Bike Trick Language

Seven ten pm. The park beckons.

Baby Pierre zooms across the road.

He cycles down a footpath, until he bumps into a wall.

But no. It isn't a wall. And it wasn't a footpath.

Baby Pierre has come off. He hopes no one was watching.

No chance. Pebbles are always watching.

Always on the lookout for other pebbles. Pebbles with hubris.

Come off? asks a mouldy pebble.

Stoppie, says Baby Pierre.

What language is that? asks the mouldy pebble.

Bike trick language, says Baby Pierre. Stoppies are endos.

You crashed into a Moreton Bay fig tree, says the mouldy pebble. Admit it.

Okay, says Baby Pierre. I'm new here.

That your bike? asks the mouldy pebble.

Yes, says Baby Pierre. It's got special wheels made of fluoroelastane.

Woop, says the mouldy pebble.

Two dirty pebbles roll up to view the fluoroelastane wheels which are crazily spinning.

This park isn't safe at night, says one dirty pebble.

It is for me, says Baby Pierre.

How come? asks the dirty pebble.

I've got two and a half hours where nothing bad can happen to me, says Baby Pierre.

How did you get them? asks Mouldy.

Yeah, says First Dirty. And how come you're so sure?

Because it would have happened already, says Baby Pierre, and it hasn't, so it can't for two and a half hours in the future.

But what makes you think it would have happened already? says Second Dirty. That's mental.

Yeah, mental, agrees Mouldy.

A phone call, says Baby Pierre. I'm from Adelaide, where it's two and a half hours in the future. My friends were just talking with people in Adelaide and they didn't say ANYTHING.

Which ones? asks First Dirty.

None of them, says Baby Pierre. What time is it? I'm wasting my luck standing here.

No you aren't, says Second Dirty. We're dangerous pebbles.

Foof! says Baby Pierre. Have you seen my Mark?

No, says Mouldy. What mark?

The Mark of the Claw, says Baby Pierre.

In the dim light of the inadequate park lighting filtering through the leaves of the fig tree, the pebbles see the dark image on Baby Pierre. A tulip? A camel?

Who hasn't got marks? says First Dirty.

Heh-heh! laughs Second Dirty. You just can't see ours.

That's too bad, says Baby Pierre. People respect you if you have a cool marking. I'm going to be in a movie. Or a live performance. Or pose for a statue.

How come you don't know which? asks Mouldy.

I will tomorrow, says Baby Pierre. That's why I have to practise. Want to give me some feedback?

It's quite dull in this park, on normal evenings, except for the odd mugging.

And here is a pebble with hubris.

Yes, they will give him some feedback.

You can be in it, says Baby Pierre. It's a movie. I'm riding to Lake Jasper and you guys are the spiders.

It's the first time Mouldy, First Dirty and Second Dirty have been in a movie, as spiders.

They jump at the challenge.