Recent Reports of Floating Children

The first time I saw a kid wearing what I now know to be Heelys was at Logan Airport. It was very early in the morning, even before dawn. I was waiting for a flight and eating a hard bagel. I happened to look up and there was a boy, maybe 7 or 8, floating down the terminal -- hovering -- at a pretty good clip.

My first reaction was that he was on a moving sidewalk, but that wasn't the case. And then the boy stopped hovering and began to walk awkwardly on his toes, as though he were wearing high heels.

He took a few steps on his toes, rocked back onto his heels, and began floating again. And it occured to me: he had wheels in his heels.

"Did you see that?" I exclaimed to my dozing travel partner. "Did you see that?"

It's been almost a year since my first sighting of Heelys, and since then I've seen perhaps a dozen or more cases of both boys and girls, all around 10 years old, floating around or walking like they have high heels on. I feel like cheering each time I see one. The awesomeness of it astounds me.

I used to like to complain about how, when I was these kids' age, all my sneakers did was light up. "I want them for adults!" I would say. But it has recently come to my attention that they do in fact make Heelys for adults.

I may have to get a pair.