In 2004, I got a package from my dad in Germany. It was the first professional skateboard in Bor. I remember being blown away when I saw it. I put rubber on the front and back ends to keep it from getting scratched up. My classmate Marko had plastic on the tail of his skateboard so he could brake at high speeds. I still remember the sound of plastic scraping on concrete. Toda went to the same school and had a small banana skateboard. We used to lie naked in the snow to see who could last longer. I suggested we film a stunt movie, inspired by the Jackass series. That’s how the movie Crap was born. In it, we lay naked in nettles. I remember the pain and not sleeping for three days. After two glasses of rakija, Mekica cried his heart out, repeating why he loved skateboarding. A few years later, he cried again in the movie Tilva Ros. He loved skateboarding even more then. The four of us lost our fathers around that time. I remember the bond between us. Vlatko was with me at the police station when I lost a shoe in a fight at the Guitar Fest. He stayed with me the whole time; the shoe showed up late. I remember the silence between us. Sone was the loudest supporter during our rides. I remember his shouting, so loud that I would mess up my trick every time. Milan, Fica, Misa, Kina, Zaba, Lima, Peja – all of us built a mini ramp in an abandoned shack so we’d have somewhere to skate in the winter. I remember the joy on our faces when we finally beat the winter blues. I remember when we got the skate park. Twenty skateboarders in a small town created an oasis. And what an oasis! We filled it with new memories over the last ten years. That same oasis will soon become a memory. An abandoned island preserved within us.

Stefan Djordjevic