Lonnie Strickland, whose avatar used to look even more like him, suggests: Strings vs Velcro.
= = = = =
At the grandparents house, the girls have energy to burn and the weather is excellent, but the gardening is done and their familiar toys and companions are hundreds of miles away.
I open the Closet of Toys from Other Times. I recognize many treasures from my own childhood, such as a plastic piggy bank from the 1964 Worlds Fair, for which I sure some sucker would pay long green on eBay.
The tennis racquets catch my eye. No, that wouldn’t work. No tennis courts nearby, at least none of which I am aware. None that aren’t surrounded by ‘No Trespassing’ signs, anyway.
My old boomerang–the one with the prominent label warning that it is Not a Toy, and should not be used by children, beckons me with is red plastic sheen. I set that aside for later experiments. Perhaps, after sitting in the closet for thirty years, it will actually work. It never did before.
Frisbee? No, the girls don’t have the skill yet. Yes, I acknowledge my failure as a parent. But in our town, Frisbee-capable lawns are rare. Perhaps they will be able to succeed in life without this skill.
Scatch? I don’t like the noise the ball makes hitting the velcro. A slapping sound. But it is an easy game.
Badminton? I bet the girls would like that. They were fascinated by their older peers playing badminton in the parks of Guangzhou. And I bet they would be very good, once they learned the basics. Already one of the girls is plucking at the strings of a racquet, pretending that it is a banjo. This must be an innate skill, passed down from generation to generation.
But standing in front of the closet, I realize that standing is nearly the limit of what I can do today. A twinge of pain reminds me of the damage hiding inside my shoe. I will do no running today. Standing is an achievement.
Scatch requires less movement. The ball will not roll away, as long as we are on the lawn. There are no points to be won or lost by quick movement. It is not a sport, it is only a game.
We will play scatch.
That’s very touching. An intimate realization subtly revealed.
Nice.
Comment by Prunella Farquar — May 15, 2009 @ 6:38 am
Challenge?
How many stars in your universe? How many planets? How many of those rotate around you?
Comment by Prunella Farquar — May 20, 2009 @ 5:11 am