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A Marathon of Disney Proportions(some facts have been slightly changed simplify a complex story) (NAMES CHANGED FOR PRIVACY REASONS)When Mark launched Gatorback Skate, he had his eye on the Disney Marathon, a 26 mile speedskate race in Florida. He was originally hoping to debut the braking system at the race in front of the expected 2,000 skaters. This was going to be the springboard to great success in making the fledgling sport of inline speed skating safer and more awesome by providing a popular and useful braking system. This original importance of the Disney Marathon had waned in recent weeks as the business model for Gatorback Skate evolved into much more then a skate-brake company. The Disney Marathon was no longer a make-or-brake event. Mark’s Gatorback enthusiasm no longer needed to be nurtured by early success as he originally planned. Even so, the Disney Marathon still represented a good opportunity to introduce many new skaters to the Gatorback brand, so Mark decided to go. It is a very long drive from Raleigh to Orlando and Kendra was not able to go too. Mark posted his intention to drive to the race on a skating newsgroup to see if anyone else wanted to share the drive. Mark soon had a taker, Jethro (not his real name) was an 18 year-old novice inline skater from the mountains of NC who had never raced in an organized event and was excited to tag along. Mark told Jethro he would pick him up on the way down on Friday for the race on Sunday. Mark wanted to get a better prototype of the GatorStop brake to bring with him to the race. He called his friend in Virginia to see if he could have one made before driving to Orlando. Friday morning Mark drove to Salem, VA to see the latest prototype. He decided to make some last minute changes. He called Jethro to let him know he was going to be running late and made a plan to pick him up at a Hardee’s along the highway. Jethro’s mom dropped Jethro off and three hours later Mark picked him up and they were happily on their way to the race. Mark and Jethro talked and got to know one another a bit. They drove late into the night and stayed at a cheap motel Friday night. Mark got four hours sleep. They hit the road early Saturday morning to make it to Orlando to register for the race the next day. A couple of hours away from Orlando Mark decided it would be nice to get out on their skates and stretch their legs. Besides, the car needed an oil change anyway. They dropped the car at Jiffy Lube and went for a short skate. Mark gave Jethro a set of skate frames and wheels because the ones Jethro had sucked. Just when they decided to turn around and skate back to Jiffy Lube Mark felt a twinge in his knee. He looked down and his knee was swelling up like crazy! They skated back to the car and drove to the emergency room. The waiting room was crowded and seemed too inefficient and disorganized for Mark. He decided his leg was stable. He couldn’t bend his knee, but as long as he kept it straight, it seemed ok. Mark and Jethro decided to drive down to Orlando because they needed to register for the race by six o’clock. They made it to Orlando just in time to get registered. Mark dropped Jethro off at a motel so he could get a good night’s sleep before the race and drove to an Orlando ER.
Blistered and tired, Mark started driving back to North Carolina with Jethro. They got as far as Jacksonville when Mark was bonking from lack of sleep. They pulled in to a cheap motel. Mark went to the office and checked in. He got two keys. As he got back to the car, Jethro was having a conversation with a tattooed man and a woman. After brief polite introductions, Mark gave Jethro a key and said, “I’m going to sleep.” Mark went to the room, walked in, fell on the bed and fell asleep in his clothes. Mark woke up as his cell phone was ringing. It was Jethro’s mom. Jethro’s cell phone battery had died on Saturday, and Jethro did not have the charger. “Can I speak to Jethro?” she asked. The motel room was pristine. Both beds were still made. It looked as if nobody had been in the room all night. No sign of Jethro. “Um, I just woke up. I don’t see Jethro. He is probably at the continental breakfast,” he lied. “I’ll have him call you in a little bit.” Mark went to the office. They did have coffee. No Jethro, though. Mark started back to the room. He had locked himself out! At least he had his wallet because he was still in his clothes. He showed his ID and got another key from the office and went back to the room. Damm! Where the hell was Jethro? Mark called 911. The police showed up quickly. Mark explained the situation. He and the police decided to call the mother. Mark called, talked to her briefly and handed the phone to a policeman. The policeman talked with the mother for a while. Mark realized that Jethro’s mom was probably suspicious that Mark may have done something to Jethro. After the policeman hung up with Jethro’s mom, he and another officer proceeded to interrogate Mark about the details of the past two days. “What happened since you picked up Jethro in North Carolina on Friday?” The details were a bit unbelievable and did not paint Mark in a very good light considering what had happened in the ER in Orlando. Mark was thinking, “if this kid turns up dead, I’m up shit’s creek.” Mark imagined himself on Florida’s death row endlessly telling anyone who would listen, “I’m innocent. It must have been the guy with ‘DENNIS’ tattooed on his chest.” He wondered if even his family would believe him. Did Jethro fall during the race and get road rash? That would be sure to leave plenty of blood evidence all over the car. Great! After a couple of hours of this and going through the contents of the car looking for clues, there was still no sign of Jethro. The officers began to change their demeanor. They started to say things like, “your story is not adding up. I don’t think you slept in that room last night. It seems untouched. You got a key to the room from the office this morning.” Oh shit! Mark had forgotten that little detail when relating the story originally. They found that out from the guy at the desk. This did not look good. The officers also kept asking, “what about the other guy in the car?” It dawned on Mark that Jethro had lied to his mom and said that another guy was coming with them. Apparently Jethro’s mom would prefer her son be brutally killed by two strangers he met on the Internet rather then by just one crazy dude like Mark. Jethro’s mom must have told the officers that there was suppose to be another kid in the car. Now the officers were thinking of this as a double homicide. Where the heck was Jethro? He better not be dead. Finally Jethro emerged from one of the other rooms of the motel with no shirt on. The police found a woman in the room. The officers threatened to arrest Jethro for solicitation. One of the policemen called Jethro’s mom to tell her he has been found. “He spent the night in a different motel room in the company of a woman,” the officer said delicately. Mark gathered up all of his stuff that had been spread out in search of forensic evidence or similarly incriminating clues and threw it in the car. He formed a pile of Jethro’s stuff. Mark took back the skating equipment he had given the kid. After the officers gave him the all clear, Mark took off, leaving Jethro to his own devices some 12 hours away from home. Jethro was last seen leaving the motel in the company of a woman and a tattooed man. |
Mark showed up at the race on crutches with a knee brace that he had somehow reinforced with parts of a lawn chair to ensure his knee could not bend. It was still raining. The race organizers cancelled the marathon. They decided to have a shortened “fun roll” instead. Many skaters pulled out. Mark, in his injured condition, had originally planned to just start the race as a symbolic gesture. But seeing so many skaters drop out because of the weather and the race organizers changing the course, he resolved to finish the race to set an example of professionalism that appeared to be so grossly lacking. He had not really laced up his boots though.