TAYLOR, Mich. (WXYZ) — Imagine getting a bike for your birthday — your ninth birthday — only for it to come up missing overnight. How would you feel?
“I just thought that they needed it better (more) than me,” 9-year-old Anthony Cagle said.
It’s a mature reaction for a 9-year-old who just had his bike stolen after celebrating his birthday. Anthony says it was a gift from his aunt.
His mom says he always tends to look on the bright side when something goes wrong. But she wasn’t just going to shrug this off.
"It was stolen from my house. It was stolen from my garage," Anthony’s mom Crystal Cagle said. “And me and my sister Ashley, we rode up and down the block like this bike has to be around here somewhere. We even seen like similar bikes to the bike. I jumped out the car. I’m like, 'No I’m going to find my son’s bike. It’s his bike.' Could not find it.”
Crystal Cagle says she posted on social media telling people to beware of a bike thief in the Taylor area.
“A lady reached out and she was like, ‘I’m going to buy him a bike,’ and I’m like, ‘Nope. No, you’re not. I’ll buy him a bike. It’s OK. It’ll be alright.’ But then, she insisted,” Crystal Cagle said.
On Tuesday, Anthony got a surprise. A good Samaritan, who wants to remain nameless, met Anthony and his mom at Walmart, did a thoughtful deed and bought him the exact same bike.
“It shows in the world we live in now, it shows that we still have good people. Like, people will go out of their way to see anyone smile, and that’s what she told me,” Crystal Cagle said. “I just wanted to see him smile.”
This 9-year-old did smile, thanks to the kindness of a stranger.
“I felt appreciated,” Anthony said.
