Back to the story about Ricky, Stanley's stepbrother, the one
that likes to brag. In the last story, Ricky was teasing Stanley, so
Stanley got mad and hit Ricky in the head with his slingshot.
Ricky time-travelled back in time to the days of Marina
Skatepark. He met a girl named Tammy. He also saw the
skateboard great, Shogo Kubo. Well, now back to the
exact and precise place that we left off was when Ricky
pushed away from the spectators' fence, headed in the
direction of the beginner bowls.
At first Ricky just watched as the skaters would dip
in and out of the three-foot bowls. After watching for a
while, Ricky believed that he would be able to do it. He
took notice of how the skaters would extend their arms
and crouch their knees just before entering the small
bowls. Well, Ricky skated
towards one of the small
bowls, confident that he
would be able to do
what he saw the
others doing.
Well, when he
got to the
edge, he
crouched his
knees and
extended his
arms.
Everything
was fine,!
but when
the cen
ter of
the
bowl,
he
was
"
around. They carried
him into the pro shop and set him on
top of the air hockey table. One
employee went to get an ice pack
while another went around ask-
ing to see who knew the kid.
After a short while of lying on
top of the air hockey game,
Tammy came into the pro
shop and saw Ricky on the
table with a few guys crowd-
ed around him. She
approached the bunch. One
asked, "Hey, do you know
this kid?" Tammy replied,
"Well, I just met him
today. His name is Ricky.
It's his first time to a
skatepark." Tammy
leaned over Ricky and
began to remove the ice
pack and feel his bump.
Ricky came out of it when
he saw Tammy. He smiled
and reached up to kiss her.
but when he did, shazam!, he was
back on the grass in the back;
yard, and his brother Stanley -
was over him, saying stuff like,
"Ricky! Ricky! God, are you
all right?" Ricky popped
up and said, "Get off
me, man. Yeah, I'm
OK." His voice sound-
ed mad. But he wasn't,
he was just a little con-
fused. He just sat
there for a
second
and
struck
by a
skater who
was doing a
bowl transfer. Ricky
was on his back and
knocked out. He was only
concentrating on how to
drop in and what was in front
of him. A few of the locals
and some park employees
were at the bottom of the
bowl, checking him out to
see if he was OK. But
Ricky didn't come
Stanley's Brother
Still Likes To Brag
Story and artwork by Mark Gonzales
thought
about things. He
felt bad for Stanley.
Next, Ricky apolo
gized, but Stanley
MAKE
SHURE AND
said, "For what? Then
Ricky said, "For making fun
AIM FOR MY
HEAD
of you. See, when you hit me in
the head with that rock, I time-travelled to
Marina Skatepark, and I saw what it was like to be
a beginner, or, I mean, I saw what it was like to be a slow learner."
Stanley got mad and said, "I ain't no slow learner. I learn just as fast as
you." Then Ricky said, "No, listen, Stanley, I've been enlightened."
Ricky even began to like his stepmother. He began telling Stanley that
she played an important part in what happened. "If she would have
made us wear helmets when you hit me in the head, I probably
wouldn't have been knocked out, and if I wouldn't have been knocked
out, then I probably wouldn't have time-travelled, and if I wouldn't
have time-travelled, then I wouldn't have gotten to see what it was
like to ride the bowls and to see what it was like to be a beginner."
Stanley just looked at Ricky and was now interested in what he was
saying "Yeah, man, it was strange but fun. I saw all these guys riding
the bowls," and
Ricky kept going on
and on about it. Finally
Stanley seemed inter-
ested, and he spoke up
and said, "I want to try it,"
so Stanley stood up against
the brick wall in the backyard and
gave Ricky the slingshot to aim for his
head. Luckily, before Ricky shot, Stanley's mother
came out of the house screaming, "What's going on here?!" Stanley
said, "I'm going to the future, Mom." His mother protested madly,
"What on earth are you talking about?!" Then Ricky and Stanley start-
ed to tell their mother the story. She set them straight and explained
what must have really happened. She looked at Ricky's bump and
said, "It looks bad. Does it hurt?" "No," Ricky said. "Well, what must
have happened is just before you hit him in the head with the rock,
you were telling him about bowls and how skaters skated in the past,
and when he was hit in the head and knocked out, the last things in
his mind kind of came to reality, that's why he believed he had time-
travelled." Ricky's stepmother caressed his bump and said, "You two
are crazy. From now you both have to wear your helmets." I
76 THR
77