do you know where your kid is?
Apparently this boy's parents don't. Or maybe they do. He's usually outside the newspaper office with his skateboard. He's decided the skateboard park isn't for him. "I'm not good enough yet," he told me the first time I saw him out there. "My dad said so." I think dad just doesn't want to pay the fee and said the equivalent of "Go play in traffic." He does.
The guy in the car looked horrified as this kid headed toward the street. Not even a near miss, but after he got back on the sidewalk I told him if he really wanted to go to the skateboard park, I'd ask his parents if I could take him there. He gave me the kind of disgusted look only a kid can give an adult and took his board and left.