I'll never forget you now.

Linoleum kitchen floor. He scrambled under a table, as sharp fisted blows rained down across his head. Screaming. Her words were acid. Monstrous weight upon him. His teenaged egg-shell body…  Sanctuary is never within reach. A shoe descends… there is no other view. It always ended this way. Her shoes turned away from him and he always kept his eyes on those. They hurt the most. He pushed hard off the floor and ran for the front of the house. The screen door slammed outward. She was close behind. Fury was in his mother’s every step. Her feet gobbled up space in huge un-chewed bites. Sunlight splashed across the yard. Freedom. “Oh sweet Jesus. Let me go…” He ran. Never looking back. Never looking up. Never giving in. Cinder block walls weren’t half as strong as the one’s he had been building. Defense. Later, a school friend saw him laying in the grass by the playground. He asked him if he was okay. His eyes were red-rimmed and he just mumbled and looked away. The school friend sat next to him and put his skateboard between them on the ground. Seeing his friends sadness, he pushed the board toward him…

Thank you to Tim Keller for the use of the Terry Keller photograph at Kenter. Skate- Ozzie