The skating rink was a circle and the circle was the lesson. You went around and around and the around was not wasted motion. The around was practice for a life that goes around and around. The rink taught you that forward motion and repetition are the same thing. You never arrived anywhere at a skating rink. You departed from where you were and returned to where you were and the returning was the journey. The skating rink was the only room in America that admitted its own circularity. Every other room pretended you were going somewhere. The rink said you are going here and the here is where you already are.

The floor was wooden and the wood was maple and the maple was waxed and the wax was the surface of the dream. The wax eliminated friction and the eliminating was permission. The wax said slide and the sliding was the flying that gravity permits. You could not fly at a skating rink but you could fall forward continuously and the continuous falling was close enough. The wheels under your feet were polyurethane and the polyurethane was the technology and the technology was four circles attached to a boot and the boot was rented and the rented was the democracy. You did not need to own skates. You needed a dollar fifty and a shoe size and the dollar fifty was the admission to a different relationship with the floor.

The DJ was in a booth above the floor and the above was the authority. The DJ chose the music and the choosing was the law and the law was absolute during the couples skate. The couples skate was announced and the announcing was a sorting. The people who had someone to skate with entered the circle and the people who did not have someone sat down and the sitting was the wanting and the wanting was visible. The couples skate was the cruelest and most honest three minutes in American adolescence. The rink light dimmed and the dimming was the permission and the permission was to hold a hand while rolling in a circle and the holding was everything when you were thirteen.

The carpet around the rink was the shore. The carpet was where you stood when you were not skating and the standing was the watching and the watching was the other half of the gathering. The gathering was not just the people on the floor. The gathering was the people on the carpet watching the people on the floor. The watchers and the skaters were in the same room but in different relationships with gravity. The skaters had surrendered to the circle. The watchers had not yet surrendered or had already surrendered and were resting. The carpet smelled like popcorn and rental shoes and the smelling was the atmosphere and the atmosphere was shared.

The limbo was the rink's test. A bar descended and the descending was the challenge and the challenge was bend or stop. You skated toward the bar and the bar was lower than your standing height and the lower required a bending and the bending required trust in the wheels and trust in the wax and trust in the back that would either fold or not. The limbo eliminated skaters one by one and the eliminating was public and the public was the entertainment. You bent and cleared or you bent and fell and the falling was the comedy and the comedy was kind because everybody fell eventually. The limbo said you are not as low as you think you can go and the not as low was the discovery and the discovery happened on wheels.

The birthday party at the skating rink was the only birthday party where the guest of honor could not control the room. The room was a circle and the circle belonged to everybody. The birthday child's name was announced over the PA and the announcing was the extent of the privilege. The cake was in a room off the main floor and the room off the main floor was the only private space in a building designed for public circulation. The cake room was small and fluorescent and the fluorescent was honest and the honest said this is not about the cake. This is about the thirty minutes you spend in the circle with the people who came because you asked them to come and the asking was the friendship and the friendship was proven by showing up on wheels.

The skating rink is not gone but the skating rink that was a gathering place is gone because the gathering required a circle and the circle required a floor and the floor required a building and the building required a neighborhood that believed a circle was worth maintaining. The roller rink closed when the neighborhood stopped believing and the stopping was economic and the economic was always the excuse. The real reason the rink closed was that the circle was replaced by the screen and the screen is not a circle. The screen is a line. The line goes in one direction. The line does not return you to where you started. The line takes you somewhere else and the somewhere else is not a gathering. The gathering requires the return. The return requires the circle. The circle requires the floor. The floor requires the wax. The wax requires the maple. The maple is still there under the parking lot they built when the rink closed. The wood does not rot as fast as the memory. The wood remembers the wheels longer than the neighborhood remembers the circle.