The Man Who Killed Polka

Jamey Dunham

“A skateboard is the perfect gift for any occasion,” said the man smiling as he shook hands with the well-wisher. Then he placed the skateboard with the others beside the coffin. It was the dawn of the Golden Age of Rock-n-Roll and outside a man with an accordion was drying his eyes on the shirtsleeve of a beat cop. The officer had never really cared for accordions (or accordion players for that matter) but he had once shared a drink with the Prime Minister of Canada in a German dance hall where a polka band was playing. The barmaids were all dressed in lederhosen and wore their hair in long braids but what he remembered most about that day was the precocious little boy at the table beside him. He was riding a skateboard up and down the aisle saying, “one day I will put an end to all of this,” and then one day he did.