Oh the Laughter

So the bike was gone, stolen when we returned. Something regretfully anticipated by me because just before we were to leave on a three-day vacation I had been thinking about putting it in the garage but had forgotten it.
On the next weekend while we were preparing a barbecue for the local altar boys and girls, there suddenly appeared this man inquiring if a bike had been stolen. He first addressed my husband and since I had not yet come around telling him out of shame, he replied:"No!" Then I came and had to admit - and not only to my husband, but to everyone present - that the man was probably talking about my bike. The man went on explaining that a friend of his had taken the bike and had wanted to ride it to a town that was about twenty kilometers away, but he had prevented him. He promised to return it and put it back into our drive where he or better his friend had seized it.
For two weeks I heard nothing and on Saturday in the middle of the night at half past eleven - just like a thief - there was a ring at the door. My son opened and there was the man informing him that the bike had been returned and asking if he should leave his friend's address. Quite correctly my son replied that it was okay since the bike had been returned, which was also fine with me because in a way I feel that I have to take part of the blame. Gelegenheit macht Diebe - opportunity creates thieves. Honestly I detest those people who would deliberately leave money in their hotel rooms to test if the staff would take it away.
Yesterday we inspected the bike and what apparently happened was that somebody carried the bike away. Nobody could have ridden it since it was still locked. Somebody had tried to get rid of the bike lock but couldn't manage. Now the lock is smashed and I am not able to open it with my keys and removing the whole lock is quite hard. I cannot help laughing for now I have a wonderful bike lock with a bike around it 😄.