it’s hot, it’s humid, it’s dark
the cricket’s and katydid’s songs are syncing
and there’s vines growing on everything
hazy downpours cooling hot night heat
it’s the mid 1990’s, northern virginia
i’m a young man growing
it was overwhelming
eyes open absorbing everything
this hot summer night, the crew
as we would often do
we all decide to throw our skateboards in our trunks
get in our cars and ride
to meet at this smooth concrete on grade foundation slab
some kid had found and spread by word of mouth
if you knew the spot, you knew it was called white banks
and we skated there in the dark
on the lobby floor of a future office building
where the slab thickened for the elevator and stairway cores
there was a nicely rounded hip about 24 inches high
i wasn’t good for much on a skateboard compared to the rest of the crew
i can count on one hand the number of flip tricks in my life i’ve ever landed
but i remember having fun popping some big backside 180 ollies and pop shuvits
all of us busting tricks off that corner for hours
thunder claps, skate deck slaps
huge lightning bolts zipping to the ground
whipping and arcing between clouds
massive thunder clouds pulsating and flashing close to us
just on the other side of the dulles toll road from us
but not right over us
i remember watching closely
the kids i knew were landing tricks
the exact moment lightning bolts split open the air
dude, dude, you just landed that and the lightning it, it, it…
i couldn’t skate, i just stopped, i was silent watching, saying nothing
felt like everything was connecting in that moment
my eyes so open
a memory that comes back 25 years later
like it was yesterday
heat flow 