Old Dog, New Tricks

[finch]

I was about to run down to the electronics store for parts, but my new skateboard wasn’t where I’d left it by the door. I’d only had the thing for a week or two, in the hope of getting back in the habit of riding before the summer got hot.

A quick look around the apartment and I found it on the kitchen table, where Jian was apparently studying it.

I watched him poke at the wheels for a minute before interrupting. “Are you done with that?”

He stood up straight, and I almost thought he was embarrassed that I’d seen him. “I’ve seen people flying around on those wheeled boards, Blaser. Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Uh, yeah. I’ve been doing this since I was a kid. Had to relearn it once or twice, but at one point I was good enough to enter competitions.”

“There’s a sport you’re good at?”

“Very funny.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t intend it as an insult. I was just surprised.”"

“Apology accepted. Can I have my skateboard now?”

“Only if you promise to get one for me.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Jian’s face remained serious, however.

“I mean it. I wish to learn, since you seem to consider it practical as well as something you’re skilled in.”

“Was skilled in,” I corrected automatically. “But if you want me to get you a board, yeah, that can be arranged.”

That was how I found myself at the skate park north of our apartment the next weekend. The place made me feel out of place – I’d come here when I was living in San Francisco the first time, and very little seemed to have changed since I was twelve or thirteen. There were plenty of kids half my age, though there were also some who were older. Very few looked like they might be near my age.

I set my board down and watched as Jian set his beside it.

“Do you want to watch?”

He nodded, his eyes glancing over the skate park crowd. I took off, trying to put all my hangups out of my mind – my age, my leg, and the fact that Jian was watching. That last was the hardest.

After a few minutes of ups and downs, though, that started to fade. I really had forgotten how much I enjoyed this. Skating in the park was very different from getting around on the skateboard – I spent less time anxiously watching for traffic and more appreciating the movement of the board. I started out slow, but before too long I was doing kick flips and loosening up.

It had been a long time since I tried most of these moves, and I didn’t accomplish everything I went for, but it came back faster than I’d expected.

When I made my way back over to Jian, I noticed a look on his face that bordered on admiration.

“I’m impressed,” he said with a smile.

“I’m glad you liked it. I wasn’t perfect, though.”

“Perfection isn’t necessary. It was good to watch.”

“Ready to try it yourself?”

We spent most of the afternoon at the park as I taught him to skate. The balance came naturally to him, though he had to get used to the way the board moved. I explained the physics of some of the easier tricks, and between my explanations and watching the other skaters, he picked them up pretty quickly.

By the end of the afternoon, you’d have been hard pressed to convince an observer that he’d just learned. He wasn’t brilliant yet, but I thought he might be if he wanted to be.

“So is this like a second childhood for you?” I asked him when we got home. He, of course, was fine, had even enjoyed himself.

“A second childhood?”

I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy myself too, but I was stiff in muscles I hadn’t used in too long. I rubbed the back of my neck, trying to get my shoulders to unclench.

“When an adult goes back and tries to do the fun things he missed the first time around, or recapture something from when they were small, it’s called a second childhood.”

“Ah.” Jian came up behind me and slipped his hands in under my awkward pushes. His hands were small but strong and his fingers felt really good as he rubbed my neck and shoulders. So good I almost missed what he said next.

“By modern standards, I’m not sure I had a first childhood.”

“What?”

“I all but grew up in the temple. There was not a lot of… we played, but it was very different from what you’ve described as your childhood. I approach this with a sense of abandon I never had as a child.”

“Well, I can help with that,” I told him. “People keep insisting I never grew up.”

“You grew up quite nicely,” he said, his hands drifting lower on my back. “I should know, I all but watched you.”

“It’s going to be interesting, watching you grow up,” I told him, relaxing into his hands. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“I’m looking forward to watching myself grow up as well.”

Mirrored from Jack-a-dreams.