Brendan McCarthy

Mr. Jockers

ILA Period 2

February 10th, 2017

 

Stuck

 

I biked across the quiet intersection on the sunny morning in the summer. The road I was going down was a dead end, but I knew an alternate route.  At the end of the road there was a small gate entangled in vines. I was careful going through the gate. I got off my bike and rolled it through the tight opening The field was very muddy but I avoided all of the puddles. I arrived at sherwood farm then crossed the road to HKMS. I biked down to the ECC. I arrived at the gazebo, to find Derek there.  The trees looked huge above me. I looked up to see an old basketball stuck up there.

¨Ay wassup¨ Derek said in a goofy voice.

¨Hey Derek” I replied in a weird voice as well.

¨When are Tommy and John going to get here?¨

¨They said they’d be here soon…¨ Derek said.

Soon after we heard a loud noise in the distance, sort of a scream. We immediately figured that it was John or Tommy. Derek made a loud noise in reply. They then arrived on their bikes.

After we greeted each other John asked

¨Did you bring your ball?¨

¨Yeah¨, I replied.

I pulled out my old blue and white Nike ball out of my small backpack.

¨When do you guys want to go down to the field?¨ Derek asked.

Behind the ECC there is a large field. Also inside the ECC are vending machines.

¨After we eat and drink” Tommy said

“Okay” We walk to the ECC.

It was so hot outside so when we stepped inside the ECC we felt a brush of cool air onto ourselves. I was hungry and thirsty so when I saw the vending machine my mouth watered.

There was Ruffles and Dr.Pepper and Lays and Coke and fruit snacks and Gatorade and I was so excited. I got a Dr.Pepper.

After we ate and drank we biked down to the empty fields behind the ECC. We went to the far corner of the field because that was the only place that had shade from trees. The trees hung over the field and gave a nice cool place to play.

It was very hot out and some slight cool wind felt great. We could hear cars driving from across the woods. There was a lawn mower driving around the field and campers playing games on the other side of the field. There was green grass green trees, and green everywhere. It was a beautiful day.  We decided to kick the ball in the air as high was we could and then see if we could control it with just our feet. We all took turns trying. It went in the woods a few times. We were just grateful it hadn’t gotten stuck in a tree yet…

But then it did.

It was my turn to kick it and I didn’t realize how close I was to the tree. I kicked it in the air, looked up. I watched it go flying into the thick tree.

It made a rustling noise, the noise stopped. I was expecting to hear more then it it to fall out of the air.  But it didn’t. I looked up to not see the ball anywhere. All I saw was green leaves and branches. I backed up to see the tree from a distance. I still didn’t see it anywhere. After continuing to change perspectives to try and find where the ball was, I finally found it. I had to go directly under the tree and look at it from a weird angle to see it. It was tightly lodged between two branches. Over by the baseball field there were dugouts, which had a few lost baseballs in them, we figured we could use them to throw at the ball to try and get it out.  

After what felt like hours, we gave up. I was too tired to keep going. It seemed impossible. I had come so close so many times and I was too tired to keep going.

I had to go home earlier than everyone else because I had to go somewhere with my family that day.  I was annoyed at myself because I felt like I would never get my ball back. It started to rain a ton and was very windy outside. I wondered if they were still at the field.  

When I got home from doing stuff with my family my phone started to ring. It  was John. I thought that he just wanted to talk or something. I picked up.

¨Hey¨

¨Your ball fell down and we just found it.¨ John said

¨I’ll give it to you tomorrow´

¨Okay, I replied.”

I was very relieved because my ball was found. I didn’t think it would ever come down, It was so tightly jammed in between the two thick branches I thought It would be up there until the tree falls down.

I learned to be more careful with my belongings and to always have spacial awareness.