Sunday, April 16, 2006 : 6:35 PM

Two cars and a skateboard

Here is a crazy event from my college days...

I don't recall the exact circumstances leading up to this, but I do remember that I was a mile and a half from my folks' house with my car and one of their cars, and I needed to get both cars to their house. I also had my skateboard in my car.

So, I drove one of the cars a ways, parked it, and then made my way back to the other car on my skateboard. Since I had driven the car a fair distance, it took me about 5 minutes to pump my way back to the other car via skateboard. As I skated back, I exchanged glances with some guy who was walking on the other side of the street (and heading in the same direction as my folks' house).

When I made it back to the furthest car, I'd repeat the process. I'd hop into the car, now more sweaty and weary than on the prior trip, and start driving. It felt odd to pass the other (parked) car, as if I were leaving it behind; I was also alert to how far I was driving past it, because that's how far I had to skateboard back (and very slightly uphill). I'd park this car down a ways and skateboard back, and I'd see that guy again, continuing his long walk in the same direction as my two cars.

After a handful of these trips, I finally got one of the cars to my folks' and rode my skateboard one last time to the remaining car and drove it home.

My favorite part of this whole thing was watching the guy on the other side of the street each time I'd skate by. He definitely looked more intently at me on subsequent trips. Try to imagine what he was thinking. How could he make sense of what he was observing? "The same guy keeps skating by on the other side of the road...and each time, he's further back than the last time I saw him..."