Even with my coat collar pulled extra high, I could just never ascend to the level of ice hockey cool. When I was on my feet, I was stiff and awkward, unable to move with the speed of a Tasmanian devil as I could in ice skates. So, I went roller skating, kept trying to stop as though I were on ice and fell down a lot as a result. To make a long story short here, I was a skating wizard on ice, but there was just no way I was going to be able to impress Kate Jackson on roller skates and the lass just wouldn't take my alternative plans, which included riding on the back of my dirt bike in the mud, sneaking into an R-rated movie or huntin' for frogs out behind the armory. To stop on roller skates, one (I assume) presses that little brake pad against the skating surface, bringing himself to a polite and graceful stop and no one at all is sprayed with flying debris. ![]() I mean, someone could lose an eye, so you know it's great fun. In ice skating, in order to come to an abrupt stop, one turns sharply and digs his blades into the ice, showering everyone within a 6-foot radius with shards of ice and snow. The mechanics of using them were entirely foreign to me. Roller skates, on the other hand, have eight plastic wheels on the bottom of the boot and a dainty, little brake pad thing on the toe. Ice skates have cold steel blades that are sharpened regularly, to the point where they could be used to gut a deer if the situation called for it. I was one of those kids who learned to skate on ice around the same time he learned to walk. I was from a hockey background, you must understand. ![]() It's just that I flat out hated roller skating and couldn't think of a worse setting in which to woo my young Kate Jackson clone. Mind you, I had nothing against roller skating per se. Frankly, I wish she'd just shot me down and sent me on my way. ![]() Well, that was a kick straight to the seat of my carpenter pants. "I'm going roller skating Friday," she said. I don't know if it was the feathered hair, the chamois shirt or the WBLM belt, but in the end, Julie was overcome in spite of the social obstacles. (I wasn't from the rough side of town, necessarily, but there were literally train tracks between Julie's neighborhood and mine so I'm sticking with that phrasing for the drama). It was "West Side Story" all up in here, with romance about to brew between your classic good girl and a mischievous lad from the other side of the tracks. Here was a straight-A student, captain of the glee club and winner of the district spelling bee being asked out by a known rake. The politics of junior high were in play here and there was much to be considered. Julie thought about it, shifting her books from one arm to the other.
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