AROUND
GOES
OR THE FIRST TIME
since he started skateboarding
The doctors said he was lucky to be walking and were
surprised to hear that he was actually trying to skate again,
just five months after The Accident. "An incredible recovery," they
called it. Chuck didn't see anything incredible about it; it was like
learning to skate all over again. His ankle-the one that had to be
reconstructed with steel pins-sometimes gave out when he used it to
push. Just doing a tiny ollie made his back burn in pain, and 360° flips were
out of the question. He wasn't sure was worth the effort, considering he
might never skate at the same level he'd been.
WHAT
2018
COMES
Chuck's business, called "Chuck's Skateboard Shop," was also in a slump. It
started a few months back, when a couple of the local kids, Frenchie and the
Pope, brought in some skate videos they'd made. The first video had some
older footage of all the locals skating. Chuck watched himself doing
frontside boardslides down the post office handrail, Smith grinds in
the Dream Away Motel pool, and a frontside flip over the local
skatepark pyramid. Chuck was excited at first, but then the real-
ization sank in again-he might never be able to do a
Smith grind or frontside boardslide again. Ever.
"All right, here it is," the Pope said
as he put in a new video, "the
OND
Photohound Frankie
almost died shooting
Mike Manidis' back-
side 50-50 deep in
the North Philly cut.
Bang! Bang!