ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DAVID VOGEL
It went “zip” when it moved, and “pop” went it stopped, and “prrrrrrrrr” when it stood still. I never knew just what it was….
But now that my neighbors got one, I do!
My neighbor recently had a birthday. And, last Wednesday, my neighbor, The Birthday Boy (“BB”), got a gas-powered scooter for his birthday. So of course his family-and my brother and me-were outside waiting for The BB’s dad, to get home with the gasoline for the scooter.
It was a nice cool evening, and we all had on our shoes, socks and helmets. Finally, their car was spotted coming down the road, and we all jumped up and down in excitement. The motor was filled, and the rules were all laid out:
-“Be very careful around the corners of the street, there is loose gravel there.”
-“Do not go full speed. The manual said to ‘break in’ the motor for the first two hours.”
-“Obey all yield and stop signs.”
-“This button here (pointing to a red button) is the break button. Push it to kill the motor, only if necessary.”
-“This is the ‘slow down’ lever, pull it in to slow down; this is the ‘speed up’ lever, slowly squeeze it in to speed up.”
And so the scooter was turned on -just like a push lawn mower-and away The BB flew! We all followed him on bikes and “the old-fashioned” scooter around the block. When we were back at their house, it was The BB’s sister’s turn, then mine, then my brother’s, and so on.
When it was my brother’s turn, the “speed up” lever got stuck, and he slowly went faster and faster. Somehow he managed to turn it around and bring it back, where The BB’s dad fixed it. I don’t think Nathan rode the scooter but twice after that episode…don’t ask why.
I’m sure The BB will be begging his parents to let him ride his scooter to school. And speaking of school, good grief! This summer has flown by, and it’s almost time for school again. It’s time to head to Wal-Mart for supplies, and JC Penney for clothes, and of course school to sign up-but I wish I could have another three months of summer.
Then again, I guess school time has its advantages. Labor Day isn’t too far away, so we’ll get out that day. And then there are all those teacher work days that we kids get out for the whole day and not just half.
The Arts and Crafts Fair isn’t to far away either. And in November, I’ll turn 13, and there’s also Thanksgiving, and then there’s the huge Christmas break in December….
I could go on and on, so I guess with the dislike of going to school so early, there are plenty of things to be thankful for.
Oh, one more thing about the scooter: I don’t think I’ll be riding it anymore….
Don’t ask why.
