Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Lucy and the Bike Girl

tape--this is the very first speed i do (makes sound)

Lucy didn?t have many friends growing up.

tape?this is the final speed i do (makes sound)

While other kids were running around, playing on their lawns, she was inside getting her chest pounded on to clear mucus out of her lungs. She has Cystic Fibrosis.

[SFX coughing]

Now Lucy is 28. She lives in a tiny box of a house on the corner of two alleys in Philadelphia. Every day while she?s going through her morning routine, she hears this at the intersection outside her window:

[SFX bike bell]

The girl who rides the powder blue bike looks like Pippi Longstocking. She?s got red braids, freckles, sometimes even striped socks. It?s a strange look for a grown woman, but somehow she pulls it off. Each time she passes, Lucy runs to the window. She wants to call out to the girl. She wants to grab her by the wrist and bring her inside for a hot cup of tea. This girl doesn?t know it, but Lucy is the person she chats with online every night.

tape?[:03] that?s more than I do with my closest friends

Lucy and the Pippi Longstocking girl met a few weeks ago on a message board for people with CF.

tape?[:05] we basically found each other thru posts that were about pregnancy-

The girl had posted her picture, and Lucy recognized her braids right away.

tape?[:04] and y?know, picked up on the fact that we were both trying to conceive at the same time

Lucy and the bike girl quickly realized they?d need to chat privately. Other people on the message board got judgmental of them, told them they should get their tubes tied. Women with CF, they said, should not have babies. A baby is basically a big ball of germs. And what CF patient in their right mind would invite a big ball of germs into their house? Actually, this was pretty close to what Lucy?s doctor said, too.

tape?[:10] he was like, well, if you?re really gonna do this, which- i wish i could convince you not to- i guess now is better than later- and i remember coming home and crying and going for a run kinda just to prove him wrong or whatever- that i was healthy and that i would be able to do this

That night, about an hour after Lucy heard the bell pass by her house, she went online and complained to the bike girl about her doctor. The bike girl couldn?t believe it: this was almost word for word what her doctor had told her just a couple days ago.

?Nobody gets it,? Lucy typed. ?Even my best friend said I was making the biggest mistake of my life.?

?I hate your best friend,? the bike girl typed back.

Lucy didn?t know how to respond to that. Her first instinct was to tell the bike girl not to judge Miranda ? she didn?t even know her. But she found herself typing the words, ?I do too.? And then she just spilled her guts. She told the bike girl how her dad and Miranda?s dad had been in the army together. How their mothers had seen the Beatles together. How when she and Miranda were girls, they?d concoct special shampoos from all the bottles in their bathroom cabinets. And how they?d once lost little chunks of hair because they didn?t know what Nair was. But by high school, things had changed. Miranda made Lucy feel bad for being in honors classes, for having a boyfriend. And now, for being married. Miranda was always planning girls? nights out for just the two of them. She?d get drunk and call Lucy her best friend. But it was clear to Lucy that Miranda didn?t get her at all.

tape?[:11] going to a smoky bar, that kind of thing, isn?t worth it- staying out late- how much fun is it really gonna be? it might take off 4 years of my life

?I wish I could hug you,? the bike girl typed.

?I wish we could just hang out,? Lucy typed back. ?Like real friends.?

?I wish we could play Connect Four,? the bike girl wrote.

?Yeah,? Lucy answered. ?And give each other pedicures.?

Lucy had an urge to run down the street with nail polish, knock on the girl?s door, and tell her they were neighbors. But she couldn?t. Because that type of proximity would be too dangerous.

tape?[:06] online we have signatures and hers says she has b cepacia

B. Cepacia is a type of bacteria that lives in soil and water and rotting onions. It?s not harmful to most of us. But for people with CF, B. Cepacia germs act as a superbug, colonizing in their lungs.

tape?[:07] colonizing means that you have it in your lungs forever- like, it has set up shop big time

And if one person with CF is colonizing B. Cepacia, it?s a bad idea for them to be around another person with CF. In fact, people with CF are never supposed to come within 3 feet of each other, even at the doctor?s office.

tape?[:27] the fear is, i would inhale some of these germs- or they would get on my hands - and suddenly then you get sick- and it?s especially virile b/c there are few antibiotics that work against it- um, when you are diagnosed with having b. cepacia in your lungs, your life expectancy is cut in half

[SFX bike bell...fades under... add this somewhere else too]

tape?[:32] when we both got pregnant within weeks of each other, it was like oh my gosh, y?know, i?m never gonna be able to get to see her kid- like, that was just- that tore me up a bit- and i was like thinking about fairmount park and i was like, we could stand 3 feet apart and i could make sure i?m upwind of her- laff- i think that one might?ve even been in a dream- and i?m like oh, i could hold her kid and she could touch mine- but then i realized, i?m like, yeah, this is not gonna happen...unless we both showed up in hazmat suits or something

As Lucy?s belly grew, she heard the bike bell less and less, until finally it stopped entirely. She was still chatting with the bike girl most nights, but she felt desperate for more contact. She bought a onesie with a drawing of a peanut and wrapped it up to send to the bike girl, with no return address, of course. But she never sent the package.

tape?[:16] because it?s like, it?s almost like anthrax- i mean, does she really want to receive something from me? it?s weird! i mean, i could have something they haven?t found yet- and i could have it and she couldn?t- it?s just not a good idea

Halloween rolled around. Lately, Lucy had been avoiding her kind of, sort of best friend, Miranda?s phone calls and the guilt was weighing on her. So when Miranda invited her to a costume party, she agreed to go. Miranda had picked the costumes: Lucy would be a pregnant lady in labor and Miranda would be her midwife. Her sexy midwife. Miranda was late, as usual. Lucy waited on her couch in a hospital gown made from an old sheet, watching her husband greet trick-or-treaters in his scuba diver costume. She started to worry about getting home in time for her evening lung treatment. She wished that she was going to this party with the bike girl. Wouldn?t it be nice if they could come home and do their treatments together? And then...Lucy had an idea.

tape?[:04] well, screw it- y?know, life is too short- if i wanna meet her, i?ll meet her

Lucy walked over to her husband and took off his scuba mask, then put it over her own head. ?Be right back,? she told him, and walked out the door. As she hurried up the dark alley, she wondered if the bike girl would be dressed as Pippi Longstocking. Was she Pippi every year? When she got to the bike girl?s house, she stared at the buzzer. Her breaths were loud inside her mask. Her heart was beating in her brain. She felt something tugging at her sheet. She looked down and saw a little pack of superheroes, crowded around her waist. ?You gonna ring it, lady?? the Incredible Hulk asked her. Lucy jumped back and shook her head.

She didn?t even wait for the door to open before heading home. She squinted down the street and saw a scuba diver without his mask shrugging at a sexy midwife. The sexy midwife stomped her high-heeled boots and pointed at her watch, then got in her car and drove off. Lucy smiled. In a way, she was glad she?d chickened out with the bike girl. Things with her were so...easy. Maybe meeting in person would just make them more complicated.

tape?[:10] i know we won?t always be in touch like we are right now, every day- if we can just keep in touch though, i think it?s gonna be great- b/c i think we have something unusual

That night, when the bike girl got online, Lucy was waiting by her computer with nail polish. She told the bike girl to go get some, too. And they sat beside their chat screens, painting their toenails...one after the other.

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