The rock music was roaring and the lighting changing color constantly in the dark skating rink. I was in the waiting area sitting on a chair, right beneath which rest the pair of roller skates a woman in uniform had passed me over the counter. Yes. Within seconds, I would throw myself into the excited crowd, for the first time with the roller skates on, and become one of those who couldn’t resist the recent roller craze. People moving around the rink light-footed and laughing all the way, their gliding elegantly and turning agilely charmed me and made me itch to try. Eagerly I put on the roller skates, my heart getting wild with the strong rock beats and my legs shaking as if couldn’t wait to make their debut.

“I’m going to be one of them!” I thought excitedly. But the moment I tried to stand up, I realized I was totally wrong. I lost my balance and dropped heavily back into the chair, my buttocks hurting greatly. Frustrated, I tried again and this time I suddenly fell over towards the railing. Luckily I grabbed hold of the metal rail by instinct, but at the same time, the rollers, against my will, moved backwards. I felt like a sentenced-to-death prisoner on a horizontal gallows. Blushingly, I carefully looked around, and to my dismay, several children were laughing at me.

When I finally overcame the feeling of disgrace and then, gradually, got used to a pair of shoes with rollers on them, the real adventure began. Holding on to the rail as tightly as I could, I moved towards the rink step by step in panic. The rollers were uncontrollable, sliding forward, sideward, or backward unpredictably. So when everybody else was gliding gracefully, I was sliding ugly; while other people were spinning neatly, I was staggering humbly.

After hours of playing the role of a disabled, I persuaded myself to let go of the rail. When I tried to stand straight to relax my waist, I failed to keep the balance and tumbled backward. However, more often than not, the injuries were done on the knees with clear black and blues. I finally managed to walk like a penguin, quite an abnormal one, I should say. Reflected by the mirror surrounding the rink, my gliding image was quite strange: my whole body was extremely tense, my limbs were waving inharmoniously like a circus clown, but my face did not look as happy as a buffoon.

From then on, I gradually developed my roller skating skills into perfect. But without the courage to bear disgrace and injuries in the first time, I would have gained nothing no matter how hard I tried.