The young leopard thought he was getting fast.
Then the mouse arrived.
He had been practicing alone at the skatepark all afternoon, rolling through the gentle curves with increasing confidence.
Push.
Glide.
Turn.
Tail out.
Recover.
He was particularly proud of the last part.
Then something white flashed past his left foot.
Whoosh.
The leopard blinked.
A mouse.
A very small mouse.
On a very small white skateboard.
The mouse wore a bunny hat and the expression of someone who had never been formally introduced to fear.
He shot down the slope, crossed the flat, and disappeared over the next rise.
The leopard stared.
“That was a mouse.”
Before he could properly reconsider the natural order of things, another skateboard rolled onto the path.
A girl in a yellow hoodie swept past him.
Pink sneakers.
White jeans.
Big smile.
“Coming?”
Apparently, introductions were also optional.
The leopard pushed hard.
His board accelerated.
Ahead, the girl leaned smoothly around a curve. The mouse was already approaching a low rail.
Surely not.
The mouse crouched.
Up went the board.
Tap—sssshhh—tap.
He slid along the rail and landed neatly on four tiny wheels.
The leopard’s mouth fell open.
His skateboard began drifting sideways.
“Oh!”
Arms out.
Tail left.
Knees bent.
Recovered.
Again.
The girl laughed—not at him, but with the unmistakable delight of someone who knew exactly what that wobble felt like.
She slowed.
The mouse circled back.
Neither seemed particularly interested in who was best.
So the leopard stopped trying to catch them.
Something changed.
The girl showed him where to lean before a turn.
The leopard discovered his tail was surprisingly useful on the ramps.
The mouse demonstrated another rail trick that was completely unreasonable for an animal his size.
They tried.
They missed.
They tried again.
By late afternoon, three shadows were racing across the concrete.
One long.
One small.
One spotted.
The leopard was still the slowest.
Strangely, he no longer cared.
Yesterday, every wobble had been something to survive.
Today, there was someone ahead showing him where the path could go—and someone beside him making the whole thing ridiculous enough to enjoy.
At the final slope, the girl looked back.
The mouse lowered his bunny hat like a professional racer.
The leopard grinned.
Three boards rolled forward.
The mouse immediately took the lead.
Some things, apparently, friendship could not fix.
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