This was just after his own friends who he was with on vacation had cut him down for having an old beat up skateboard. If I could've afforded to buy him a new one at the time, I would've in a heart beat. The rest had rich parents while his mom was struggling just to get by. His friends offer to pay his way so he can travel but then often it backfires with cruelty for not being a lucky as they are.
This is one of those photos I sometimes regret having taken but it speaks truth. It's one that I look back at when I too am down and remind myself of just how much of a difference I made at the time to him when I then offered to go do things with him after everybody else had left him dry.
camera: Kodak DC 290