The borrowed bicycle

Source: an original fiction extract.

Rafi had promised to return his sister's bicycle before four. At three twenty he was still beside the reservoir, watching his friend Tomas attempt to skim a stone under the low branch of a willow. The bicycle leaned against the fence, its silver bell catching the light. It was the first time Nadia had let him borrow it. She had checked the brakes with him and pointed out the repaired patch on the saddle. Rafi had listened impatiently. He had ridden bicycles for years, and the careful explanation had made the loan feel smaller than a favour.

He left at three thirty. Halfway through the village, the back tyre began to soften. By the bakery it was flat. Rafi turned the bicycle upside down and examined the wheel as though he might persuade it to improve. A thorn projected from the rubber. He pulled it out, then wished he had left it where it was. He had no pump, no repair kit and twenty minutes. Nadia needed the bicycle to get to her evening shift. He imagined her checking the clock, then imagined telling her that the puncture was not his fault. Both pictures made him hurry.

His phone had enough charge for a call. He typed a message instead: tyre flat, delayed. Before sending it, he added that Tomas had kept him talking, then deleted Tomas's name. The tyre was flat now, but it had not been flat at three twenty. He phoned Nadia. She asked where he was and whether he was safe. He told her, then explained about the thorn. There was a pause. She said she would have to catch the bus. Rafi offered to run the bicycle home. She said running would not make its wheel turn properly and told him to walk.

Outside the bakery, a woman offered him a pump. He thanked her and explained that the tyre was punctured. She directed him to a repair shop two streets away. The man there said he could mend it, but not before five. Rafi looked at the coins in his pocket, saved for a cinema ticket. He paid a deposit and called Nadia again. This time he told her when he had actually left the reservoir. She said she was already at the bus stop. He waited for her to say that everything was fine, but she only asked him to bring the bicycle straight home afterwards.

At half past five he put it in the shed. Nadia's helmet still hung from the handle of the spare spade. He left the repair receipt on the kitchen table and set aside the rest of his money for her bus fare. When she returned, she thanked him for arranging the repair and said she was annoyed that he had left so late. He said he knew. Neither sentence seemed to cancel the other. The following Saturday he asked to borrow it again. Nadia handed him the small repair bag first and asked what time he intended to leave, not merely what time he intended to return.

Consider the whole source. A reader said: “The puncture is bad luck, but Rafi’s real difficulty is accepting responsibility. The writer makes his eventual honesty believable without letting him escape the consequences.” Evaluate how far you agree. Support your judgement with detailed references to the text and the writer’s methods.