The Art of the Hustle (Complete)

Chapter Four

Now that I had a job secured, I could relax a bit, but I still couldn't afford to do anything. Even though the legal age in Alberta is eighteen, we were still too young to get into any of the bars or clubs, so at night, Will and I would go skateboarding. 

"You know what's weird to think about, man?" Will said to me as we were walking back home after a long night of skating. 

"What's that?" I replied. 

"At this very moment, we're forming memories. One day, maybe twenty years from now, we will remember this moment. It will be just a memory from our past, but it is our life now." 

"Unless, of course, we forget," I retorted.  

We crossed the street and a group of loud and obnoxious partygoers captured our attention. There were four of them, they had obviously been drinking, and were acting a little rowdy. Something told me this would be an evening we would not soon forget. "Hey, bro, let me try your skateboard!" one of them said as he stumbled toward me. 

My street smarts told me to ignore him in hopes of diffusing the situation before it escalated. So that's what I did. I placed my skateboard on the street and started skating away from them. Will did the same.  

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" he shouted aggressively at me. 

My heart began to pound as I realized I might have made an error in judgment. 

My fight or flight mechanism kicked in and I chose wisely to flee. I began pushing my skateboard faster and faster down the dimly lit street. This incited the primal instinct in the predator as he began to hunt me down. The chase was on. I wish I could have zigzagged like a gazelle, but my best course of action was to continue in a straight line and hope he tired before I did. 

The drunk lunatic was still in pursuit, grunting and screaming behind me. Will was following me at a modest speed while the other three drunken guys were walking casually, watching the entertainment unfold. So far, they were not posing any threat. I looked back to see how far away the crazy man was. That was when my wheel hit a small rock and I lost my balance. I was thrown from my board and my legs immediately hit the ground running to maintain my speed so I didn't face plant on the pavement.  

I was about fifteen feet away from my board by the time I was able to reduce my speed. I cautiously observed from a distance and waited to see what the drunkard would do next. He eventually caught up to where my skateboard was, and was breathing heavily. It became clear he was no longer interested in riding it, and fortunately, he was no longer interested in me either. He picked up my board and began to walk back to his posse.  

I determined my safety was no longer in jeopardy so I toughened up. I ran back to the much larger man who looked like he outweighed me by more than a hundred pounds. In a futile attempt at winning a tug of war battle with him, I grabbed the skateboard and tried to reclaim what was rightfully mine. The huge gorilla swung me around and jerked the board free from my grip with ease. He snarled and lunged toward me. Grabbing me by my shirt, he pinned me up against a parked car.  

Will arrived on the scene and was yelling at him to let me go, but it was no use. He looked back at the other drunken guys and quickly calculated the distance between them and us. They were still casually walking toward us, but were about fifty yards down the street. In an instant, Will picked up his board from the ground, raised it high in the air, and swiftly whipped it down on the back of the drunkard's head. The sound of the low-pitched thud was disturbing. 

The drunkard immediately let go of me and dropped to the ground in a haze of confusion; he had no clue what had just hit him. Blood poured from the back of his head and soaked his blonde hair.