Aunt Evie wanted to give them a little time alone. She said she was going to wander down the street, that there was a lovely confectionary store and they knew how much their mother loved candied ginger and also, she’d googled a bookstore. “But,” she added, “I won’t go far, and you can always call me on the phone,” she said, holding up her iPhone with its bright pink case which Evie insisted made it easier to find.

The park also had graffiti art drawn on it, so Max wanted to take a couple more pictures. Tess was still holding his skateboard.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see a British boy in shorts, who asked her if she wanted to race him. There was something taunting about the way he asked, almost bullying, and Tess didn’t understand why he asked her not Max, aside from the fact that she was holding the skateboard. Maybe it was because he was certain he could beat her. It was almost like a dare.

Tess took a good look at the skatepark. It was concrete and had a deep bowl, like an empty lake bed. There were banks and ledges and sharped raised edges outside the bowl which would be interesting (in the sense of difficult) to navigate. Especially if you’d never skated that park before. It wasn’t so much a place for a race as much as it might be for a competition, one that could involve tricks, but maybe he just meant to race her.

Tess was an excellent snowboarder and she could skateboard. She even knew a couple of tricks but she wasn’t sure this was a dare she could take. But then the boy’s friend came over and said, “Yeah, I figured you wouldn’t race him.”

And that was all it took. Tess never liked it when people doubted her.

She always wanted to say to them, Game on!

Tess studied Max’s skateboard. She knew it was a custom job. She’d watched him build part of it. The skateboard itself was covered in stickers and well-used. The wheels were a little small, which Max had insisted made it excellent for park skating, as opposed to larger wheels which are used for sidewalks and city streets. That was about where her knowledge ended. But the wheels were pure pro, so to speak, narrow, made out of white urethane with gold edging, the metal bearings looked as if there were steel, well-oiled, and high-grade, and Max had insisted, “probably the fastest wheels you could have.” Yeah, Max had made sure it was a custom job. Tess looked at him for his approval. Max shook his head but then he shrugged, which wasn’t a “yes” or a “no.”