Time Warp: Play Ball

[Jeff McIntosh]

July 2008

---

It was a hot, humid day and Jeff was loving it. His t-shirt was soaked with sweat and husky drool and his bangs were sticking to his face, which was the sign of a great day. Bear bounded around the yard, woofing in puppy excitement as Jeff kicked around a soccer ball with his younger siblings. Noticeably absent was Nick, who was visiting a friend down the street. (A girl. Ew.)

But Jeff couldn't be too disappointed, because Joey and David were playing with him, and their new puppy Bear was trying to join in the fun.

Their mother was in the house folding laundry; their dad was at work. It was just the three of them.

Jeff kicked the ball in the direction of Joey with as much force as he could muster, expecting his sibling to kick it back to him.  

[Joelle McIntosh]

It was way too hot outside, but today was one of those days that their mother encouraged them to be outside. Quite honestly, Joey would have been happier at the pool, but David and Jeff didn't want to go. They'd wanted to do soccer instead. Joey had dutifully followed his brothers outside and tried to play.

The problem was, he'd never been very good at sports involving a ball. It wasn't for lack of trying. His hand-eye coordination was just terrible. But he wanted to be like his brothers, so he tried.

He was torn between watching Bear and watching Jeff with the ball. The little fluffy puppy was so much fun! It looked like he wanted to play too. Maybe if they gently kicked the ball to him he could!

Those thoughts were quickly dismissed when the ball came flying at him. Joey yelped and closed his eyes, kicking blindly at the ball. His foot came nowhere near it, and he ended up crashing down in the grass right on his butt.

"Soccer's dumb!"

[Jeff McIntosh]

David, with all the maturity of five, pointed and laughed when Joey fell over. "You're supposed to kick the ball, not the grass! That's so silly!" 

At the same time, Jeff exclaimed, "Soccer's not dumb!" 

His expression was wounded; soccer was one of the best sports ever, tied only with football. Maybe actually better than football, because their dad coached his soccer team. 

He dashed after the ball, then carefully placed it down beside Joey.

"Here, you kick it like this, watch my leg, okay?" 

He punted the ball up into the air; it arced over the yard, bouncing twice as it hit the grass. Then it rolled to a stop right before it would have disappeared into the hedges. Jeff darted to fetch it again, quick on his feet, then brought it back to Joey. 

"Now you try." 

"No, it's my turn!" David yelped impatiently, but Jeff shook his head. 

"You can have a turn in a minute, David. It'll be more fun if Joey actually kicks the ball with us."

[Joelle McIntosh]

Joey huffed out his breath and crossed his arms as David laugh. “’s not funny David!” He stuck out his tongue at his brother before getting back on his feet. He had grass stains all over his shorts now. Gross.

He really didn’t want to try again, but Jeff was being nice enough to coach him, just he’d seen their dad do for Jeff at soccer practice. (Joey didn’t like to play, but he was okay watching.) Frowning at the offending ball, he watched Jeff kick it. Jeff always kicked it so good. It did the pretty arc thing and everything.

Yeah, no way could he kick it like that.

Still, he nudged his foot against the ball tentatively. It was fun to play with his brothers, even if he sucked at it. “Okay…” Testing his foot against the ball again, he tried to kick it just like Jeff did.

And it worked. Sort of. Except he caught it on the side of his foot, not on the top, and while did did arc… it bounced off the side of the house before heading into the hedge. Still, it was better than the first try. “I did it!”

[Jeff McIntosh]

"You're getting the hang of it!" Jeff gave his younger sibling an encouraging pat on the shoulder while David ran over to the hedge, staring in displeasure at the leafy barrier. 

"It disappeared!" He objected, peering between the branches unhappily. 

Jeff dashed towards the younger McIntosh, crouching down to look beneath the hedge. 

"It's not disappeared," He disagreed, falling flat on his stomach and reaching a hand under the hedge. Branches scratched at his exposed arm, but he couldn't reach the ball. 

"Joey! Can you bring me a stick or a brook or something?" 

[Joelle McIntosh]

At Jeff's praise, Joey smiled and decided that maybe soccer wasn't the worst thing ever. Maybe if Jeff kept coaching him like this, he'd start getting better. Then maybe he could play on the team like Jeff. That would probably make everyone happy, right? Being more like his brothers.

As Jeff ran towards the hedge, Joey trailed after him. He hadn't gotten it that stuck, had he? Peeking anxiously over his brothers, Joey frowned a little. Yep, it was stuck.

But Jeff knew what to do. He always did! At his command, Joey turned to find a stick. It took a minute of patrolling the yard, but he finally found one at the other end of the lawn. Grabbing it, he came running back and offered it to his big brother. "Is this one okay?"

[Jeff McIntosh]

Jeff pushed himself up  in order to examine the stick Joey had brought him. "Yup. That's good," He conceded, reaching for it. He flopped back onto his stomach, wiggling the stick under the hedge towards the ball. He pushed at the side of the ball, rolling it forward, then hit it again and it shot out and towards his two younger brothers. 

"Quick! Someone get it!"

[Joelle McIntosh]

As the ball came flying out, Joey chased after his, his arms wide open in order to grab it. His hand-eye coordination left much to be desired, however, and as he went for it, he kicked it, causing it to shoot across the grass.

He seriously stunk at sports.

Groaning, he ran after it again, getting behind it this time and trying to kick it like Jeff showed him. This time it went better on track, skidding back towards his brothers. "It's coming back!" Hopefully the game would go better now.

[Jeff McIntosh]

David ran off after the ball, kicking it in an arc towards Jeff, who caught the ball against his shins, bouncing it into the air only to kick it again, this time trying to aim towards Joey.

"Coming back at ya!" He called out, hoping that his younger sibling would be able to score a hit this time.

[Joelle McIntosh]

"Eeek!" Joey screwed his eyes shut and kicked blindly at the ball again as Jeff sent it his way. He did manage to kick it, but barely, and it practically crawled back towards David. Opening his eyes, he peeked at the ball and winced a little at the slow speed it was going.

"'m never gonna be good at this." He'd rather do gymnastics and swimming than chase a ball around. Still, at least his brothers included him.

[Jeff McIntosh]

David grabbed the ball and threw it towards Jeff before stomping back towards the house. 

"This is stupid!" He complained, "Let's go do something else." 

Jeff caught the ball, giving Joey an apologetic grimace. "Maybe we can play video games?" He suggested. He preferred athletics, but video games weren't a terrible substitute, particularly since his younger brother really was atrocious at this. 

[Joelle McIntosh]

"Hey! David!" Joey scurried after him. He hadn't meant to upset him! Maybe he just needed more practice with Dad, or just with Jeff...

"'m sorry I suck," he mumbled, tugging on a loose piece of hair behind his ear. "Maybe Dad can teach me to be better." He coached Jeff's soccer team, after all. He had to know how to make him better. Somehow.

"... Maybe?" Video games were preferable, mostly because he was a lot better at them than sports. Swiping his hand across his forehead, he headed towards the house. He needed a drink anyway. "We could play MarioKart?"

[Jeff McIntosh]

Jeff was confident that their dad could help Joey. He wasn't much of a coach (yet), but their dad? He'd taught Jeff and Nick, and even some of the other boys on the team who had seemed hopeless to Jeff had improved with a little patient coaching. 

"Dad'll get you playing like a pro," He predicted. "But we can play MarioKart for now." 

[fin?]