Goofy-foot - 2. Chapter 2

Jason's parents wouldn't be home from work for some hours yet. He usually started dinner for the family because he was there, but it wasn't an assigned job, and whoever got home first - his mom or his dad - would start the evening meal if Jason wasn't there to do it. More often than not he was, feeling it a small contribution to family life, and one that greatly eased the strain on his parents, who were almost always tired when they got in.

Jason's older brother, Matthew, attended UCLA, and shared a small place near the campus with like five other people. Housing wasn't cheap anywhere in the city, and Matthew worked as an undergrad teaching assistant to one of the professors at the school to pay his part. He still drove home now and then, mostly on weekends, just to 'get a free meal and not have to sleep standing up'. But Jason knew how much Matthew loved his family, and that he missed the closeness that only home could bring.

It had been Matthew that had gotten Jason interested in computers and photography, and they got along better than a lot of brothers did, despite the five-year difference in their ages. Jason looked up to Matthew, and missed having his older brother around to confide in. Matthew knew that Jason was gay, and so Jason suspected that his parents knew it, too. But no one ever brought it up, and his parents treated him just as they always had, and he was more than aware that they loved him, and would support whichever direction in life he chose to take. That other families were not as close as his own, he knew. That he was fortunate to have what he had, he treasured.

Dinner was still five hours away, more than enough time to see what his camera had captured and then get back to the park for a little skating. Jason parked the shopping cart in the one-car garage behind the house, removed his board and his camera, and locked the door again. His parents left both cars in the drive when they were home, because the little garage was mostly full of other things, stuff no one wanted in the house, but which were just too good to be tossed. A surprising number of people on his street were in similar circumstances, if the number of cars in the driveways was anything to go on.

He let himself into the house and set his board by the door, and went straight to his room, opening the Nikon along the way and removing the SD card that held the images he had taken. He'd left his computer on, and it woke up as he sat before it and slid the memory card into the SD slot on the front. In a moment he had accessed the files, and was using the picture viewer to look at them in sequence.

The first were distance shots he'd taken of the four visitors as they circled the low rail. He ran through them quickly to where he had zoomed in, and could actually see their faces now. He'd come back to that in a moment. He looked at the full motion video, and found some really nice shots of Ray that he thought he could extract stills from.

But then, at the end, came the sequence of fast stills he'd taken of Ray's last grind down the rail, where at the end he had turned towards Jason and Snark and come straight at them. Jason had apparently held the shutter button down until Ray had crossed right to them, and he was stunned to see a close up shot of the other boy's face.

Was that a smile?

But then, as he neared Jason and Snark, the maybe-smile slid away and was replaced with something else. What? Not the grim determination that Jason remembered from the end of their conversation, but something else totally.

He stared at the picture, then enlarged it until it filled the twenty-four inch monitor he'd inherited from his brother. He took a breath then, as Ray's features leaped out at him. Jason advanced the series, watched as Ray whipped off his sunglasses and his eyes became visible, and...

He let his breath sigh out softly. Oh. The other boy was beautiful. His face was a prefect blend of geometries, overlaid with golden skin that didn't have a contrary mark anywhere to be seen, his tawny eyes filled with a sharp and ready intelligence. His lips had just the right sets of curves that Jason loved, and his chin was square, not too strong, not too weak, with the tiniest of clefts in the middle. Perfect.

Jason just sat and stared for the longest time. He closed his eyes, could still see Ray's face. Then he opened his eyes, and drank in the image once again. Soon he knew he would be able to see this face no matter where he was, or what he was doing. That he wanted to be able to see this face, he knew.

Finally, he gave another little sigh, marked this particular picture file, and went ahead through the rest to the end of the sequence. At the very end there did appear to be some irritation in Ray's face. But was it anger, like he remembered? It didn't look that way. That had come later, after Snark had put his two cents into the fray.

Jason returned to the picture that had most captured his imagination and printed it to his photo printer. Then, remembering his promise to Anthony, he searched through the rest of the pictures until he found the three he'd taken of the Regulator, picked the funniest one, and printed it out, too. Anthony really did look like he thought he was about to be mowed down by a huge truck, or maybe even a tank. This was the sort of face one wore when a hospital bed was looming in the future...but only in cartoon land. It was endearing and cute, and Jason decided that the older guy had a sweet streak of humor in there somewhere that would certainly be nice to know better.

He shut down the picture viewer on his computer, and pulled the SD card and put it back into the camera. Then he took the picture of Ray to his bed. Getting down on one knee, he reached beneath and withdrew his scrapbook, and opened the cover, and tucked the photo inside. He would want to look at it again later.

He took the picture of Anthony and put it carefully into the back pocket of his jeans, collected his white ball cap, and headed out again, picking up his board at the door.

He'd been in the house for a good part of an hour. It was past two now, and that meant he had maybe three and a half hours before he'd need to return to start dinner. That was more than enough time to get a little movement in.

For just a second he remembered his helmet. But...he didn't plan to get crazy, just cruise a little and relax. Easy stuff. Hardly more daring then the trip back to the park would be. He'd be careful.

He walked out to the street, dropped his board and stepped onto it in one move, and pushed off.

The trip back to the park was quicker, because he was riding instead of walking. It occurred to him on the way that maybe Ray and his friends would still be there. The thought excited him, and he pushed things a little getting back.

When he arrived back at the park, it was to find Snark and Kat sitting on the bench together just inside the entry. The real wooden bench, designed for people to sit on, that is. They were talking, and not with their usual heat. They seemed surprised to see him when he rolled up and sat down next to Kat.

"Well, well, you two look pretty happy."

He was surprised to see both their faces redden, and Snark look contrite. "Oh, hi. You did come back."

"I said I would." Jason looked from one friend to the other. "What did I miss?"

"Well..." Snark looked pained. "Kat wondered why you left. I was just telling her what happened with those guys down at the rails, and she was just telling me what a dick I was."

Kat's eyes filled with humor. "I don't think I used that particular word."

Snark made a face. "It sounds better than asshole."

"It's all anatomy," Jason pointed out, trying not to laugh.

Snark sighed. "Yeah."

Kat allowed herself a smile. "The point is, he's sorry. Say you're sorry, Snark."

The other boy winced. "I already told him I was sorry I went off."

"Uh huh. But saying it in front of witnesses is good for the soul."

Snark made a positively evil face, but nodded. "I'm sorry I went off, Goof." He looked at Kat. "In front of witnesses."

Jason grinned. "And I already said it was okay." He looked across the park, but couldn't see the other end of the plaza course. "Are they still here?"

"No." Snark shook his head. "They left about fifteen minutes ago."

A feeling of disappointment came over Jason, and it must have showed.

Kat raised her eyebrows just a bit. "Did you want to see them again?"

Jason felt a momentary embarrassment as he looked for a reason. "Well...maybe. I just didn't want to leave with...like, bad blood between us."

Snark shrugged. "If it makes you feel better, Truck said one of them asked who you were."

Jason's jaw dropped. "Really?"

Kat frowned, eying him. "Is there something more here than we know about?"

Jason blinked, and shook his head. "Not that I know of."

"It was the one that talked to us, apparently," Snark added. "Um...I think one of the others called him 'Ray'."

Jason felt a small shiver, but didn't know if it was fear or delight. "Well...what did Truck say?"

"Just that your name was Goofy-foot, and you were the picture guy here. It's okay. Truck was cool about it."

Jason nodded, but somehow was feeling a sense of secret satisfaction. Now he and Ray knew each other's names. Well, more or less.

Kat was watching him suspiciously now. "You didn't know this guy before today, did you?"

"No."

"You just look like you're not saying something."

Jason had to laugh at that. "I don't know what it would be."

"There was something, though." Kat seemed insistent now.

"Yeah, there was something," Snark interjected. "The guy was a straight up jerk!"

Jason smiled at that, knowing how Snark was. "Probably kicks his cat, huh?"

Snark eyed him a moment, and then grinned. "He probably ate it for breakfast."

"And stole that board he was on," Jason added, knowing where this was going.

"'Cause his hobby's shoplifting."

"And his mother's a hooker."

"And his old man's a crack dealer."

'And his sister --"

Kat had stared from one boy to the next in disbelief, and now threw up a hand. "Will you two stop!"

Jason laughed, and Snark looked relieved. "Let's just get past this, huh?" he said. "I feel like the back side of a fat lady."

Jason and Kat looked at each other, and the the girl gave a small shake of her head. "Meaning?"

"I feel like a giant ass," Snark said, looking pleased with himself.

"Hasn't hurt your sense of humor," Jason said. He dropped a hand on Snark's shoulder. "But you did get really mad for what seemed like not much of a reason."

Snark winced, and let his gaze settle on the skatepark. "Yeah, well...this is a special place for me." He turned back to frown at Jason. "Our place. I've been skating here for five years. That's almost one third of my life." He shrugged. "I like it here. I like the people here. I don't like it when people that don't belong here come in and try to say we can't do what we do."

"Male territoriality," Kat sniffed, with noticeable disdain.

"It's our place," Snark repeated, defensively.

Kat shook her head. "This is a public park, Snark. Public means for everybody. Even those guys."

Jason could plainly see that Snark didn't like the idea of that.

But the other boy sighed, and finally nodded. "I know. They just weren't regulars. And that one dude tried to lean on Goof. I just wasn't gonna do that."

No one said anything for a moment. Finally, Snark sighed. "But I won't do it again, okay?"

Jason smiled at him. "I don't want you busting up your board smacking people with it."

Snark laughed at that, but then just nodded. "Okay. So...you gonna skate, or what?"

"Sure." Jason had dropped his board on the concrete when he'd sat down. Now he put a foot on it and rolled it back and forth.

Kat looked down at it and smiled. "Your board is turning pink."

Jason rolled his eyes. "I know. Not much to do about it."

The deck had been red when he'd bought the board, but two years of sun and shoes had faded and worn it to a pale rose. Jason wasn't crazy about the color, but it also didn't bother him.

"A real man can wear pink," Snark said, grinning. "I kinda like it."

Kat gazed heavenward a moment, but didn't say anything more.

"Let's go," Jason, said, waving a hand at the course.

They got up and stepped on their boards, and pushed off towards the bowls.

"Can you keep it cool?" Jason asked. "I didn't wear my helmet."

"I never wear one," Snark returned, smiling.

"That's because your head is made of stone," Kat said immediately, smiling evilly.

But Snark just grinned, and looked happy somehow, and Jason had to wonder how much the two had been talking before he'd come back.

Snark led them down into the first bowl, just an elliptical mini ramp no deeper than the toddler end of a swimming pool. There was a rail embedded around the rim for sliding, and they warmed up a bit doing a little interweaving back and forth, watching for other skaters, though everyone seemed to be farther on along the course just now.

The back end of this bowl was a ramp that led deeper into the ground and turned gracefully to the left. There was a hand railing around the top of it to keep observers on the walks above from falling. The ramp let out into the big bowl, with sides too high to climb and a walkway crossing above. You could get some real speed up coming off the down ramp and riding around the bowl about halfway up the curved side, giving you enough speed to easily climb the other ramp. That one brought you back up to mid level and then shot you down a long but less inclined ramp, and then up another, steeper one, which brought you into a third bowl much like the first one. It was a little bit of a thrill, but it happened pretty fast on a board.

They came up into the third bowl and circled it, with Snark showing off a little with a quick reverse and some fakie grinds going backwards. Jason grinned at him, and then followed as Snark left the bowl and they went over a series of ramps, some spaced apart, their speed more than enough to grab some air going over. It felt natural to Jason by now, and the motion and the speed was an intoxicating rush that took his mind off the earlier events of the day.

After that was the snake run, a waist-deep half pipe in the concrete that twisted and turned and doubled back on itself as it crossed towards the plaza area. It was a great test of balance, and Jason was pleased that it had become second nature to him now to not just make some speed here, but to grind along the inset rails at each doubleback without so much as a drop of the fear he had once had in doing it.

They exited the snake run onto a flat run with stairs and a center rail going down at the other end, followed by a series of ramps, more stairs, and straightaways lined with benches and mini-rails along the way. At the end of the last straightaway, after coming down off a stair railing, was a head-high semicircle of concrete with a concave face, which you whipped around at some speed and doubled back to another straightaway with benches and rails, and then a series of box ramps - a raised platform with a ramp at each end.

Along the sides of this area were the practice runs, with several rows of rails at varying heights, and benches you could practice on without interrupting the flow of the main course. It was the practice rails that Ray and his friends had been using earlier that day, and as they went past them, Jason couldn't help sneaking a look in that direction. There were several skaters there, but none were the boys he had seen earlier.

None were Ray.

The course doubled back towards the start at this point, with more plaza obstacles like ramps, stairs, benches, and rails, and eventually returned you to the first shallow bowl at the start of it all. All along the way were cut offs, where you could turn off to return to other areas of the course. But Snark made a complete run and finally brought them back to the sitting bench where they had started.

He popped his board and caught it, and sat down in one smooth movement, laying his board next to him with the trucks up so it would stay there. Jason managed to do the same, and Kat made it look easy as she popped her board and joined them.

"That was fun!" she breathed, her eyes aglow in the afternoon sun. She patted Jason's knee, and smiled at him. "You're getting really good." She laughed. "Nice view from the back, too."

Jason felt his face briefly warm, but had to smile. "You better not be watching other people's butts. You might fall on your own!"

She sighed. "It's a risk that's worth it."

She reached past Jason then and poked Snark. "You're almost too good, you show off."

Snark blinked. "Me? I can't help it if nature blessed me."

Jason and Kat exchanged smiles at that. Modesty was not one of Snark's strongest traits.

"That felt good," Jason decided, leaning back against the bench. "I need to get more motion and less camera stuff, I think."

Kat shook her head. "You're really good with that camera, Jason. Don't let what happened today mess that up."

Jason turned to look at her, and could see that she was serious. "I'm not. I just feel like I spend too much time watching instead of doing. I want to try to even it out a little more."

She searched his eyes a little, and then smiled. "Oh. Well, that's okay, then."

"God, I love doing this," Snark said, giving his head a little shake. "I'd do this the rest of my life, if I could."

"You can," Kat said, as if it was obvious.

"Nah." Snark sighed. "My dad wants me to go to college. I can't screw around my whole life, just doing this."

"So don't do just this," Jason offered. "Go to college, get a job, do all that stuff. And do this when you have some spare time."

Kat nodded. "Yeah. I plan to keep doing this until I'm hitting the ramps in my wheelchair. You don't have to stop just because you get older."

"Look at the Regulators," Jason continued. "I'll bet some of those guys are in their thirties. And they're better than we are."

"Better than you, maybe," Snark countered, grinning. "Ain't no old schooler got my moves."

"There's always someone that's better," Kat replied, shaking her head. "I was watching that new guy, Anthony, a while ago. He's better than I am, I know that."

Jason sat up straight then, remembering the picture in his back pocket. "Oh, crap!"

He stood and fished it out, and was relieved to see it was still undamaged, if a little curved to the shape of his butt. He looked around the park, but didn't see the Regulator. "Is Anthony still here?"

"He was just before you got here," Snark said. He shaded his eyes with a hand, and looked around. "There he is, over by the big half-pipe. Can't miss that dumb shirt."

Kat laughed at that. "What's wrong with 'Pop Shuvit'? I do that move all the time."

"Not spelled that way, you don't. " Again Snark looked slightly scandalized. "It's a 'pop shove-it'. 'Pop Shuvit is the name of an old rap band from Ecuador."

"They're from Malaysia," Kat said patiently, "and they're called Popshuvit, all one word. What's on Anthony's shirt is just a slang way to say the board move. It doesn't mean that band." She smiled. "And that band has some cool stuff, anyway. Skater's Anthem was kind of intense."

"Noise," Snark said, though with a smile. He had found something new to bug Kat about, and was on it like a mouse on fresh cheese. "They don't even speak American."

Kat gave a frustrated sigh. "You're looking for a primo ghosting, Snark."

The other boy's gaze touched on Jason's, and Jason gave a slight shake of his head. "I wouldn't."

Snark grinned, and bumped his shoulder against Kat's. "Sorry. I thought we were having fun."

Kat looked surprised at the apology, and turned to stare at the boy. "You think that's fun?"

"Hell, yeah. I'm not serious, Kat."

"He likes to push people's buttons," Jason said. "He's harmless, though."

Kat reexamined Snark, and then smiled. "You're so good at being annoying, I just thought there was some brain damage or something."

Snark and Jason both laughed at that. But Kat eyed Snark anew, and Jason didn't miss the little smile on her lips.

They crossed the concrete towards the big half-pipe, where Zulu had given way to Rocket. That boy was now doing an elegant, quickly-paced roll back and forth, while Zulu and Tip stood and watched and timed it.

"I sure couldn't do the pipe all day like they do," Kat whispered. "My eyes would roll up in my head."

"Zulu's a freak of nature," Snark said, a little wondrously. "Dude's got more patience than I do, I know that."

Kat leaned over and looked at the picture in Jason's hand, and laughed. "Awesome. He looks like he sees a major crash coming."

That got Snark's attention, and he reached out and pulled Jason's hand over so that he could see the picture, too. He stared, and then grinned hugely. "Man, that's lit. He looks like a deer-in-the headlights, you know?"

Jason looked down at the picture, and nodded. "I think it's funny. Some of the Regulators are too serious. Anthony has a sense of humor."

"I like him," Kat agreed. "He's cute, too."

Snark just groaned, and Jason smiled, even though he'd also decided the older guy wasn't hard to look at. Age meant a lot more now than it might someday. The difference between sixteen and twenty-one, like with Jason's brother, Matthew, seemed kind of huge just now; but the difference between guys twenty-five and thirty didn't seem so far apart to them. Once guys were ten years or so older than Jason was, he had trouble guessing their ages, until gray hair and wrinkles set in. Anthony could be in his twenties, or his thirties.

The Regulator was talking to a couple of girls wearing helmets and new kneepads, and holding their boards by the trucks like they were handles. Jason pegged them as newbies, not because they were holding their boards in an uncool manner, but because they didn't yet know it was considered the mark of a newbie or a poser to carry them that way. He didn't really care about such things, seeing way too much social junk about skating that could get in the way of doing the sport itself. What real difference did it make in how you carried your board, or put it on the pavement?

Anthony saw them coming out of the side of his eye, and turned to smile as they drew to a halt. "Goofy-foot! What's doing, dude?"

Jason held out the photo. "Got your picture."

The Regulator looked delighted, and held out his hand. Jason gave him the photo, and smiled when the older guy's eyebrows went up.

"Hey, that's really good!"

Snark bumped his shoulder against Jason's and grinned, but didn't add to the conversation.

The Regulator showed the picture to the girls, who both tittered in delight. Jason felt oddly embarrassed, and also oddly pleased. Cameras were so good these days it was easy to take a great picture. But a lot of people just couldn't compose a shot, and so were amazed when they saw pictures taken by someone that could.

"Thank you, Goofy-foot."

Snark spoke up then. "You can call him 'Goof'. We all do."

He poked Jason with his elbow, who just smiled. Yeah, what was one more?

But Anthony frowned a moment, and put a hand on Jason's shoulder. "Do you mind?"

Jason shrugged. "Nah. As long as it gets my attention, it's good."

The regulator smiled. "It's all in how you say it, anyway."

After that, Snark led Jason and Kat on another circuit of the course, and then they ran a few rails in the practice lanes. Jason used the one that Ray and his friends had used earlier, paying special attention to how much he used his own arms in balancing during the run. The near impossibility of doing it with his arms totally motionless quickly became apparent, and it was just one more thing in his mind about Ray that somehow seemed special.

He looked up at one point, and saw Truck Leoni sitting on the bench across the way, sort of draped over it with his eyes closed like he'd collapsed there. Jason grinned, popped his board, and carried it across the way and sat down beside the bigger boy. "You look worn out, Truck."

Truck's eyes opened, and he looked over. "Oh. Hi, Goof. Yeah, I'm tired. I don't think I'm made to have wheels under me."

"Aw." Jason reached out and patted Truck's shoulder. "You've come a long way. Be proud. You should be."

The bigger boy smiled, and looked over at him with renewed interest. "That's one reason I like you, Goof. Always something nice to say about someone."

Jason felt his face warm at the compliment. "Well. I mean...you have gotten better."

"I know. I'm working my ass off, and it has been showing some results." Truck laughed. "All this swinging my arms shit, I'm amazed I haven't learned to fly yet."

Jason smiled at that. "There's still time."

Truck leaned to one side and patted his butt. "I think I need a pad here next. When I hit the pavement, there's three feet of me that come down on top of this thing. It hurts!"

Jason nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, but better your butt than your head!"

Kat and Snark had seen them sitting there, and came across the course lane. Kat sat down next to Truck, while Snark plopped down by Jason, bumping shoulders with him and then grinning when Jason turned to look at him. "Keeping Truck's ego up?"

"Uh huh." Jason laughed. "He seems to think wheels don't really suit him. And that he's too tall."

Snark shook his head. "Aw, hell, size doesn't matter. You ever see them wheel out those big rockets at Cape Canaveral? Those things are awesome-size, and they're on wheels."

"They're also damn slow," Truck pointed out.

"Only until they blast off," Snark continued, his eyes bright. "Then they really start moving!"

Truck rolled his eyes, but took a moment to gaze skyward. "That's all I need, is to blast off."

Kat put a soothing hand on the big boy's wrist. "Don't let Snark get to you, Truck. He's not diaper trained yet."

Jason and Snark both laughed at that.

Snark reached across Jason and gave Truck's shoulder a push. "Wanna run the course with us? We're gonna make one more go."

Truck's eyes lit up at that. "Yeah!" But then his smile waned a little. "I'd better be last in line, though. If I have to bail, I don't need all you people falling on top of me!"

The four of them returned to the head of the course, and once again they followed Snark into the first bowl, and then down the ramp to the big one. Jason, again second in line, immediately noticed that Snark had relaxed the pace considerably compared to their other runs, and smiled. Snark talked like a jerk sometimes, but he had a sweet heart. He was looking out for Truck, there was no doubt in Jason's mind.

But it was still a reasonably challenging run, with enough speed to feel like they were doing something, yet not so much that anyone would feel uncomfortable with it. For Truck it was about as much speed as he ever managed to make, and Jason smiled at the whoops of pure joy he heard coming from behind them. They made it through the course without any problems and returned to the start, this time the four of them dropping onto the bench back at the head of the course, with everyone sighing happily.

"That was savage!" Truck said, sounding pleased with himself. "Man, that felt good!"

"It was a good run," Kat acknowledged. "Smooth." She smiled at Snark. "Thanks."

Jason simply leaned against Snark and didn't say anything. But he was secretly happy that Snark had looked out for Truck, rather than doing anything reckless that might have caused the bigger boy to bail and mess with his confidence. Keeping up was hard for Truck. Managing a complete run with a crew was an accomplishment the bigger boy seemed thrilled over.

Jason looked again at the smile written all over Truck's face, and for the first time that day, really felt some peace.

"That was lit," he whispered to himself, nodding.

They sat and talked a while longer, until the angle of the sun in the sky began to suggest late afternoon. Jason checked his cell, and saw it was nearing time to head home to start dinner. He stood and grabbed his board, and smiled when Snark pouted at him.

"You're heading out already?"

"Got to. My turn to start dinner."

Kat smiled at him, and then looked disdainfully at Snark. "Some guys care about their families."

"I care about mine," Snark complained. "I just don't know how to cook!"

Truck simply laughed, and waved at Jason. "Go on, Goof. We'll see you later."

Jason nodded and started off, smiling at the developing argument between Snark and Kat going on at his back. It sounded almost real, but underneath there was a playfulness that couldn't be missed. He laughed. Kat was getting good at this. Snark had a way of rubbing off on even the nicest people.

He looked around the park on his way out, and had to nod to himself in agreement. Snark did have it right. This was indeed a special place.