The Skateboard Ramp

The Skateboard Ramp

Josh was a late bloomer to skate boarding. He was almost forty when the obsession kicked in. It started out as a quick way to jet down the alley, up the block and across the street to get more beer from the shop. The skateboard was faster than walking and Josh liked his Budweiser’s at the end of the day, plus he also liked the girl behind the counter. Every chance he could get he was popping over the shop. It grew from there to something much bigger and explosive. We were neighbours for about seven or eight months. The place was kind of like a hotel- a row of ground floor studio apartments behind Rebecca’s coffee shop in Golden Hill, San Diego. They were owned by a Mexican guy named Charlie. He only showed his face to collect rents, usually around the end or the beginning of the month. 

Josh was a builder of houses so he had access to wood when he was doing a big job. I could see a big idea brewing in his head. 

‘What about a skateboard ramp right here? I can build it. There is plenty of room.'

I immediately advised him against it for a variety of reasons.  The other tenants certainly wouldn't want a skateboard ramp in front of their doors making a racket. It would also attract all the local kids, prime graffiti target. He wouldn’t want to tear it down as soon as he built it, which is surely what would happen… a waste of hard work. I realised that my attempts to discourage him were actually convincing him to build it. 

‘They’re going to love it,’ he said. 

I tried harder to dissuade him. 

‘What about Charlie? He’s not going to love it. It’ll be a lawsuit waiting to happen. He’ll probably have a heart attack if you build a skateboard ramp here.’ 

‘I’ll handle him. Don’t worry.’ 

‘Dude; there’s not enough room here to build a ramp.’ 

‘There’s plenty of room.’ 

Josh built the ramp himself in a couple of days, courtesy of some stolen wood off a job site. It was a monstrosity- not a half pike but a full pike, right outside the doors to the apartments directly behind the coffee shop. Lawsuit written all over it. The local skate rats were on it like flies on dog dookie- lounging about, zooming up and down. As the evening came they started spray-painting the ramp with tacky tags and loud colours.  Josh encouraged them. The girl from the shop came by after work with her skateboard. Josh was king those days- white trash and proud of it. The noise in the air was a horrible hollow sound interspersed with the grinding of wheels and sneakers squeaking and banal conversations concerning absolutely nothing of importance. I watched the on goings from my room, attempting to pen a story of some sorts, but I was mostly just taking notes. 

Josh nearly crippled himself learning to skateboard. He fell so many times I lost count, but he was determined to become a good skateboarder and he did eventually after some weeks of serious pain. Like skiing you have to learn how to fall, and not so often. 

At the end of a long day skating and falling he would lie back in his arm chair- legs up, ice packs on his knees, Budweiser in hand. The pain didn't matter, that was temporary. He was so proud of the skateboard ramp. He was a local hero to the local skate rats. I reminded him not to get too happy about the situation because Charlie was surely not going to be happy about it. Josh wasn't concerned about Charlie. I informed him that it was nearing the end of the month- one more day to go and Charlie would be showing his face. He shrugged, downed his can of Budweiser and cracked open another. 

‘Charlie’s gonna love it. You wait and see.’ 

The day of reckoning eventually came. It was the second day of the month and Charlie pulled up to collect rents. Josh wasn’t around. Charlie parked his old grey Chevy pickup in the driveway, walked under the basketball hoop and up the steps. It was then he saw the skateboard ramp for the first time. I washed the dishes in the kitchen sink of my studio which looked out on the courtyard and skateboard ramp. Charlie composed himself as if he what he was seeing wasn’t really there, that it was a dream. Some of the local skate rats were zooming up and down on the ramp. He turned and looked at me in the window washing the dishes. He looked concerned. He turned his hands upward to the sky as if to ask, ‘what the hell is going on here?’ I grabbed a hand towel and dried my hands and walked out to talk to him and pay my rent. 

‘Who built this thing?’ he asked immediately. 

‘You better speak to Josh.’

‘Where is he?’

‘I don’t know. He’s usually around at this time.’

‘This thing has to be torn down immediately.’ 

‘I’ll tell him you want it taken down.’

‘I can’t believe my eyes. Is he crazy?’

‘I think so. .. yes.’ 

‘Well, he better tear it down.’ 

It was at this point that Josh did a disappearing act every time Charlie showed up, which suddenly became a lot more frequently than the end or the beginning of the month. He began to come a couple of times a week to talk to Josh and he wasn't happy about it because he was coming all the way from somewhere in Mexico. Unfortunately for Charlie, Josh quickly developed a sixth sense for his arrival. He would either cut through the coffee shop and walk around the block and wait in the bar until Charlie got fed up and left or he would just go into his apartment and lock the door and pretend he wasn't there. I relayed to Josh Charlie’s displeasure and demand that the skateboard ramp be taken down. Charlie also wanted his rent. Josh dug his feet in and wouldn't budge. 

‘I’m not taking it down. And I’m not giving him his rent if he wants me to take it down.’ 

‘Josh, you can’t do that. His neck is on the line. He can get in deep shit if one of those kids gets hurt and sues him.’ 

‘Who is going to get hurt? Who is going to sue him? Nobody. He has nothing to worry about.’ 

‘You don’t know that- this is America…. People like to sue. It’s part of our culture. It’s a lottery mentality.’ 

‘You’re paranoid.’ 

Each time Charlie came back Josh escaped and Charlie became angrier each time. I ensured Charlie that Josh would tear it down, that I talked to him and he said he would. 

‘You said that before, but it is still here. You tell him that if he doesn’t tear it down tomorrow then I will send my men around to tear it down.’ 

‘I will, Charlie. I’ll tell him.’ 

After Charlie left to go back to Mexico and Josh came out of hiding I told him what Charlie said, that he was going to have his boys remove the ramp. 

‘I’d like to see him do it.’ 

‘Josh, it has to go. He’s the boss. He’s the landlord.’ 

‘It’s a free country.’ 

‘No, Josh. It’s not a free country. That is bullshit.’ 

‘We’ll see. We’ll see.’ 

‘How can you stop him? He’ll call the police. I’m surprised he hasn’t called the police already.’ 

‘We’ll see.’ We’ll see.’ 

The next day I came home from work to find a nicely stacked pile of wood where the skateboard ramp used to be. I knocked on Josh’s door. He opened the door, Budweiser in hand, big smile on his face. 

‘You’re taking it well.’ 

‘Best thing to happen. Bigger and better things.’ 

‘Oh, that’s good. I was afraid you were going to take it much harder.’ 

‘Bigger and better things, my friend. Need to think big, higher- where they can’t get you.’ 

‘Sounds good, Josh.’ 

I went to a party in La Jolla and ended up staying there for three or four days. Eventually I wanted to sleep in my own bed and read. I made it back to my place feeling a little worse for wear. I walked down the alley to my studio- through the driveway, under the basketball hoop and palm tree and up the steps. It was then I heard that familiar sound- the grind of the wheels of a skateboard on the wood of a ramp, but I couldn’t see the skateboard ramp.  Where was that familiar sound coming from? My head throbbed from dehydration and the sound of the skateboards didn't help. Then out of the sky a skateboard hurtled above me- end over end like a flying banana- only to come crashing to earth on the wood decking of the courtyard, not fifteen feet from where I stood. It could have killed me had I not stopped to hear where the sound was coming from. I looked up to the roof of Josh’s apartment. The skate rats were looking down from the skateboard ramp in the sky wondering where the skateboard had flown.  

Josh zoomed up the ramp to the lip of the pike, twisted his body and board and threw himself down into the ramp. There was a huge grin on his face as he saw me looking up. He was skateboarding in the sky.