Logan Shannon and L.J. Martin are
twelve-year-old buddies who live to spend every waking moment on their
skateboards. It’s a long, hot summer in Southern
California, and the weather is perfect for boarding in the
neighborhood park. Logan
is proud of his new summer look; bleach blond, spiked hair and a fake diamond stud in his ear, but his parents
are flat out disgusted. To make his
summer worthwhile, Logan has his
sights set on entering the local skateboarding tournament, but Adam and Cole,
two of his schoolmates, are out to stop him.
Can Logan and L.J. stand
their ground and put up with Adam and Cole’s bullying day in and day out in
order to enter the competition? Better
yet, can Logan perfect his
freestyle moves well enough to win the competition? Slammin’ The Pipe
is chock full of action and adventure for children of all ages, and especially
so for boys between the ages of eight and thirteen who love skateboarding.
“Hey, the cops are coming. Let’s get out of here,” I shouted before
pushing off on my board and flying down the street. Within seconds, Evan and Chris were right
beside me, with L.J. trailing behind a bit.
I turned the corner onto Rockwell Avenue
and jumped right over a giant flower box before coasting down the hill,
maneuvering my skateboard with perfect precision. At the corner of Rigby
Street, I sailed right over a baby stroller as I
performed a flawless indy grab, then did a noisy
nosegrind right over a park bench.
“Awesome nosegrind, Logan,”
Chris shouted to me from behind as he copied all of my moves with a somewhat
sloppier technique.
“Hurry up, you guys, the cops are
still gaining on us,” I yelled as I looked over my shoulder and saw the car turning
the corner in order to head down the street.
“Logan,
look out,” Evan shouted just as I turned my head back around and noticed an
elderly woman with a walker literally ten feet in front of me.
“Holy cow,” I yelled out while
veering my skateboard to the side, then kicked it up into the air as I sailed
right over two flower boxes with at least ten inches to spare. A long hill was coming up, so I allowed
myself to gain more speed as I began flying down the sidewalk at speeds up to
twenty-five miles per hour. I was in
total control now and smiled widely as the hot summer breeze blew against my
face. “Yes, dudes, yes,” I began
shouting while pumping my arms in the air.
“Logan Shannon is the master at this game.”
“Hey, Logan,
what the heck are you doing?” Evan shouted to me from where he was trailing
nearly thirty feet behind.
I made the mistake of turning to
look at him, and with no time to spare I heard the sounds of L.J., Chris, and
Evan shouting at me. I knew something
wasn’t right when I glanced back in front of me and noticed a man wheeling a
large garbage can out onto the sidewalk from a nearby restaurant. I was going far too fast to even try and stop
myself, and I could swear that I felt my ribs breaking when I slammed into the
metal container face first. I was
knocked onto the ground and felt myself rolling on the hard concrete for about
ten feet until I finally banged up against the side of a building. My skateboard slammed off a nearby car and
set off the alarm. Apparently, the
garbage container nearly stopped me, but in the process got knocked over and
spewed gallons of smelly refuse all over my body. Within seconds, I was covered from head to
toe with dumpster juice that smelled like a zillion dead cats boiled together.
“Logan,
are you okay?” Chris shouted as he stopped beside me and knelt down to lend a
hand.
“Man, that was an awesome trick,”
Evan remarked as he leaned over and began scooping garbage away from me.
“Logan,
that was probably the most awesome boarding I’ve ever seen from you,” L.J.
declared with a big smile on his face when he arrived on the scene.
I did my best to smile and reply
to my friends, but the pain from my ribs was far too intense, let alone the
horrible odor of garbage.
