CO
Left to right: This trick
might go over your head; it's
JR Neves blasting a hair high
frontside flip. DJ Chavez leans
into a 50-50 in the New Mexican
sun as his beefy friend stands at
the ready to pummel him if he
doesn't land it. The look on
Sam Hitz's face is all you need to
know how gnarly this half-Cab is.
twice as long as his, even though Mike was fol-
lowing no agenda.
Mike opened his eyes and said, "Let's go!" to
himself, ran a few steps, and jumped skillfully
onto his board. Within a few seconds he was at
full speed, bombing down the San Francisco
hills; within a few minutes, he was pushing
along the Embarcadero toward Pier 7. Mike
arrived at the pier at twelve-o-two and began
greeting his friends with high fives and hand-
shakes. Though Mike had skated the
Embarcadero a thousand times, he felt a spe-
cial thrill every time he arrived. He felt a
sense of belonging among the community of
skaters. The energy level was high. Being
next to the water was invigorating and
refreshing. He began skating around. Ten
minutes later Mike saw a police car turning
onto the pier. It was Ed.
Mike had been present during many of Ed's
appearances and took pride in being his main
tormentor. As Ed pulled up, Mike walked
toward the front of the police car and began
to tap a rhythm on the hood while singing a
little song about how much he was annoyed
by Ed. The song went on and on and on with
some profanity. By then, all the skaters were
singing along with Mike because they had all
heard the song before.
Though Ed was slow and top-heavy, he had
been on his high school sprinting team, and his
body remembered a few tricks. He jumped out
of his car, almost gracefully, and with a stroke
of luck, managed to snatch two boards, Mike's
and one belonging to a small boy visiting San
Francisco from the Vatican City. The boy
looked extremely puzzled and could only man-
age to utter a few incomprehensible Italian
words like, "Oh Mama Mia..."
Ed pulled away towards base where he was
going to turn in the newly impounded skate-
boards. While stopped at a red light, he turned
around in his seat and noticed that Mike's