Playing Ball

 There was a video on Facebook of a dog on a balcony, on the second floor.  He would drop a ball, and sometimes people would pick it up and throw it back to him.  He'd drop it again and it was thrown back.  Facebook

Would you throw it back?  Are you the type of person to play with a dog?

Maybe I would.  It depended upon whether or not I was focused in conversation with someone.  Maybe I wouldn't notice a ball dropping down, unless it hit me on the head.

This got me thinking of the many times, playing with a ball involved others.  When my family lived in the city, we lived across the street from a school.  A couple of times the school's playground ball landed in my neighbor's yard.  You know; one of the big red balls.  When the neighbor came home from work, he picked it up and kept it.  Eventually, he gave it to my kids.  I don't know why he didn't throw it back.  Maybe he was waiting for the school kids to come ask him for it.  Maybe the kids weren't allowed to cross the street.  Anyway, we ended up with the ball.

Another time, I was visiting a "cloistered brother," in the Trenton, New Jersey prison.  I heard stories that once in a while a ball would come sailing over the wall and an inmate would throw it back over the wall.  A game of catch was played.

Lastly, is where I currently live.  When we first moved here, the neighbor behind us had one of those tall stockade fences. When the kids played wiffle ball, once in a while the ball would be hit hard and went over the neighbor's fence.  He kept the ball!  We even heard him yell, "What! Are you doing it on purpose???!!"

Actually, the kids called his fence, The Green Monster.