Every Saturday morning, me and Sharon would go to the Inala Roller-Skating Rink. Blue, oval-shaped, and sunk deep down below the ground, the rink was like a big, blue swimming pool but sin any agua. Sharon’s papá would drive us there and would stay in the foyer to watch over us as we skated. We’d trade our matching brown sandalias we wore to school, for rental lace-up boot patines that came in all different shades of old black. The skates were lumpy and bumpy on the inside and out, from being used and worn by so many unknown chicos, who’d learnt on them, way way before us.
The rollerskaters
Podcast flash story by Suzanne Hermanoczki
The Roller-skaters is a short memoir piece about roller skating. My best friend’s dad used to take a whole bunch of us kids either to the rink or the drive-in. The rink was one of those 80’s Terminator and Stranger Things all-ages kids’ with big hair hang out kinda place; with video games, a DJ and a disco ball – and skating.
Suzanne Hermanoczki is a writer and teacher of creative writing. Her writing has been published in local and international publications including the Australian Multilingual Writing Project, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, TEXT and Verge Anthology. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Melbourne, where she currently works.
Australian Multilingual Project
Cha: An Asian Literary Journal
TEXT – Special Issue Series – ‘Writing and Trauma’ (Number 42): Verge 2019 Uncanny (Monash University Publishing)
Acknowledgements:
Memoria was written, produced, edited and presented by Natalie Vella
The Rollerskaters was written and read by Suzanne Hermanoczki. The story was sound edited by Natalie Vella.
Music in this episode was by Blue Dot Sessions, Sage the Hunter, When in the West and The Envelope.
Illustrations by Peta Manning. Her book, See Me Doodle, is out now.
The Joint Before Xmas
2. 180081 Curtains 01 By FST180081 CC BY 3.0
3. Crowd shouting on the street By Hellonyou CC BY-NC 3.0
4. Dinner table ambience By Mr_Alden CC BY-NC 3.0
5. Drinking Water Bottle By NebbiaOne CC BY-NC 3.0
6. Empty Beer Bottles Clinking, Clanking By Fugeni CC0 1.0
7. Fire Brigade Siren - Street – Cars By LanDub CC0 1.0
8. Footsteps, Tile, Male Tennis Shoes, Slow Pace By SpliceSound CC0 1.0
9. Hip-Hop loop #17 By Decentyo CC0 1.0
10. Lighting a Cigarette Taking Drag By User_7146007 CC0 1.0
11. Putting out fire By SoundMarnus CC BY 3.0
12. RagingFireplace By Kkswinso CC0 1.0
13. Rolling paper roll joint By Kyles CC0 1.0
14. Rotary phone dial numbers By Iwdickens CC0 1.0
15. Rural Australia morning birds By Tim.kahn CC BY-NC 3.0
16. Sample Screen Doors By SvennSound CC0 1.0
17. Smoking Variations By Fluffayfish CC BY-NC 3.0
18. Watercarpet By Mikaelfernstrom CC BY 3.0
19. Water, Pouring, A By InspectorJ CC BY 3.0
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