It was early August. On that steamy Saturday night, which was slowly changing over to a Sunday morning, the temperature was still in the 90’s. Under the heat dome, there was no relief.

Kevin was smoking and pacing in front of the pizza place. He checked his watch and saw that it was ten till midnight. Kevin looked out at the street, but there was no sign of Wayne, who’d promised that this last run of the night would be really quick.

There was nothing Kevin could do, so he sat on the curb to finish his cigarette. He felt his anxiety building. He was anxious about when he would get done with work. Anxious about how much time he’d have at the bar before last call. Still more anxious wondering if his roommate got cut early from Razzoo’s, and if he returned to their apartment and drank Kevin’s beers before going out, even though Kevin had told Todd to knock that shit off. Then Kevin started contemplating if he should just hit up the Stop N’ Go on the way to the bar to pick up beer, because that seemed to be the reasonable thing to do for a guy who counted beers before he went out drinking.

As Kevin sat there, he noticed how quiet it was. There weren’t any sounds of jets approaching DFW, nor could he hear the droning of cars and semitrucks on I-30. And there wasn’t a sound coming from the neighborhood that surrounded the little strip mall, which the delivery pizza place occupied. In fact, all of those ranch styled homes in that subdivision had turned their backs on the strip mall – only showing their wooden gray weathered backyard fences. It had the effect of making the intersection, and the corner the strip mall lived on, feel like an island in a sea of suburban track housing.

But a sound did emerge from that void of silence. It lightly hit Kevin’s ear, and he knew what it was – a skateboard. Yet, the sound was bouncing off the fences, which made it difficult for him to identify it’s source direction. The sound grew louder and Kevin could make out that it was more than one skateboard; three in fact. He looked to his right, and out of the dim lit street, three boys came skating towards the strip mall. Kevin didn’t move – he just watched them approach.

It was three boys, dressed in baggy jeans and hoodies. Kevin started sweating more at the thought of how hot those kids must be. They were talking, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. They rolled right up on the small parking lot, and stopped quick before they went too far in. Thanks to the lone centered parking light, which shown down it’s orange halogen glow on them, Kevin could see that the boys looked like junior high kids.

Kevin stayed still, like that would stop the boys from seeing him. He looked over at his gray old shitty hatchback, which was opposite from the boys, then back at them. To his surprise, one of the boys was staring at him, but then looked away. Kevin gazed at the light pole to read the sun-bleached fading sign, “NO Over Night Parking, NO Ball Playing, NO Skateboarding.” Again, Kevin looked back the boys.

The kids had started skating in a tight circle around each other. And they started talking louder, though Kevin still couldn’t make out what they were saying exactly. What he did understand was that every third or fourth word was “fuck.” Kevin watched them, and they were terrible skaters. All three repeatedly tried to do ollies and other simple tricks, but nothing would land which caused them to stumble off their boards, followed by more “fucks” and “fuck you.” They were so awful that for a slight second, Kevin thought about going over there and showing them how to do it. But he didn’t want to get involved.

Kevin looked at his watch, seeing that it was now five till. He hissed, “The fuck, Wayne.” Then he flicked his cigarette toward the street. His leg started to nervously shake, and he began rubbing his sweaty palms.

But then a sound came that Kevin knew was nothing but bad. It was the sound of a skateboard’s wheels scraping on the pavement, then ending abruptly, followed by the reverberations of the wooden board rattling around as it hit the ground. Kevin hoped the next sound wouldn’t arrive, but it did, and it was the sickening dull thud of a body hitting the pavement hard. He looked over at the boys and saw that one was on the ground, while the other two were frozen.

Inevitably, the “Holy shit!” and “Oh my god!” came out of the other two boys as they rushed toward their friend.

Instinctively, Kevin jumped up too, and made his way over to the boys. It was a brisk walk with an annoyed look on Kevin’s face. One boy looked over to see him coming, while the other boy stood up, took a step back while placing his board in front of his body and yelled at Kevin, “We didn’t do nothing!”

“Sure you didn’t, junior.” Kevin shot back, but he kept his eyes on the kid on the ground. That boy wasn’t moving. As Kevin kneeled down he saw that the crumped boy was in fact alive, as the kid’s eyes kept darting between Kevin, and his friend.

“You alive down there, champ?” Kevin asked.

The boy on the ground sheepishly nodded.

“Think you can sit up?”

He nodded again.

Kevin and the other boy helped the kid sit up, and Kevin could see clearly that the injured boy was doing his best to fight back tears, and not cry.

“That better?” Kevin asked.

The boy nodded, and wiped his nose.

Kevin asked, “What’s your name?” but not getting a quick answer, asked the friend, “What’s his name?”

“Brady,” the friend said.

The third boy yelled, “Don’t tell him!”

The friend stood up, and yelled back, “Fuck off!”

“Would you two shut the fuck up!” Kevin jumped in. Then he looked at Brady, “Is it Brady?”

Brady weakly said, “Yes.”

Kevin looked at his watch; nearly midnight. Then back to Brady, “You hit your head?”

“yeah…”

“Anything else hurt?”

Brady shook his head no.

“Sit tight.” Kevin stood up and started making his way back to the pizza place.

The other two boys moved closer to their friend with one of them yelling at Kevin, “Where are you going?”

Kevin didn’t look back, “I’m getting ice, dipshit.”

He pulled open the door to the pizza place, and though the oven had been off for a half hour, and the a/c had been running all day, the store was only now becoming the slightest bit cooler than outside. Kevin grabbed a clean kitchen towel, and went over to the ice machine. He filled the towel with ice and tied it off. The cold was biting his hand, which wasn’t an altogether awful feeling.

When Kevin exited the place, he saw that now all three boys were standing and talking in a tight triangle. The sound of the door opening, made all three of their heads shoot around at Kevin’s direction, then quickly back to each other. As Kevin approached them, they stopped talking.

“Here,” Kevin handed the ice pack to Brady.

Brady took it in his hand. “Thanks,” he said.

“Well,” Kevin gave him an incredulous look, “put it on your head, genius.”

Meekly, Brady put it on his head.

“Great,” Kevin hatched a sarcastic smile, “you’re all better.”

“What?” Brady asked.

“Look, fellas, you’re all good here, right?” Kevin took a moment to look at all three of them individually. “So why don’t you guys get going.”

The three boys looked at each other.

“You can keep the ice, but seriously, you should go.”

Then one of the other boy’s spoke up, “So are you gun’na call the cops or something?”

“What? No, I don’t care.”

The three of them had moved closer together, forming a glut of boys, almost over lapping each other. “Cuz we weren’t doing anything,” said one of them that wasn’t Brady.

“It’s not a crime to be out at night,” said the other non-Brady.

“It’s late. You guys really shouldn’t be out.” But even Kevin didn’t believe that.

“Ask him, Brady.” One of the boys pushed.

“I will.” Brady said, then looked at Kevin, “Can I ask you something?”

Kevin shook his head. “Ask me? No.”

Brady – “It’s like a favor.”

Kevin, hesitated – “What?”

“Could you buy us beer?”

“Jesus Christ.” Kevin looked at his watch.

“You can buy us whatever.” “We’ve got twenty bucks.” “You can keep the change.” The three boys moved toward Kevin.

And for a twinge, just a second, Kevin felt the slightest tug of menace. He took a step back, extending his hands out to create some space. “For fuck sake, I’m not buying you beer.”

“No, it’s cool, man.” Brady said.

“The fuck it is. Seriously, get the fuck out of here.”

“C’mon, don’t be a little bitch,” said one of the boys.

“I’m not buying beer for some twelve-year old’s.”

“We’re fifteen.”

“So what?”

All the while, the sound of a rumbling Bronco engine coupled with the blaring of “Superunknown” stared bouncing off the fences in the neighborhood. Kevin looked down at his watch to see that it was a minute or two after midnight, and Wayne was finally returning.

That ’83 Bronco, which looked beat up out of love, took the corner too fast, and came screeching onto the parking lot and stopping a foot away from Kevin’s hatchback. Wayne’s right arm hung out the window with a cigarette between his fingers, and his long hair was held by a backwards Ranger’s ballcap.

Kevin, annoyed at Wayne’s parking; “Would you knock that shit off, you’re gun’na hit my car on of these nights.”

Wayne smiled devilishly, “Dude, no one gives a shit about you’re mom’s old hatchback.” Then Wayne’s face took on a comical curious look as he killed the engine. “Yo, what’s with the babies?” he asked Kevin.

“Fuck you,” one of the boys said.

“Watch it,” Kevin said to the boys.

“Oh,” Wayne’s face lit up. He hopped out of the Bronco, flicked his cigarette at the boys, “Someone thinks they’re a tough little shit, huh?”

“They’re going home.” Kevin looked at the boys, “Right?”

“The beer?” Brady asked.

“No, get outta here.” – Kevin.

“Dude, did you buy them beer?” Wayne asked Kevin.

“Fuck no.” Kevin let out.

“He’s being a pussy,” one of the boys said.

“Hey, I said watch it.” Kevin shot back.

“Yeah, he’s a pussy.” Wayne took a step closer to the boys. “But I, lucky for you, am not a pussy, and will gladly take your money to buy…”

“You’re not buying them beer.” Kevin stepped in front of Wayne.

“Pussy! Pussy! Pussy!” the boys chanted at Kevin.

Wayne smiled at Kevin. “Word’s on the street that you’re a pussy.”

Kevin to Wayne – “Would you go inside, and I’ll count you out.”

Wayne kept smiling at Kevin, “You got it, boss,” and went toward the place.

Kevin turned to the boys. “Get the fuck out of here, got it.”

Brady tried – “I thought you were cool.”

“Fuck you, you did not.” Kevin turned to go to the pizza place. He knew he shouldn’t but he couldn’t help it, “Just, go home and watch scrambled cable porn, you little shits.” And he kept on walking into the place. He gave the boys one last look, then locked the door behind him.

The three boys watched as Kevin disappeared into the back of the pizza. When Kevin was out of sight, Brady turned to the other two, “You wanna bust out his windshield?

Both boys nodded, with one adding, “Yeah, fuck that guy.”

– Matthew Groff

Author’s Note: The inspiration for this story came from my experiences delivering pizzas while I was in college. Though not the best job, it did afford me quick cash, and the opportunity to met a wide variety of people. Also, I find it interesting that some people who are addicted will have a moral line they won’t cross, such as enabling the start of another’s addiction. That and no good deed goes unpunished.