My hands are cold.
It's not very cold outside. In fact, it's a really nice day. Nicer than the past several that haven't even been that bad themselves.
It took some cheap boots, leggings, a sweater that runs to the halfway point of my thigh, and a beanie over my braided hair to keep me warm today. The air is crisp but the sun is out and above the buildings. Mornings in New York City are sometimes just unbearable because the sun gets blocked by towering structures.
I listen to each step, memorizing the pattern I've memorized a million times before. The time between each time that my foot touches the ground. I cross my arms over my book, my attention being grabbed by a young boy on the sidewalk, a broken skateboard next to him, and a man on the other side of him. The boy must be ten or eleven and obviously in pain. I can see it by the look on his face and the blood on his elbow. The man beside hime bust be in his thirties. Long hair and a T-shirt on but I can't see his face.
I walk over to the two people. I should say something. I should. I don't. They both glance up at me. A scrawny girl, standing there, observing and saying nothing.
"Here's a bandaid. Let me put some water on it though." The man says to the boy, looking away from me and back at the elbow. "I'm sorry about what happened. That was a pretty bad wipeout, though. Consider yourself lucky."
"I guess. But this is the second board I've broken this year. He glances at the skateboard as I step down to my knees, their attention turning back to me. I turn the board over and study it and the man buts the bandage on the boy.
"What are you doing? It's broken, I know. I have to get another." He looks away and shakes his head. "And it sucks." I keep my eye on him for a second, feeling the mans eyes on me.
"Come with me." I tell the boy.
He doesn't question it anymore. He just stands and follows me down the block. The man too. Suspicious of me, I suppose. The boy doesn't ask about his skateboard, but he walks beside me.
"What school do you go to?"
"A school."
"What grade are you in?"
"A grade."
"Okay, um, do you have any siblings."
"Yes." I don't look at him. I just walk straight forwards.
"Brothers?"
"Yes."
"Sisters."
"Please stop." I say, making eye contact with him.
"I was just asking if you had any-"
"I heard you. Talk as much as you would like but don't ask me another question. We have two blocks left." He'a silent for the second block. He starts talking again as we reach the third. He tells me about his trick that he was trying to do. How it went so wrong. What he did to his board. The man says nothing. I take a turn into the shop and walk to the back of it.
"Cool." Says the boy, admiring the decks around the room.
"Hey, scout." Jim says as I put the board on the table. He's working at the table next to me. He's twenty eight years old and I've known him for a while now.
"Is hour name scout?" I glance up at him from what I'm doing. I'd told him to stop asking questions. "What's that short for. Or is it just a name?"
"It's a nickname." I say, trying to get him to move on from my name.
"What's your real name." I take a sharp breath.
"Jean. This here is Jem. Why don't you talk to him." The man laughs lightly as the boy goes over to the other table.
"Hi, Jem. I'm Daniel." Ben shakes his hand.
"It's Ben. Please excuse my friends sister. Believe me, she is good with kid right up until they turn about seven. Then she just expects them to be excessively knowledgeable. Even when most kids don't read To kill a mockingbird until high school."
"At the latest." I chime in. "And I don't expect that. I made this man laugh who might be above seven but I think I have a right to assume is out of high school."
"Should I be offended?" He asks.
"Not at all. It simply means that you're not indescribably annoying and ignorant to the fact that you drive people insane."
"I try not to."
"You haven't failed."
"But have I passed?"
"You've barely spoken."
"So I can't annoy you."
"I believe that I demonstrated how annoying silence could become when I didn't give any explanation as to why I was there."
"And you did that because?"
"Because I recognize you."
"From my show?"
"Yes." I screw the wheel back on.
"Have you seen it?" I shake my head
"But I know some of the songs."
"And you acted all cool so I didn't even think that you knew who I was."
"Me and any adjective even similar to cool n the slightest possible way, besides the negative collection of words in the English language, do not go together." I lift up the board and hand it to Daniel. "Be careful."
"I will, thank you so much." He smiles and practically jumps out of the room.
"I think that was pretty cool."
