Juggle Master

"You can't go to your friend's house until you get twelve in a row," said my dad as he walked back up to the house.

I sighed and clutched the orange and blue soccer ball under my arm. Twelve juggles in a row. Twelve times the ball had to hit my foot, fly in the air, come back down to my foot, go back in the air, come back down to my foot, fly in the air, and come back down. All without hitting the ground or being touched with my hands.

Here we go.

One. Smack! Too hard. Fall. One. Where the hell was that going? Fall. One. Too high-too high! Fall. One-ow damn it! My face! Fall. One-whack-it's in the air. Move your body... I got underneath the ball as it came back down-two! Fall. I try again. I get the ball in the air, determined to get the number up to twelve. Five minutes pass but it feels like fifty. Finally there is a breakthrough.
One-two-thrrrreeeeee-four! Fall. Four. What an achievement! My face is getting red, and heat is rising in my cheeks. It's so damn humid out and the mosquitos are ravenous. Renee is waiting down the street.

Again.

One. One. One. One-two. One-two. One-two. One---two-three-four-keep your eye on the ball! Fall. One-two-three-four---up in the air--five---oh my God I'm past five!-six-oh shit, get under it!sssseven-eight----nine-ten-the sticky rubber material of the ball gets caught against the material of my cleat and rolls off my foot. Fall. Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Stupid ball! I threw the ball up in the air and punted it as hard as I could. It soared to the very back of our yard and came bouncing back down...

 only to roll straight into the creek. 

Sigh...

#12


Reference for blog: http://tobefree27.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-sun-had-fallen-but-night-was-still.html