Ol' Jake looked out
across his backyard to a
large, wooden, U-shaped
structure that to him was
nothing more than a pain-
ful reminder of his youth.
Oh, what the hell, the
grandkids loved it, and they
were the family's third
generation of skaters.
Besides, if Jake couldn't
skate anymore, at least he
could watch the young
'uns tearin' it up. "Tearin' it
up"...now that was an ex-
pression Jake hadn't heard
since the Dark Ages, or so
it seemed. Nowadays the
kids said things like "heavy
self-expression, mon," and
the things they could do on
a skate...When Jake was
young he could hardly
dream of such things.
Jake grew up and skated
in the 80s and 90s. This was
a time some called the
Skateboard Revolution.
They were thriving times
for skaters as they fought
what seemed like endless
battles with close-minded
society to keep their way
of life rolling. After years of
public contempt up to and
through the 80s, it was
declared unconstitutional
to prohibit skating any-
where on the grounds that
it impeded a skater's
freedom of expression.
When this happened in the
early 90s it cleared the way
for skating to evolve
completely unhindered by
rules, regulations and
anything else that would
stifle creativity.
Yup, Jake had paid his
dues and had a damn
good life skating. But now,
at age 80, all that remained
were memories. Some-
times, when Jake watched
the grandkids skate, the
urge to join them would be
so strong that his son prac-
tically had to tie him down.
"You'll kill yourself," his
family always said. Jake
wasn't sure if he was ready
to
die, even if it did mean
his being able to skate one
more time. Still, Jake often
sat in his sticker-covered
rocking chair and thought
how nice it would be to do
something as simple as an
invert again. For Jake it was
a daily struggle between
will and common sense.
Recently, common sense
was having a harder and
harder time winning. One
night, it lost.
Jake's eyes snapped
open out of a deep sleep.
All he felt was his own
By
Vaj
Potenza
intensity and the need to
express it. He slipped
quietly out of bed so as not
to wake any of his family.
"Later guys," he whis-
pered, and crept out
through the kitchen onto
the back porch. He ran
right past his rocking chair
and then cringed as the
screen door he had flung
open smashed closed
behind him.
THE
LAST
INVERT
"Please don't wake up.
Please, please, please."
Jake listened...nothing.
He knew what he had to
do. He found some old
pads lying around and put
them on. The smell of old
sweat from past sessions
brought back a psychotic
feeling that had long been
hidden away in Jake's sub-
conscious. He picked up
one of the skates lying near
the ramp. It wasn't his, but
it would have to do. He
climbed the ladder to the
roll-out deck feeling
strength begin to course
through his veins. As he got
up on the deck he looked
at the label on the ramp,
INSTARAMP
"Had to build 'em back
in my day," he mumbled
under his breath. He put
his skate over the coping
and put one foot on the
tail. With barely a mo-
ment's hesitation he put his
other foot on the front of
the board, leaned forward
and crouched down. It was
happening, Jake was drop
ping in. The ramp's surface
rumbled under his wheels
as Jake pumped down the
transition. Jake flew across
the flat bottom, feeling his
youth surge through him.
As he approached the lip
he got his hand ready to
bite the coping. And then
he was there. Upside
down, one hand extended
from body to coping as the
other grabbed his board.
Jake felt his feet planted
firmly on the skate. The ten-
dons in his neck stretched
as he bent his head to look
at his hand on the coping.
He stalled for what seemed
like forever. Forever finally
ended when Jake felt his
arm crumble under him.
Jake saw the ramp's bot-
tom plunging toward him
but was unable to wipe
the smile off his face.
Everything went black.
Then Jake saw a light. He
was pushed toward it and
then yanked into a cold,
white, sterile room with a
bunch of large people
gathered around him trying
to hold him. As Jake was
handed to a woman lying
exhausted in a bed, he
looked down at himself.
What he saw was not a
wrinkled, worn-out, old
body but the brand new
bod of a brand new baby.
Jake still remembered his
old life but eventually
those memories would
fade to make way for new
ones. It might be a couple
of years, but Jake would
skate again.
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