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We were sitting out on the steps and the cracks and the rolls and the
silence before landing
[private]I was sitting out on the small brick wall enjoying new spring sunshine
trrrrrrrrrrr tchi trrrrrrrrrrrr tchi trrrrrrrrrrrrrrr tchi trrrrrrrrrrrrrr tchi
I dug out the old SKOOL hip hop from the days of youth
Kctrarararararara Krankachan cha
Beats beating through new Sony phones I got for my birthday
Surfed the subway to Sakae
to hang at the skate park
>>From: Yoko
>>Nothing yet. Going to pharmacy after work.
>>Will buy test.
>>xx
It’s the kind of skate park you’d draw if you were drawing the classic skate park for a comic or movie storyboard. The highway high above like some hideous concrete milky way. Between sick green structural supports are halfpipes, ramps, metal rails, wooden benches. There’s a basketball court. There are hip hop dancers. There’s a little graffiti, though not the levels you’d get in somewhere like America. Japanese kids just too polite, I guess.
There’s this Mexican kid with a backpacker’s beard and a green t-shirt. He’s tied his beat sneakers together and is trying to swing them over a tree branch. I always wondered why shoes ended up over cables and lampposts.
Krrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr sh-tank
Father & Son in matching denim shirts and khaki combats grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrl across the metal halfpipe balanced on the back wheels.
I wanna get high, so high
These are good phones. Sit soft on the outer ear. A good present.
George Clooney in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind:
Jim Byrd: You’re 32 years old, and you’ve achieved nothing.
Jesus Christ was dead and alive again by 33. You’d
better get crackin’.
What have I achieved?
>>From: Yoko
Pssst khunk sip of beer
Scott skates over.
I watch him try the same trick again and again. Run, jump on, hit the ramp, the board spins off to the left and he lands, sometimes upright, usually not.
FUCKSAKE
and try again. You can tell his head is somewhere else. Frustration. Even if he lands it he won’t be happy. Three-in-a-row.
Never could do a trick. The physics
How does an ollie work?
I mean the physics. There’s no
suspension or anything so how do you
make it go up?
Like flicking a spoon. Stand on the back
and the front comes up. Then a millisecond
later if you push the front down the back
comes up as well. You’re airborne.
And you’re airborne.
I sit on the wall, watching. I never even knew this was here. I’ve walked hundreds of times from the upmarket shops of Sakae to the markets of Osu and back. Sometimes with Yoko. Usually without. She prefers the malls, La Chic, Parco, Zara, the foreign fashion houses. I like the narrow record shops and the scummy bookstores. Smashhead coffee shop, half café, half motorcycle repair shop. Red brick walls,
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
in white block letters. One day I’ll get my licence and tour Hokkaido.
>>From: Yoko
One day.
Scott comes back over. I can’t even stand on his board properly. I’m a newborn gazelle, unsteady, terrified of the ground. I can feel all the weight on my body. Graceful movements aren’t an option for me any more.
Stand on the back and the front comes up.
Then a millisecond later
if you push the front down the back
comes up as well. You’re airborne.
Stick to what you’re good at.
>>From: Yoko
I’m sitting on the brick wall with a can of beer.
chakakakakakakakakaka thca shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
tsurannnnnnn tsurannnnnnnn tsurannnnnnnnnn tsurannnnnnnn
brbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbr tcha
I sit on the wall. Watching.[/private]
Iain Moloney has a masters in Creative Writing from Glasgow University and is a widely published writer of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. His novel Dog Mountain, a magical realist thriller set in Japan, is in search of representation and a good home.
