Saturday, July 28, 2007

Summer Means Polysporin

I've written my last couple of scenes at a local skateboard park. No, I haven't taken up writing while attempting to perfect my ollie. I have a 9 year old who decided this would be the summer he'd learn to skateboard. So every couple of days we pack up to go to the skateboard park. He packs his board and a helmet. I pack water bottles, my Alphasmart, Band-Aids and polysporin.

While I sit at the picnic table on the sidelines my fingers tapping at my keyboard, I steal sidelong glances his way. Is he going to make that nollie lipslide? Will he lose his balance and smash to the pavement? When skin meets concrete it's never pretty.

Oh! He's down.
And I'm up.

My hand instantly reaches for the ziploc bag of first aid supplies at my elbow. He shoots me an "I'm okay" look. Or maybe it's an "If you come over and embarrass me I'm not letting you watch me anymore" look. Regardless, there's no blood so I sit back down. He wants to master it on his own.

I return my fingers to my keyboard, where there is blood. At least there will be once I'm done this next scene. Or maybe not. When skin meets the keys the result isn't always pretty. I'm trying to master this writing thing on my own too.

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