The speaker, named Lucky Bob, shares a story about his childhood in the third grade. He recounts how he was not popular at school and had only neighborhood friends. He expresses his desire for a scooter, which was a popular trend among his peers, but his parents wouldn't buy him one. He had to wait until Christmas to get his scooter as a gift from Santa.
Bob describes his excitement upon receiving the scooter, which he rode around his neighborhood, making him cool with his neighborhood friends. However, he did not become popular at school.
Bob and his friends discovered a ramp built by one of the kids on their street. They started practicing scootering tricks, including jumping off the curb and the ramp. They then decided to explore a new park in their neighborhood, where they discovered off-road trails.
One day, they found a large hill with a muddy, wet road at the bottom. One of the kids challenged them to ride their scooters down the hill. Bob, wanting to appear brave, decided to go first. He took off down the hill, but the scooter's brakes failed due to the wet conditions. He was unable to stop and went flying off the cliff at the bottom of the hill.
Bob managed to jump off the scooter just before it crashed, but he was severely injured. His friends helped him up and they all went to retrieve the scooter from the bottom of the pit. The other kids felt so bad that they had dared each other to do the same dangerous stunt.
Bob emphasizes the importance of listening to one's inner voice and not doing things just to impress others. He concludes by mentioning that there are many ways to be cool, such as getting good grades. He also mentions a website, leggyboxshop.com, where they sell merchandise.
Here are the key facts from the text provided:
1. The speaker was in third grade during the story.
2. He was not popular at school but had neighborhood friends.
3. Scooters were very popular at the time.
4. The speaker wanted a scooter but had to wait until Christmas to receive one as a gift.
5. Despite getting a scooter, it did not make him popular at school.
6. He learned to do tricks on his scooter with his neighborhood friends.
7. One of the friends' dads built a ramp for them to do scooter tricks.
8. They spent a summer doing tricks on the ramp.
9. Eventually, they found a new park and went off-roading on their scooters.
10. The speaker took a dangerous ride down a muddy hill on his scooter and had to bail to avoid an accident.
11. He got injured from bailing off the scooter but learned a lesson about not doing dangerous things just to impress others.
These are the facts without any opinions or additional commentary included.