return

He had been here before. Images ran through his mind, like water through a window screen. He couldn’t really recall the year. He had been here in his youth. Thirty years had changed everything. The mental images he retained were different. His eyes raked across the nearby buildings and trees. “Strange. Quiet.” He murmured to himself under his breath. Everything seemed smaller than he remembered. Sometimes, you can go back. Fences wrapped the entire area of the old motel and these were covered in spiked vines and thick hedges. The pool area was situated out in the open beneath a few huge palm trees. There was no way on earth that he could get in there without being spotted. He shifted his skateboard to his other arm. Insects droned and he heard a lawn mower growling close by. He waited. The sun clung in the sky. Ominous and painful. It reminded him of his isolation. All fell quiet. He looked and listened again. Nothing. No one. He stepped to the fence and became fifteen years old all over again. One foot pressed against the fence, a lift, a pull and he was up and over. He sprinted for the pools edge. Empty. It lay there like a great prize. It was a magic lamp. The genie was the pool itself and it was ready to offer up anything its rider demanded. Kent Senatore took a quick look around, set his board on the pools shallow end floor and pushed into the deep…

Thanks to William Sharp for the images. Skate- Ozzie