Kickball
April, 1977
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There once lived a kickball team that never lost a game because of a player named Mark. It was a little league team but it was the best. Actually it was the second best. The first best was a big bully team that beat up every body. They gave them black eyes and some times broke their bones! The big bully team had no family and never went to school. They got money from stealing it! They were all ten and our team was all seven years old. We grew up and soon we were all ten and they were all thirteen years old. But once when we were in college… We beat the big bully team and Mark won the Heisman trophy in for kickball. |
Commentary: The autobiographical nature of "Kickball" is revealed both by the protagonist's name and in the move from third to first person in paragraph five. This story was written during a very difficult year for the author, one is which he moved to a new school and had trouble making friends. Most of the children at the new school played kickball during lunch and recess, a game the author had no talent for. There was a tennis court near the kickball area, and all the "cool" kids could kick the ball into this court, which resulted in an automatic home run. The author has a strong memory of a red rubber ball blotting out the sun as it arced gracefully over the tall baseline fence and into the tennis court. Though he dreamed of it, the author cannot recall ever kicking a home run.
"Kickball" allows the author to live the fantasy of kickball stardom. Note that the "big bully" team is ten, the precise age of the fifth graders that ruled the author's elementary school. The author considered ten to be "grown up," and good things start to happen for the protagonist and his team soon after attaining that magical age. It's interesting to note that the years between age ten and college (probably 17 or 18) are left to the reader's imagination.
The original edition of this story was written in a cardboard-bound book decorated with plaid wallpaper. Seeing the narrative on the Internet cannot compare to the visual impact of the printed version. Each paragraph of the story is written on its own page, and each page is illustrated. Unfortunately, these illustrations are not the author's doing; they were added by the author's friend David Anderson after the book was written. The author did not want the work illustrated, but Mr. Anderson was insistent and the author was afraid to tell Mr. Anderson no. Mr. Anderson eventually became director of communications for the Clinton White House and can be seen in the film "The War Room."
A final note: The day the author received "Kickball" back from his teacher, he was approached by a fifth-grader while walking home. The fifth-grader demanded to see the book, which the author was carrying under his arm. The author was afraid to show the fifth-grader the book, but he did so because he was even more afraid of being beaten up. The fifth grader's only comment was "There's no Heisman Trophy for kickball!"