Dropping In by Geoff Havel Read Free Book Online Page B

it. Today’s the day.’
    I’m pulling my knee and elbow pads from my bag when I hear a hiss.
    â€˜Sticks!’
    It’s Ranga. He’s using his eyes to signal towards the others. ‘Don’t put those on. Not with those guys here.’
    I glance across. They’re looking towards us. Ranga’s right. If I put this stuff on I’ll make myself a target, but Iknow that if I don’t I’ll lose skin.
    â€˜Just play safe, at least until they’re gone,’ Ranga whispers. ‘Don’t do anything hard.’
    It’s easy for him to say. For me, everything is hard. Even on a slow hill I’ll find a way to get speed wobbles and fall off. When I do, I land
hard.
Not like Ranga. The big guys are still watching. What’s worse, getting picked on by those guys or skinning my elbows or knees? I can’t win. I wish I’d never come!
    I’m trying to decide when I hear wheels crunching loose stones on the cement next to me. It’s James.
    â€˜Do you reckon my chair would handle that section over there?’
    There is absolutely no way his chair could handle even the first section of the ramp and, even if he somehow made it to the bottom, he’d stack it so badly that we’d have to call an ambulance. I look at him and I can’t believe it. His eyes are shining and he’s ready to give it a go.
    â€˜You’re nuts,’ I say. ‘If you try you’ll find out the true meaning of pain.’
    â€˜I already know what pain is,’ James says.
    I glance at his legs. They’re even more twisted up than they were at the start of the term. I guess he pretty much lives with pain, but why add to it?
    â€˜You’ll lose metres of skin for sure,’ I tell him and for once he seems to listen.
    He nods. ‘Yes, I guess so. I don’t want to get injured before the operation.’
    â€˜Operation? What operation?’
    â€˜I’m having a pump implanted next week, to relax the muscles in my legs.’
    â€˜You never said anything about this,’ I say. I’m almost accusing him, like he has to tell me everything he’s doing.
    James just shrugs and goes back to watching Ranga getting pretty close to flying. It’s probably five minutes before he says, ‘I’ve had operations before. They had to lengthen the tendons in my legs so I could straighten them a bit.’
    â€˜How? Did they cut them?’ It’s such a horrible idea.
    James nods. ‘But the last few years they’ve given me botox injections.’
    He sees me smirking. ‘Yes,’ he says. ‘I look young.’
    â€˜So why don’t they keep doing that?’
    â€˜It only works for a while and the amount I need isn’t good for me. The pump is supposed to be much better.’
    â€˜Are you afraid?’
    James shrugs. ‘I’ve got no choice.’
    We sit a while and then he says, ‘You know what myfriend and I told the nurses at hospital once, when we were getting botox?’
    â€˜What?’ I ask. It could be anything.
    â€˜We told them we wanted our legs cut off. They just cause pain and get in the way.’
    I stare at him. I can’t believe what he said. He’s got this strange look on his face and then it disappears. He laughs. ‘Just joking, we were stirring up the nurses.’
    I’ve got a horrible feeling he meant it and I can’t handle the thought I’m having about what it would be like to be James so I just watch the Ranga show for a while.
    After maybe five more minutes I decide to have a go at skateboarding myself, without the knee and elbow pads. I walk over to the edge of the ramp and put my foot on the back of my board with the front wheels hanging in the air just over the edge. I’m going to just step on the front and let gravity pull me down into the bowl. When I hit the bottom I should have lots of speed so I’ll just turn off the top on the other side and