When 8-year-old Yasmin Jung arrived at the Toronto Institute for the Enjoyment of Music last Saturday morning, she was excited for another chance to strum her bright blue guitar under the careful watch of instructor Roey Shemesh.

Just a few steps through the Parkdale building’s glass door, Yasmin’s eyes started watering as she realized another morning of “rocking out” was in jeopardy — Yasmin had forgotten her beloved guitar, covered in sparkly butterfly and fuzzy hamster stickers.

But the guitar wasn’t safely stowed at her Annex home. It was on its way across Queen St., lying in the aisle of the packed TTC streetcar Yasmin, her mother Anna and English goldendoodle Maisie had taken to the music institute.

Enter Shemesh. He jumped on his bike — dubbed the “White Widow” — parked across the street and sped after the streetcar rumbling towards Roncesvalles Ave.

The 37-year-old instructor dodged cars and pedalled as fast as he could, trying to flag down the 501 streetcar.

“It was a little bit unsafe,” he tells the Star. “But at that point, I was thinking ‘I totally need to get this guitar,’ and I felt confident that I could get it.”

As Shemesh raced after the instrument, Yasmin’s mother was preparing for the worst and chalking the incident up as a “good lesson.” She told her nervous daughter, “you have to be careful with your things, so don’t be too upset if you don’t get it back.”

“I thought, ‘there is no way one guy on his bike is going to catch up with a streetcar,’ ” says Yasmin’s mother.

By the time he reached Jameson Ave., Shemesh was almost out of breath but had caught the streetcar. He frantically scrambled on board, his eyes darting from seat to seat hoping to see the black case that had caused him so much pedalling and panting.

As he neared the streetcar’s middle, it quickly came into a view just a few feet away from a woman who was eyeing the case.

When Shemesh returned to the institute, guitar in hand, a panicked Yasmin was relieved. Her blue baby, with the white strap she crafted out of her first taekwondo belt, was safe at last, and still nestled in its case was the stuffed toy elephant she had packed to show Roey that day.

“I was jumping up and down giving him the ‘yay’ signal when he came back with it,” Yasmin’s mother says.

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She asked how she could repay Shemesh for returning the instrument, but all he wanted was an icy cherry soda. The drink was delivered by Yasmin with a movie theatre voucher and a new nickname — Super Roey.

“As a kid, it’s devastating when you lose something like that. It’s a personal thing. It’s not an easily replaceable item,” says Shemesh. “Yasmin was really grateful. I told her, ‘that’s why this is the greatest music school.’ ”