THE NIGHT AFTER

So turns out there was more than one store window broken by flying debris in our little village section of my town. And the cops finally cordoned off the part of my street with the live wire hanging low across it. They also took my son and one of his friend's skateboards away for skating in the center of the little village section, and without helmets. 'Cause lawd knows there ain't enough for the police to be doing.

I love what we now call "first responders" because they are constantly displaying their courage to protect strangers, usually, including me. And I come from a clan full of cops. And it's not the police's fault that the town passed a law forbidding skateboarding anywhere in the village part of our town. But as I told the cop, there are drunken jocks and ex-jocks coming out of the bars from midnight until they close, so loud they wake me up sometimes with my windows shut. No cops seem to bother them. Or the upright citizens who forget to stop for pedestrians in the crosswalks, or drive over the speed limit on my street all the time, or jaywalk constantly, or etc. etc. etc. Why is it the kids who skateboard who always get the most flack.

I know, I know, they're noisy and sometimes seem reckless or at least unaware of those around them. I wish they weren't those things too. But I'd rather have them hanging around our little village and using their boards to get from one end to the other, than have them off in the dark somewhere getting into private trouble the cops don't notice but cause more damage in the end.

I'm just venting before I turn in, with my son and two teenage skate buddies (one a female) still up and discussing skaters techniques etc. before they finally crash and their low level noise is distracting me and delighting me at the same time. Youth. A great antidote to the tragic news of more bodies discovered from the storm and more dire predictions on how long it will take to put my home state back together again.