Through the Spoke Gap

I backed away from the steel mounting plate under the bike rack and evaluated the row of bicycles above me. A dried oak leaf stood upright, jammed between two spokes of an adjacent rear wheel near the ground. I lined up straight with the rim. Accelerating directly into the gap, my front bumper collided with the brittle stem. The leaf shattered with a crisp crackle, raining dry fragments onto the asphalt. My roof cleared the turning derailleur arm cleanly, leaving me parked in the narrow band of shadow beneath the pedal crank.