" he said.

"I LOVE pumpkin pie!" Lucy squealed. 

"And because your dad's pumpkin was so big, there'll be enough pumpkin pie for everyone" said Andy. 

"Hurray!" the children squealed.