I found myself reminiscing as I often times do in order to distract myself from the lame shit going on around me. When I was attending middle school my fellow miscreants and I we're occasionally blessed with a half day of schooling. This meant that dragging ourselves out of bed in the morning was a little less of a war because we only had to attend a few hours worth of classes before being unleashed into the streets of the rather docile town which we all inhabited.
Once we had all embraced the wonderful art of skateboarding we found ourselves ascending upon a lone alleyway in the heart of downtown Maynard. It was sandwiched in between a now defunct CVS Pharmacy and The Maynard Outdoor Store, which has been in the town since the 50's. At one end of the alley was a municipal parking lot where all sorts of consumers could find convenient parking spaces for all of their destinations in the downtown area. The other end spilled out directly onto Nason St. Nason intersects with Main, so it was far from a desolate alleyway where skateboarders and other bored teenagers could hide themselves away from the unloving and disconnected members of society and puff their cigarettes they hocked from one of their older siblings.
The Alley consisted of little more than a length of curbs on both sides that were quicly slathered with brick after brick after candle after stick of wax. This enabled us to put minimal effort forth when trying to grind and slide our newest tricks that came to us after hours of toiling away. Of course, we didn't only gather in The Alley on half-days, but they were no doubt the best days to be there. A half day would pump us so full of energy and excitement that we possesed a spark that only entered us on the most glorious of occasions i.e. Christmas Morning, going to an amusement park, or finding a new pube. We would storm out of the front doors of the school in an attempt to be the first group of kids in line at McDonald's or the sub shop. You sucked ass if you just went home on a half day. You were a fucking weiner. We picked the route with the best hills to skate past everyone else at mach fuckin' 10, our wheels making a racket that demanded heads to turn. We felt so fucking cool. It was cool. Maybe not us, but the act was definitely righteous.
Once we got our grub on, we'd make the quick skate over to The Alley. For the next few hours we would rarely stray from the general area. We would skate and sit and laugh our silly little asses off. We'd talk about how much a certain teacher sucked, or who farted during math class. Show up with a new deck? You were the man of the hour. Wax the curbs, dodge some ladies with armloads of useless shit they just used their husbands credit cards to buy, talk some shit. It was fucking ultimate. We had CVS right there in case we needed to chug some soda, or get some candy to keep our magical energy sources up. I did recall the day in which I went a wee bit over board with a jumbo bag of twizzlers and a two liter of Sprite, and proceeded to spew the contents of my stomach all over the ground. Temporarily putting an end to the skating.
Of course we didn't get to enjoy The Alley without different forms of resistance trying to quell our fun. The local authorities in town would often chase us out with threats of having our boards confiscated, or our names taken down and reported in case of further disturbances in the downtown area. Taking off upon first sight of a cruiser was all a part of the experience. Everyone would disperse in different directions, cramping up as they darted between cars and laughing histerically. If you got your name taken down, it was bullshit anyways. But if you happened to catch an officer on a bad day they might actually take your board, and it sucked especially bad if your parents weren't cool and let them keep it for a while in order to teach you a lesson. The lesson being that you had to bow down and let anyone that wears a badge put their dirty foot up your ass. Fuck 'em.
Eventually a lot of the kids started to occupy their time doing other things beside skating and hanging out in a boring alley. They found some things they thought would better serve their efforts to become cooler, or avoid boredom. Maybe it worked for a while, but in the end, I know they think back to these days and realize that that was the fucking pinnacle in their lives. Carefree, fun-filled, laugh-fests. Skateboarding was a small part of it, but the sheer fact that we made so much out of an otherwise useless part of town is still humbling to me. It helps me think a bit more clear when I am stressing out about a party not happening, or being pissed off that I am stuck inside on a rainy day with a few of my friends. Thinking about that will always help me smile.
No comments:
Post a Comment