If you know one cool kid-thing to say, you can make yourself very popular. From my own children I long ago learned the term “pop-a-wheelie.” It serves me well to this day. It’s a bike trick that consists of pulling your front wheel up off the sidewalk and continuing in a forward motion. Most nine-year-olds have mastered this skill.
In my travels around the campground, I was introduced to two little boys, Jeremy, aged 9 and Jason, 6, who were obviously serious cyclists.
I asked Jeremy, “Say, can you pop a wheelie on that thing?” Smiling shyly, he mounted his bike, revved it up to speed, and began to pop one wheelie after another, until I clapped and said, “Man you sure can pop wheelies. You are super at popping wheelies!”
A day later he was still popping wheelies, making sure this spectacular feat happened right in front of our RV. Evenings were the best. We’d be trapped in our lounge chairs, the fire glowing, the dog shedding hairs on our new blue zip-up sweatshirts, and Jeremy would put on his show. His little brother didn’t get it. He rode his bike in circles, but never popped a wheelie. One has to presume Jeremy hadn’t shared that skill with him yet.
One day, undoubtedly, he’d teach Jason the trick. But today he was the star. For now, his pop-a-wheelies had no equal.
B
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