A Lesson On The Basketball Court

Do you remember my big brother Kevin, the football star, A student, number one stud, and card counter?  Yeah, that's him, the guy with it all.

His rep started early, taking off at Kelly Middle School.  Mom insisted that Kevin keep an eye on his little brother for the first day of school.  We walked a mile from our brick row house to Kelly, clowning around.

That summer, a new development had been built on the North side of town.  Big houses, big shots, or at least the kids from that neighborhood thought they were.

Being new, they hadn't heard of Kevin.  One got to know him real well on that first day of school.

During the lunch break, the older kids took over the basketball net on the edge of the asphalt parking lot.  Some of the younger kids played dodge ball.  Hoping to play basketball some day, I watched that.

Kevin and his buddies had started a game of horse, when three new kids from the big houses came over.

"We're going to play," one of them announced, pushing Kevin to get to the ball.

"Just stay out of my way," he grunted.

Big mistake.  I rolled my eyes, along with Kevin's buddies.

Kevin slapped the ball loose, drained a fifteen foot jump shot, caught the ball on its first bounce, and threw it to the new kid with enough force to knock him back two feet.

"Your shot," Kevin said, showing his teeth in what could have been mistaken for a smile.

After the kid's fifth miss, Kevin grabbed the rebound.

"That spells horse," Kevin said, throwing the ball right at the kid's face, giving him a bloody nose.

Sure, Kevin got into some trouble, but nobody ever told him to stay out of the way again.