It didn't take long for the kids at the park to understand how to play h-o-r-s-e, with my patient explaining, and re-explaining, and hidden desire to win at something.
It was a tough game, with lots of drama, and matched shots near the end, but I ended up beating the leader of the pack, a painfully skinny guy in green pants who is probably just as young as the kids at the show last night.
"What would you do? "I asked him.
"I am not sure," he replied in his broken English.
We were discussing the abandoned basketball that had been sitting in the grass, which didn't appear to belong to anyone. I had asked the kid if anyone was using the ball. He had said no, and then I shot by myself at the opposite court for about 20 minutes using the "found ball," as that kid, and two of his friends played.
More kids arrived, and the Polish kids migrated to my court, where I asked them if they knew how to play h-o-r-s-e.
At the end of the long game it was starting to get colder, and darker, yet nobody had claimed the basketball.
"I think I'll leave it here," I said.
"You could bring it back tomorrow," the kid said.
"Yeah, but what if the person who owns it comes back tonight?" I asked.
I ended up leaving the ball there. I have two basketballs already. Do I really need a third?
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No, three is overkill. You did the right thing, leaving it there for the next thirty something chic cool enough to play horse with a bunch a polish kids.
ReplyDeletethree is def overkill, though one is m.i.a somewhere in my apt (i'm sure i'll find it when i pack for the move) and the other needs air, but that can easily be corrected w/ out stealing a ball that's not mine. Chic? I don't know about that. Maybe crazy... where are all the men my age that would play basketball? then again, this was on a whim. i had said goodbye to J. was on a bench reading the paper when i saw the ball nobody was using.
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