Bright Ideas

The other day I was just sitting, looking out my front window and noticed two teenage boys standing in the neighbor's yard.  They looked too young to drive, but old enough to be bored with life.  The kind of bored that makes you come up with genius ideas to entertain yourself that border on possible bodily harm.

They were standing on the opposite side of the driveway from the other one.  They had a big rubber ball.  The rubber wasn't as thick as the kind that you used in dodgeball in school, but the same size.  Maybe a little more lightweight.  They were bouncing it and throwing it back and forth to each other. 

I was kind of moving around, doing some things but I kept looking out the window at them from time to time.  All of a sudden there was a little more organization to what they were doing.  Maybe that is what caught my eye.  Since they were across the street and down a ways, I had no idea what they were saying, but it became obvious quickly.  From my seat, I could see that the rules of the game were that the guy without the ball had to stand still with his hands at his side (without protecting himself with his hands) and let the fella with the ball take his best shot.  I have two brothers, so I am familiar with this game.  It either ends in laughter or you spend a ton of time trying to catch the person that just threw the ball at you, so that you can kill them.

So, tall, lanky teenage boy #1 gets in position with his hands at his side, waiting for the ball to come at him.  Shaggy haired, stocky boy #2 winds up and throws the rubber ball directly at his friend.  He nails him straight in the face.  Boy #1's head whips back from impact.  Both boys are bent over laughing so hard that I am now laughing out loud by myself in my house.

After a few minutes of laughing and what appears to be a little smack talk, the ball is thrown over to teenage boy #2.  Teenage boy #1 gets in position with his hands at his side.  Boy #2 winds up and delivers an extremely fast and accurate throw and hits Boy #1 directly in the crotch.  Boy #1 falls to the ground.  I have tears running down my face from laughing so hard.

I am not sure what happened after that, as my three ran in the door from school.  The last thing I wanted to do was draw attention to the teenage boys and prematurely introduce this game to my kids.  They have enough bright ideas on their own.  Plus, as I naturally learned this game with my own brothers, so will they.  No need to rush into things.

So far, I like my new neighborhood.