today kiki asked me whether i knew how to skateboard and this was the reply that played out in my head:
when my brother was two he received a skateboard. who gives a two year old a skateboard i'll never know.
being nine it was logic that i would use the board until he was old enough, or until the board was lost, or until the board was thrown over the fence by accident and consequently never retrieved. we lose forever the items that land in the yard of certain mysterious neighbours. sometimes they are thrown back but most of the times even we grow to forget them.
i would skate in the driveway with a surface that physically resembled cobblestones. one day i was pushing with my front foot and the board ran away below me. the thud when i landed on my back was so loud i thought surely all my bones were in pieces. silence sank moments later and my mum opened the door to see what mischief i was up to. unable to move i replied her with my head to the sky.
mum: why are you lying in the driveway you'll get your clothes dirty!
me: i fell.
mum: why aren't you studying?
me: i can't feel my back, i think i'm paralysed.
mum: have you practiced piano?
me: i don't think i'll ever be able to get back up.
mum: are you listening to me? stop wasting time and go do your homework.
*single tear drop proceed to roll down from my unloved right cheek*
