Sk8r Grrl Riley

If you were up at 4am in the sleepy suburb of the Enfont Estate - a collection of about eighty houses spread out across a gathering of eight small roads and avenues within a walled community - then you would hear the curious sound of plastic wheels rolling against concrete. Not the noisy scuffing of teenagers showing off, but the continuous roll like an airplane engine high overhead.

If you were up at 4am in the sleepy suburb of the Enfont Estate, then you would see a most peculiar sight. It would seem normal at first, despite the hour - a girl standing on a skateboard as it smoothly rolls down the streets, a backpack of some kind thrown over one shoulder. You wouldn't see her clearly, but you'd think she was wearing neutral colours since she appears a lighter shade of purple against the darker purple of the night.

If you were standing near a lamppost at 4am in the sleepy suburb of the Enfont Estate, then you would see a most alarming sight. As the girl entered the light, you would see why her clothes appear to be of neutral colours. It's because she's not wearing any. Her blonde hair is blowing freely behind her, unrestricted by a helmet or hat. Her breasts bounce with every lump in the road, unrestrained by bra or shirt. A neatly trimmed triangle of golden hair covers her crotch, unhidden by panties or jeans. Her bare toes grip at the edges of the skateboard and her leg muscles tense and loosen as she rides past you. Or would have, if you were up at 4am.

And as your gaze followed her at 4am in the sleepy suburb of Enfont Estate, you would see a most confusing sight. The moment she steps off the skateboard, something changes. You cannot see in the darkness, but her chest and back suddenly seem black as the night. There's something hazy and indistinct about her bottom. Her feet don't look the same. It's only when she steps into the porch light of a sleeping house that you realise she's fully dressed. She wears a black t-shirt. Her neatly trimmed mound is now hidden beneath a pair of cut-off demin shorts. A pair of sneakers adorn her feet. She reaches into the backpack and pulls out a rolled up newspaper, which she drops onto the porch.

You tell yourself you're going mad. You're awake at 4am in the sleepy suburb of Enfont Estate; you're clearly tired, and you're seeing things. Yes, that must be it. A naked skater girl! How mad! How could you possibly have imagined such a thing?

The rolling of the wheels starts again. Smiling foolishly to yourself, you look over at her. The smile curdles as she rides beneath a lamppost, golden hair flying behind her, bare behind tensing and flexing as she steers the skateboard along the sidewalk. Naked but for her backpack.

Of course, you're not awake at 4am in the sleepy suburb of Enfont Estate. Nobody is. That is exactly why Riley has chosen this hour to complete her paper route. It doesn't happen when she skates for leisure. It doesn't happen the instant she picks up the papers. But somehow combining the two makes her clothes temporarily disappear.

When it first happened she refused to leave her garage, and nearly lost the job as a result. That wasn't good at all; she needed to save up for a car, and it was the only job she'd been able to find. Since then she'd settled on this uneasy compromise; rolling through Enfont Estate at 4am so that nobody could see her riding naked. That was okay. It was enough. As long as nothing changed she was fine.