By: ashleyc.near
Ashley Raymer
“MarmaJ! Look out!”
Uh oh, MarmaJ thought as she whizzed towards a family walking up the park path. Well, whizzing might be a bit dramatic. MarmaJ thought she was whizzing. From a distance, MarmaJ appeared to be rolling at a perfectly moderate speed along a nearly level path, but perspective is in the eye of the beholder and MarmaJ felt that she was whizzing and so she was. As she looked up at the family, she delighted in the sudden anticipation of this unexpected obstacle. Her eyes gleamed and then narrowed, her fists clenched, and she readied herself. She had been practicing.
Slowly, she bent her right knee, extended her left leg, and lowered her sneaker towards the ground. Nothing. She lowered a bit more. Sudden contact startled her. Her foot bounced off the pavement, sending her into a wobble. MarmaJ struggled to keep balance, but just managed, and slowly worked up the courage to try again. The family hadn’t yet noticed her. Good, she thought. I’ve got this.
This was her third time on a skateboard.
Her arms out for balance, MarmaJ bravely extended her left leg, lowered her foot, and once again, ricocheted. She swung out both arms wildly, leaned back and then forward. She looked like a plane, readying for takeoff, without a working engine.
The family had begun to notice the curious young girl on the skateboard, though they did not yet perceive her as a threat to their safety. It would not be the last time folks had underestimated MarmaJ.
Somehow, the young girl stayed planted on the board, and as the distance closed, at the last moment, using pure instinct, she leaned to the right and veered, giving the oblivious family a wide berth. MarmaJ rejoiced.
Had the path been wider, had the path not curved slightly, had this not been her first real test, perhaps she could have recovered her initial trajectory. MarmaJ had every intention of performing the same action, leaning once more, but this time to the left. Alas, the municipal engineers hadn’t the foresight to anticipate such situations and plan accordingly. She ran out of pavement. Within the space of a second, the wheels dipped off the raised path, vibrated chaotically over the gravel shoulder, and sank abruptly into the grass.
The board had stopped, but MarmaJ continued. With a soft and stoic cry, she tumbled heroically into a small heap.
“MarmaJ?! Are you okay?” NEAR yelled as she ran to where MarmaJ lay dazed in the shade of a tree.
“I think so?” MarmaJ replied uncertainly. Her hands were a bit scraped, and her jeans a bit grass-stained, but her elbow pads and helmet had done their job, and she was relatively unharmed.
“That. was. so. COOL!” MarmaJ exclaimed as she turned her beaming face towards NEAR who had finally caught up to her younger friend. The family on the path had stopped walking and their faces were turned towards the colourful pair with expressions of concern and confusion.
NEAR noticed and addressed them, “She’s Okay!”
As the family trundled away, NEAR squatted down on the grass to be on MarmaJ’s level and started picking bits of twig and leaf out of her sweater and bright pink hair.
“Did you see that? Did you see how fast I was going? I was like Zoom, whoosh, and that save at the end.”
NEAR cocked an eyebrow and gave her a lopsided grin. “Yes, that save at the end. Quite a performance. Exit stage left? Or was it stage right?”
MarmaJ bounced to her feet as if nothing had happened, hopped towards her board, and looked back, tapping her knuckles against the helmet. “Thanks for reminding me to wear this thing.”
“Anytime,” NEAR replied.
“I think I’m really getting the hang of this,” MarmaJ said, emphasizing really in a way that made NEAR smile.
“You sure are. Ready for some ice cream?” NEAR asked.
“You bet!”