Personal Narrative Essay: My Dad Went To Prison

When I was 8 my dad went to prison. He had a feeling his time was coming and spent as much time with me as he could before he was taken away. He bought me a silver box chain necklace with a cross before he left and I still keep it hanging from the wall.
It was fall, but we were in Florida so it was still ridiculously hot out, my dad just bought a fluorescent yellow bicycle with 3 wheels and a box attached to the back. It reminded me of a ice cream cart but it was something much more. It has a small motor on it that sounded like a Go Kart and smelled just like the smell of gasoline coming from the Go Karts at Boomers. There was two umbrella holding tubes welded to the side of the box on the bike, and in these tubes went a metal bar bent to go

over our heads and into both tubes. However, it wasn’t just a metal bar, it had a yellow tarp over it to block the sun. Thinking back to it now I wouldn’t be caught dead with it.
My dad drove me all around town for weeks on this ridiculous vehicle that went about 30mph. We drove through neighborhoods, bank parking lots, on railroads, past schools, and even through the taco bell drive through. One of the neighborhoods we drove through had a yard sale going on so we decided to stop. Everything looked like junk until a sparkle caught my eye. It was a curb style chain with a small basic silver cross on it. For reasons unknown I had a really strong liking for this necklace and asked my dad to buy it for me.
Most bicycles do not have suspension and the bright yellow tricycle was no exception. I had a bungee cord seatbelt system to keep me in my seat while my father drove considerably fast considering the mode of transportation. It was like sitting in one of those massage chairs that they have at the fair. You put 50 cents in and it vibrates loudly and buzzes your body. Riding on the tricycle was like sitting in one of those chairs while sliding down a hill. All this vibration always caused my necklace to get tangled and pull my hair out. One day however I went to go untangle it and it was gone. I was devastated and started panicking. My dad tried to calm me down by bribing to take me to the mall and buy me a new one. I didn’t want a new one I wanted the one I had! We drove around for hours retracing our steps trying to find my necklace but we had no luck. 3 hours in I gave up so my dad took me to the Boynton Beach mall to look for something new. Somehow I found the exact same cross there and showed my dad. At that moment he told me about different types of chains and that I should get a box chain because it is harder to get tangled. He convinced me so I decided to get the box chain and go home.
Afraid of losing the necklace again I hung it on my wall with a tack. The next time I saw my dad he asked me why I wasn’t wearing the necklace so I explained to him that I didn’t want to lose it again. He told me not to worry, he would buy me a new one if I lost it again. I didn’t listen to him though, I kept the necklace on my wall safe from my clumsiness. Two days passed and I hadn’t heard from my dad so I decided to call him but there was no answer. A week passed and I still haven’t heard from my father and I was puzzled. Eventually I found out that he was in prison and I was happy that I pinned the necklace to the wall because it was the last gift from my dad for a very long time and I did not want to lose it.