Skater Outlaw
February 9, 2024 – Riverside, California, USA
When their sixth-grade class had an early release day, Franco, Tyreese, and Julio knew exactly what to do. They grabbed their skateboards and immediately rode to the nearby skate park. They expected to find it abandoned, but instead, it was packed. Lots of other schools and classes let out early and every skater had the same idea.
At first, Franco and Tyreese were determined to use their fair share of the park. They dropped into some of the pipes but kept getting bumped and squeezed by older kids. They returned to the spot where Julio stood watching them and complained about the crowded conditions.
“We should go somewhere else,” Franco said. “If we wait around here for people to leave, we’ll waste the whole day.”
“How about city college?” Tyreese suggested. “That can be pretty cool.”
Franco and Tyreese exchanged quick nods to show they agreed on the city college plan. Julio was instantly nervous.
“You guys aren’t going to ditch me, are you? You know I’m not as fast as you.”
“Nah, we’ll wait for you,” Franco said reassuringly. “And it’s mostly a bunch of sidewalks. You can’t get lost.”
“Will there be lots of people watching? If I wipe out, I don’t want the whole world laughing.”
“People in college are chill. They don’t care about us. They won’t even notice we’re there,” Tyreese replied.
“What about cops? Aren’t there college cops that give you a hard time and say you’re not supposed to be skating?”
“I’ve been there a bunch of times and no one cares,” Tyreese answered. “I’ve never even seen a college cop.”
“You promise?”
“Yeah, I promise.”
The three boys rolled away from the park and toward the city college campus a mile away. Julio rode slowly and cautiously on the sidewalks. Franco and Tyreese sped ahead, and while waiting for Julio, they practiced tricks like flipping their boards under their feet.
When they reached the college boundaries, the place looked mostly empty. A few students meandered toward classes, at least two of them on skateboards. Others laid on the available grass or sat around outdoor tables staring at laptops. No one paid any attention to the newly arrived tweens.
Franco and Tyreese led the way along the campus walkways, around buildings, and through parking lots. Julio carefully followed his friends, watching to make sure they did not get too far ahead.
The trio reached the center of campus, which was marked by a flagpole in front of the administration building. Near one end of the building, a walkway cut through some landscaping and was interrupted by a cement staircase, six steps tall. Franco and Tyreese grew excited as they sized up the stairs. After gliding through a few practice roll-ups and stopping short of the edge, they launched themselves off the top and successfully landed on their boards. They knuckle bumped in self-congratulations before making the jump two more times.
Julio watched the action with one foot on his board and the other firmly planted on the ground. Franco noticed him at the top of the stairs and called, “You gonna try it?”
Julio shook his head.
“It’s the only way you’re gonna get better,” Tyreese called. “You gotta try some hard stuff.”
“I’ll get destroyed!” Julio shouted back.
“I’ve been destroyed a million times,” Franco replied. “It’s part of skating.”
Franco and Tyreese returned to the top of the stairs and demonstrated in slow motion exactly how Julio should crouch and when he should jump to keep his board beneath his feet. If he did it right, his knees would naturally flex and he would land without flying backwards or forwards. Julio paid close attention and tried visualizing a jump in his head. He stood above the stairs imagining the worst that could happen if he completely missed his skateboard and slammed into the concrete. His thick jeans and long-sleeve shirt would keep him from getting too scraped up and his helmet would prevent serious brain damage, but he would feel a crash all the way into his bones.
“Let me practice getting close to the edge before I actually do it,” Julio said to his friends.
He rolled forward with his knees bent, but before plunging off the stairs, he dragged his foot to stop himself. He repeated his practice roll-up twelve more times, sometimes dragging his foot to stop and sometimes jumping completely off his board before it reached the staircase edge.
“You ready now?” Franco asked.
“Almost,” Julio replied. “Maybe a few more practices.”
Julio repeated the exercise over and over. Sometimes he even let his skateboard fly off the stairs and land on the cement below while he safely bailed out on top at the last moment.
While the campus was not packed with people that afternoon, the six-step staircase sat in a well trafficked area. Pedestrians who passed by, and loitering students pretending to study, noticed Julio’s repeated roll-ups to the edge. They could not help being interested in whether he would go through with the jump. Onlookers gathered one at a time, drawn by sick curiosity over how badly Julio might hurt himself. No one wanted to advertise they were there to see a kid smack the pavement, so they acted interested in their phones and casually glanced up whenever Julio flirted with a jump.
Ever so slowly, an unmistakable crowd formed. Spectators sat on retaining walls and the lawn near the staircase. While they were there to see Julio, Franco and Tyreese were happy to put on a show. They skated past Julio and repeatedly landed jumps off the staircase. They fist bumped each other but the college students showed zero appreciation. They kept their eyes on the main attraction – Julio.
Julio felt the weight of the attention. His heart raced and his breathing accelerated. He felt more than the imagined pain of colliding with concrete. The wipeout would also come with public humiliation. This was the opposite of what his friends had promised after suggesting a trip to city college.
But he could not just chicken out and skate away. Franco and Tyreese would remember and probably not let him skate with them anymore. Julio’s brain locked up trying to decide which humiliation was worse. In the meantime, he kept rolling up to the stair’s edge and bailing out. Every time, for a split second, he believed there was a chance he might land a jump.
As the crowd grew to over sixty people, Julio fell deeper into a mental trap. He could not think beyond rolling to the stairway’s edge and bailing out. He repeated it over and over, ignoring everyone and everything around him. If nothing changed, there was a good chance he would stay there until it grew dark and everyone else went home.
From a distance, Caleb Ortiz monitored the action. He had noticed the growing crowd and decided it was worth investigating. When he saw the terrified skateboarder and his two friends, he had a pretty good idea what was going on. Caleb had done a lot of skating as a kid and knew what it was like to be the beginner in a group. After watching twenty of Julio’s roll-ups, Caleb figured he needed to do something before the kid actually went through with a jump, prompting a call to the paramedics.
Caleb adjusted his campus police uniform before pedaling his bike over to Julio’s staircase. He arrived looking very aggressive and stopped directly in front of the young skater. He pointed and shouted, “You can’t skate here! You and your friends need to find someplace else!”
Julio was too stunned to react and simply stared wordlessly at Caleb.
Caleb gestured at the surrounding crowd and shouted, “What are you all looking at? Why don’t you find something better to do?”
While the crowd dispersed, Julio had time to break out of his mental rut. He picked up his board and began walking away. Caleb pedaled close enough to whisper to him.
“Hey kid, hold up. If you’re gonna try a jump, you should start with one or two steps. They won’t hurt as much.”
Julio looked up, suddenly realizing Caleb had rescued him from injury and embarrassment. “Thanks. You saved my life,” he whispered back.
When he caught up to Franco and Tyreese, they demanded to know what Caleb had said. Julio shrugged his shoulders and acted like he was used to police harassment. “You know how cops are. He was giving me a hard time about skating. They have to treat us like we’re outlaws.”
“He should mind his own business,” Franco replied. “We weren’t hurting anything.”
“And I was just about to jump,” Julio said. “The next time, I was going for sure.”
Franco and Tyreese did not question him. “I know somewhere else we can go,” Franco said. “Somewhere with lots of stairs.” Julio was quick to say in reply, “I’m tired of dealing with cops. How about we check the skate park first? I’ll bet most of the people have cleared out by now.” Fortunately for Julio, his friends agreed.
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