Charley on and off the skateboard

On a cloudy day the group of friends from Bento High School sat down to have lunch in the park, because unusually they didn’t have any classes in the afternoon so they didn’t have to stay at school. Everyone opened their lunchboxes enthusiastically and started to eat. Vernon the vampire was worried that the sun might start to shine, but the others reassured him that the weather forecast promised cloudy, grey skies for the whole day. Vernon cheered up. He was walking up and down happily, while his tiny pet, Spencer the spider skittered after him on a leash.

‘Sit down, Vernon. Let’s chill,’ sighed Ollie the octopus. ‘I’m finishing my lunch and I’m starting the first mix right away,’ he said.

‘You know, I’ve been thinking about something,’ said Charley the chameleon.

‘I hope about finally giving up hiking and looking for a more relaxing hobby,’ said Ollie.

‘When you stop eating junk food,’ replied Charley laughing.

‘No chance,’ smiled the octopus.

Vernon interrupted determinedly. ‘Let him tell us what he’s been thinking about. Talk, Charley.’

‘Well, I’ve been thinking that I should learn to skateboard,’ the chameleon said. ‘I can’t always hike, but it’s important to exercise every day for the sake of my health. I can see that Blake and Benjamin go everywhere on skateboard and they feel great, so it can’t be bad.’

‘It’s fantastic!’ cried Blake. He was really glad that one of their friends was interested in their favorite hobby.

‘We’ll teach you right now,’ added his twin brother, Benjamin. ‘Come, you can give it a try on the promenade,’ and he grabbed the skateboard and pulled the chameleon with him. ‘Er…I’m quite afraid,’ said Charley.

‘That’s exactly why you should chill instead,’ said Ollie the octopus, and he started to mix the music for the afternoon.

‘Ah, don’t worry! Start slowly and when you’ve found your balance, you can speed up,’ Blake encouraged him.

Charley put one foot on the board and pushed himself a bit with his other foot. He was rolling smoothly for a few seconds, then suddenly he began wobbling, flailing his arms and then fell flop. That’s when Rosie the rabbit arrived riding on Harper the horse.

‘I think I’d rather not learn to skateboard,’ said Charley sadly.

‘Come on! Don’t give up,’ begged Harper. ‘I’ll trot next to you, it’ll be fine.’ She stomped her hoofs.

The chameleon kept on trying. The two bulldogs ran next to him, so that they could catch him if he fell. Harper trotted after them. Even Vernon, who is otherwise never keen on anything, curiously followed his friends. In the meantime, poor Charley fell a few more times and then he got so afraid that he was scared to put his feet on the board.

As he was not going fast, the vampire caught up with him.

‘I understand that you are afraid,’ he told Charley. ‘You know, when I was little, my grandpa took me to visit an old, ramshackle castle every weekend. He was obsessed with it. You can’t imagine how terrifying that place was! The walls were crumbling, the stairs broke away and there was no light. I was horrified, but as I loved my grandpa very much, I definitely wanted to go with him. So I invented a method not to be scared. I counted from one to ten to myself, then took a deep breath and then counted backwards from ten to one. I also found a point and focused only on that. I kept doing it until I calmed down. Try it!’ He encouragingly patted the chameleon’s shoulder.

‘OK, I’ll try one more time,’ Charley agreed.

He got on the board and carefully pushed himself. He also stared in the distance and his lips were moving.

‘You can totally do it!’ Harper yelled. This time, he nicely rolled forward and got quite far, and most importantly, he did not fall, but jumped off the board. The others burst into applause. ‘Great! You did it! We are so proud of you!’ they shouted.

‘Charley, you are incredibly brave, I admire you!’ Harper praised him.

‘Thank you,’ smiled Charley. ‘Thank you all for your support.’

‘Wait!’ cried Vernon. ‘Where is Spencer?’

‘What? Didn’t you keep him on a leash?’ asked the two bulldogs at the same time.

‘I was so curious to see if Charley manages to stay on the skateboard that I didn’t pay attention and let the leash go,’ the vampire panicked. ‘Oh, no! Where are you, Spencer?’ he screamed.

The others ran around scared. They looked under every bench, searched behind every bush, but they couldn’t find the tiny spider anywhere. ‘Spencer! Spencer!’ they shouted his name, but to no avail. Vernon was so nervous that his voice quavered while he was calling his little pet. ‘Is it possible that Charley hit him with the skateboard?’ he asked shakily. This made Charley horrified and he quickly turned the board over to check its wheels. ‘Look, a free rider!’ he cried relieved. ‘Here he is. He fell asleep on the bottom of the board. Spencer, wake up!’ he called the spider.

Vernon ran there. ‘Spencer, how could you fall asleep?’

Spencer yawned. ‘I couldn’t keep up with you, so I climbed on the bottom of the board when Charley fell. Then it was so good listening to the rolling of the wheels on the pavement that I fell asleep. I’m sorry that I scared you,’ he said.

‘No problem, the only thing that matters is that we found you,’ the others reassured him.

After the big scare, Charley promised to take his friends on a really special hike next time.

‘Let’s make it special by going on skateboards,’ Blake the bulldog suggested.

‘Er… I don’t know…,’ started Charley, but then he changed his mind. ‘You know what? If I could learn to skateboard, then why couldn’t we go hiking on skateboards?’

‘Now you’re talking!’ everyone agreed.

For the rest of the afternoon, Charley was improving his skateboarding skills while the others were encouraging him enthusiastically. Vernon held on to Spencer’s leash very tightly.

‘I love our friends,’ Blake whispered in his twin brother’s ear. ‘You can never get bored with them.’

‘So very true,’ – said Benjamin, and they ran after the others.