My story from within Sellwood... Part 1

Marcel was alone. He usually was. The Fat Albert café is his social outing, even if he eats his breakfast at a table for one. The smiling yellow sunshine on the sign makes him feel welcome. The weekends are usually too crowded for Marcel to enjoy his meal but this weekend was different. He had been working late the night before and didn’t have time to get groceries. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, even if it involves crowding and waiting in a line on the cold, busy sidewalk.
She entered through the door and bypassed the waiting list that had a dozen people already in line. She sat right down next to him and set her skates on the table next to his plain black coffee. This is how he met Olivia. Her smile was as radiant as her name was from the tongue.
Marcel had been searching for somebody to skate with for quite sometime. It is difficult to find people crazy enough to endure the chilled, damp winters in Portland on roller-skates. The neighborhood of Sellwood-Moreland is an even more difficult area due to its rough sidewalks and steep hills.
Olivia had seen his post on the community center board and has tried several times to contact him but his number is an old out of state number from when he first moved there and he never updated the board after he established a local number.
She explains to him how she moved to the area last year and saw his already out dated post looking for roller-skaters. Time and time again she has seen him fly by in passing but was never able to stop him.
She orders biscuits and gravy with an egg over medium on top that gets chopped and swirled into a gelatinous yellow goo. He sticks with his usual plate of miniature buttermilk pancakes smothered in butter and sweet maple syrup. Marcel is social awkward but he doesn’t seem to miss a beat with Olivia’s favorable energy feeding into him.
They both go on and on about their passion for skating and hardly seem to have noticed that the once over crowded café is nearly empty. By the time they leave the large bulky clock on the sidewalk reads a quarter to one.
Eight weeks pass as the two share their favorite spots for tricks, speed, or taking a break. Just beyond the park where 23rd Ave. dead ends into a small river is a bike path. As they sit on top of an earthen burm where the trail parallels the train tracks they plan their next skate attack adventure together.
Marcel is a defender of the wildlife reserve. He tests the water and soil, tracks infestations, notes animal patterns, and herds people back onto designated trails. He has a granola soul for helping nature but his heart is elsewhere. Marcel was explaining his intimate knowledge of Oaks Bottom Wildlife Reserve when a passing train rudely interrupted his speech where he was about to unveil his more romantic feelings for Olivia. The slowly creeping train whistled violently as it approached the intersections and passed through a small corridor that linked a gated portion of the neighborhood with the rest of Sellwood. The light breeze from the train brought in a discarded flyer. The Rose City Rollers were having an event next week. The mood was quickly amended to adopt the excitement of the found flyer.
Roller derby is an aggressive roller-skating sport with several local teams competing against each other. This sounded like an opportune place to meet other roller fanatics who may want to skate with them.
The event started promptly at six and the crowd was large enough to leave standing room only. The “Heartless Heathers” battled against the “High Rollers”, then the “Break Neck Betties” rolled against the “Rat City Roller Girls”. Immediately after the games Marcel and Olivia journeyed ring-side to chat it up with the athletes about how to join the fun. Fresh Meat is the name of the team for people wanting to tryout for the local league. Olivia was more than welcome to play but Marcel was invited only to watch.
Segregation of the sexes has declined many parts of modern society but roller derby is not one of them. The roller-skating rink at Oaks Park assembled flocks of sassy, confident woman who lined up to receive instructions about roller derby and the “Fresh Meat” team. Marcel desperately wanted to be on his skates instead of being a cheerleader in the stands. The only reason he showed up was to be with Olivia. She was so preoccupied that it was easy for Marcel to slip out unnoticed.
Marcel had a plan. He wasn’t about to let the “no boys allowed” club to prevent him from joining. He slipped out the back door and walked out to where the amusement park rides are. Being closed for the winter, nobody else was around to witness his transformation. Marcel had brought with him a change of clothes, his skates, a clean shave, some makeup, and a modest wig.
It didn’t take long for him to make his way back inside in full finery. Sitting far away from Olivia he kept quiet and tried to blend in as much as possible. His eyeliner was slightly smeared and his tights hugged his less than womanly lines with a knee length plaid skirt draping over them. Luckily the pads and helmet helped to hide his unflattering figure.
Later he would make up a story to explain his absence from the stands. Sometimes he has to make special trips into the wildlife reserve. Floods can bring in contaminates, a rare species of animal may return and need to be studied, or sometimes high school party migrates deep off of the paved trail into restricted areas. Any of these would work.