Always and Forever

On my afternoon walk, I came upon that little alley on 7th Street between Walnut and Sansom Streets. You can find it on Google Maps here, but the street view is a lie. Since the time that photo was taken, junkies have started living out of there, and now it's filled with trash, discarded syringes, and disease.

As I was about to pass it by, a group of teenagers clad in filth and black hoodies tumbled out of the alleyway, a veritable ruckus. They fanned out in my path. The largest of the group walked directly up to me, lackeys in tow. He spread five fingers out in the universal gesture for the number five, shoved the hand in my face, and shouted, "He fucked me gab yak, five times!" As if I'm supposed to know what that means (or would even admit if I did).

In that instant, years of tension melted away. I don't think I've felt so relaxed and at home in decades. I chuckled. He beamed. The lackeys all laughed. We went our separate ways. We are samesies.

Not a single one of these hooligans was even born when I last dropped in on some dodgy halfpipe or did a 50-50 directly on a subway rail, but these grimy city skaterats and I will always be kin, whether they know it or not. And I think they have their suspicions, too.