Last Thursday, I decided to take a ride down the street, get a tea, and skate the metal ledge at the bingo hall. As I was walking out of 7-11, giving a polite farewell to the clerk, I saw a group of skaters sitting out front. They were a good year or two younger than myself, but what the hell, skateboarding has basically forgot my side of town, so why not ask them if they want to skate. So I approached, one of the kids in a tiedye shirt giving me a wierd look. I ask, as a whole group, “What’s up.”
As I sat down and cracked open my tea, I noticed I had yet to get a response besides a couple wierd looks. I look to the kid at my right and ask “Is there a problem or something?”
The kid remained silent for a few seconds and quickly muttered out “got blunt?”
I was puzzled. Yes, I was smoking weed back at their age, but never once did I consider smoking over skating. It always was either skating or a combination of both. I didn’t know what to say back, so I quietly responded “No, shouldn’t you guys be skating?”
“Fuck skating” he responded. “I’d rather smoke than skate anyday.”
Now, I’m quite confused, I mean, here’s a bunch of kids, probably skating for a few months now, saying skating’s gay. It’s not as if these were just the run of the mill posers, these were the kind of kids who always had a board with them and always at the spots, and, from what I heard, the only skaters at the middle school. Back to the conversation, I muttered a befuddled “wow” and skated off.
As I reached the spot, I went to go check out the back. The loading dock behind the complex, a ramp with a max of about two feet in height and a four foot flat gap in at the top of the ramp. About a year ago, it was in it’s prime, local shops filmed there, me and five friends would skate there everyday. Now, the building owner, fed up with people skating there, placed a thick layer of concrete with deep ridges in it over the ramp, ruining it. I sat down on the ledge, sipping on my tea. It’s cold. Colder than it should be for this time of year. Soon snowboarding season wil be around and the only skating will be on mini. I thought about those kids. Is that it? Are the newest generation of skaters just images? Just concepts? Do they simply enjoy the idea of skating, but are not driven to put it into action? and if so, what next? If no one’s skating now, no one’s going to next? It happened already. A good ten people skated around here only a year ago. Now it’s down to two. It’s fading now, I miss those days and remember them greatly, but the very idea of them seem farfetched and fantastic. Fading.
Clouds are gathering, I should head home. The wind is picking up and dust is in my eyes. In the distance I hear the sounds of wheels on pavement, slowly growing louder until revealing the figure to me from around the corner. He says what’s up.
I tell him we should head back, it’s about to storm. As I slowly pushed, I looked up at the doorway, a black spraypainted lettering reading “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop”, cracked, faded and barely legible from years of abuse.
I let out a long, regretful sigh and went on my way home.
