6

Ride Right

Ben looked down at his scraped knees with disgust. He was at a skate park with a group of friends, but he wasn’t exactly skateboarding. He was just trying to stay balanced on Tony’s skateboard for more than five seconds. Tony, his best friend, watched him and laughed. He was trying to teach Ben some tricks, but it wasn’t working.

“It’s okay, Ben,” Tony said. “Stick with the pro, and I will have you doing a kick flip in no time.”

“Hey, I want to teach Ben something,” Jake cut in. “Ben, want to learn how to fly? I dare you to skate down the hill and off this launch ramp right now.”

All the boys stopped what they were doing. Some of them laughed. Jake was always daring kids to do stupid things.

Ben kicked the ground in frustration.

“Are you crazy?” Tony protested. “Ben isn’t ready to go off the launch ramp yet. That’s for expert riders.”

“Fine,” Jake said, glaring at Tony. “Ten bucks says Ben can’t skate off this little tiny launch ramp.”

Ben bit his lip and stared at the ramp. It was pretty high. Anyone going off it would fly—and then fall pretty hard.

After a few seconds, Jake flapped his arms and made bird noises. “Ben’s just a big chicken—all talk and no action. I should have known he wouldn’t do it.” He laughed. “Would any real men like to take my bet?”

Ben wondered briefly what Joseph or Sam would do in this situation. He didn’t have to think very hard. Taking a deep breath, he turned to face Jake. “Thanks anyway, but I don’t feel like flying in an ambulance today. Maybe I’ll ride that ramp later, but for now I’m kind of fond of keeping all my blood in my body and all my bones in one piece.”

“Yeah,” Tony laughed. “Remember when Jake fell off the monkey bars in the second grade and fainted at the sight of his own blood? We wouldn’t want Jake fainting when we have to scrape Ben off the pavement. Come on, guys, let’s go to Ben’s house. Maybe we can get T. H. to catch a mouse.”

Ben smiled as the group nodded and turned to go. Jake scowled but didn’t say anything.

“Thanks, Tony,” Ben whispered. He smiled even wider when he realized he was wearing a shiny silver breastplate. He had made a good choice, and he couldn’t wait to show his new armor to Joseph and Sam.

In that instant Ben tripped on Tony’s skateboard and landed facedown on the sidewalk. Thankfully, his breastplate prevented a sharp rock from jabbing his chest.

“I really need to teach you how to ride that thing before you kill yourself,” Tony laughed, helping Ben to his feet.

Ben just grunted. Knights didn’t need to ride skateboards.