Ch. 3: Frivals | "Cereus & Limnic"

Video Version

Written Version

As soon as Jinhua stepped outside of her house a blast of heat slammed into her face, causing her to gasp.

It took her body a few seconds to adjust to the drastic difference in temperature. 

Before she left the house she had picked up an object that appeared to be an ocean blue colored bar leaning in a dusty corner of the expansive entry way of the house.

The pole was two and a half long, smooth, and was her preferred method of transportation around town. Perfect day for rippin’.

Jinhua smiled at herself as she gripped the bar. It reminded her of how far she had come since she had purchased it for her birthday three years prior.

In those days, all she had wanted to do was finish her homework so she could ride her ripboard with Harpreet.

She spent days learning how to deploy the board’s retractable wings from the bar.

At first, treating the device as a delicate object, then trying to add flair to her board deployments. After about a week, she moved on to the analysis phase.

She had meticulously documented the make-up of the various composite materials of the personal transport: aluminum alloy, painted fiberglass wings, and some kickass grip tape.

After another few days she was ready to ride.

The first race against Harpreet had ended in crushing defeat.

Jinhua hadn’t quite worked out the optimal positioning for her levcer, the vital balancing component without which there was no levitation.

No levitation, meant no rippin’.

A misplaced levcer meant an uncentered magnetic field, which bungled the ripboard’s fickle glide profile when the wings were deployed.

These were facts unknown to Jinhua the first time she stepped on the board. Real world gems of experience that her scrutinizing analysis could not account for.

During that first race, her slipshod foot placement and graceless handling of the levcer had left her off balance and slow.

A sharp turn at a high speed was all it took to send her flying onto the street, leaving a deep gash on her knee. It was a mistake she never made again.

The bitterness of that loss fresh in her mind, she grasped the pole and hastened out of the front door, locking it behind her.

By the time she reached the imposing black security fence at the entrance of the driveway, she was already beginning to feel beads of sweat forming on her exposed forehead.

Wiping the perspiration away with the back of her hand, she continued to move as if she had no place to go.

She pulled out her identification card from her pocket and held it toward the gate’s scanner.

The card was tomato red in color and housed her picture, social security number, driver’s license number, links to her major bank accounts, medical records, as well as money.

All of the information had somehow been smashed within its microscopic computer components. I can’t believe my entire life is on this card.

She always had the same thought whenever she used the thin slice of technology.

The all-in-one card was convenient, yet it made her feel vulnerable to have the entirety of her person housed within one easily pilfered or misplaced item.

The security panel made a series of beeps, signaling that her card had been accepted.

The old black gate emitted the sound of aged metal on slightly oxidized tracks as it slid open. Jinhua sidled through the opening to hasten her trip.

The heat of the morning was already beginning to make its ever-warm presence known to her face and skin.

Upon reaching the street, her device chimed in her tiny shorts pocket. With practiced skill, Jinhua pulled it out and examined the screen.

The message from Harpreet was brief, yet provoked an excited smile onto her face.

Barter race? Meet at the Old Veterans’ Park in 10?

Jinhua dictated a voice message reply: I’ll be there in 5. A small sticker of a checkered flag accompanied her words on the display screen.

Within a second the device was back in her pocket.

In a fluid motion, she used an underhanded swing to fling the blue pole in front of her, while simultaneously activating the wing deployment.

Sky blue wings extended from the pole ready to accept her feet.

Before it hit the concrete with a dissonant clang (a noise she had named the sound of shame), Jinhua expertly positioned and activated her levcer at the precise moment, then leapt toward the hovering board with style.

The sun gleamed and the ripboard took flight just as her feet landed on the safety of reinforced grip pads.

She was suspended only by the harmonious equilibrium between the balancing forces of the levcer, her stance, and the board.

I won’t lose this time.

With a determined look on her face, she kicked at the ground, propelling the board forward.

Five minutes later, Jinhua arrived at the park to find Harpreet waiting under the shade of a large tree.

In her jean shorts and burgundy tank top, she stood tall with her arms at her side, hands open, eyes closed as if she were an offering to the sun.

Just as they had competed in all things related to school, so too did the two young women often compare their physical characteristics, as if they were professional athletes preparing for a championship.

As Jinhua approached the unaware Harpeet, she mentally compiled a list of random attributes, assigning herself or her best frival (friend-rival her own created word) as the victor.

Height: Her, only by two inches. Weight: definitely her, by several pounds. Chest size: Harpreet. Hair length: draw.

Intelligence: don’t make me laugh, ME. Smile: I guess her. Ripboard skill: Me by a mile.

The mental exercise made Jinhua grin to herself as she floated toward her friend, whose cinnamon toned skin glistened with a film of sweat in the morning heat.

When she was close enough, Jinhua jumped off to the side of the ripboard at the optimal position, retracting the sky-blue wings, and kicking the pole back into her right hand in a smooth fashion.

It had taken her months to master the movement, and she was proud of it.

“Practicing your mountain pose?” Jinhua said in a soft voice.

Harpreet’s eyes fluttered open. A big grin formed on her lips. “Gotta do something in this heat. It’s so hot! And it’s only 9:30!”

“Yeah it is. I think it’s supposed to get up to 116 degrees today.”

“Hot enough to cook a whole meal on the sidewalk!” Harpreet said. Both girls laughed.

Harpreet put her hands on her waist, sticking her chest out. “You ready to lose?” Her tone was challenging, defiant.

She reached for an orange pole leaning against the tree, then twirled it in her hands, thrusting it down near her feet in dramatic fashion.

Waiting for Jinhua’s usual reaction. A reaction that never came. Something’s on her mind. I wonder what? “You alright?”

“I had the dream again…”

“Which one? The one about Derak?”

“No!” Jinhua slapped her arm with enough force to sting, but not to bruise. “And, ew!”

“Ok, ok! Just had to be sure!” Harpreet said laughing. “You mean the one about the broken computer, right?”

“What could it mean?”

Harpreet stood silent for a moment.

Striking a pensive pose with arms crossed, chin on fist, she looked at Jinhua, wanting badly to find answers or explanations where both knew there were none. She looks so vulnerable sometimes.

After a minute of the ambient noises of nature, people walking by in low conversation, and the occasional vehicle passing by, Harpreet spoke.

“You know what would help you right now?”

“What?”

“A little bit of rippin’! You always feel better after that!” Harpreet placed a warm, slightly sweaty hand on her shoulder.

Jinhua smiled. The unexpected contact was helpful.

The details of dream fragments still lingered in her mind, but she was ready to let them go. To allow them to drift away in the wind behind her board.

“You’re on.”

“That’s my girl!” Harpreet said, jumping with excitement.

With flair, she waved her orange pole around her head and tossed it at the ground, while in the same instant activating her levcer with the opposite hand.

Jinhua flinched when she heard the sound of metal clashing against the sidewalk.

Harpreet fell backwards onto her backside, letting out a string of exaggerating expletives in English and Punjabi.

“Goddammit! One day I swear I’m gonna get that thing that you do down!”

Jinhua giggled. “One day. Good thing you fell on your oversized ‘safety cushion’.”

Harpreet stood up, as a group of crows vacated a nearby tree at the sound of her laughter. “No kidding. If it were you, you would’ve probably shattered a hip.”

“Hey! Mine’s just taking longer to inflate!” Both girls laughed, extending the moment of levity.

Harpreet redeployed her ripboard, activating it with more caution this time.

As she stepped her right foot onto the wings, a look of surprise made her eyebrows arch and her eyes grow wide.

Her hand dug her device out of her shorts to check out the notification. “Shit!”

“What is it?” Jinhua asked with concern.

“Committee time got moved up. Apparently old Master Scholar (MS) Rhodes is bringing in a new student from Sac, and wants us all there early.”

“How long do we have?”

Harpreet brought the device closer to her face as if she were an old woman with a vision impairment “Uh…five minutes.”

Lines of determination drew themselves onto Jinhua’s face. “Then we’d better rip it.”

Her frival mirrored her expression, returning a challenge-accepting smirk. She lowered her center of gravity, ready to begin the contest. “Ready?”

Harpreet nodded, hovering her right leg at a 45-degree angle above the widened sidewalk for a stronger first kick.

“GO!!”