110. Summertime Solo Play
Growing up in the country on Grandpa’s farm, especially when we didn’t do much farming, I had time to play; mostly by myself. My grandparents had passed on, we had some chickens, but there were no cows to care for, and no TV. Once in a while, we did put in a crop, or bring in hay from the fields, but Daddy worked in town and we had sharecroppers work the property. Neighbor kids were not close by, and those my age were doing chores and helping with the farm work, and not available for play.
One activity I could do by myself was archery. Mom had a wooden bow that was the perfect size for me. I rolled the big round straw target out of the garage, and first set it up in front of the garage door. But if I missed the target and hit the door, the arrow cracked. Not good! Archery was fun, but with the target in the driveway, I had to go retrieve the arrows both in, and way beyond the target.
I “borrowed” my sister’s tennis racquet and bounced a ball against the side of the house. That was fun until I broke the side window in my bedroom. Not good! One of my favorite activities was shooting. I set tin cans on the fence posts at the back of the yard by the garden, and plinked them off with my bee bee gun. But then, I had to go and put the cans back up again to continue. Before I was smart enough to shoot tin cans on the fence posts, I used old light bulbs. Not good! Mom made me pick up all the broken glass.
I wanted to find something to do that didn’t have extra “work” or problems. Finally, throwing the tennis ball up on the roof above the kitchen seemed perfect because it rolled back down to me. It worked great until I threw the ball too hard and it went over the top of the house and was lost forever somewhere in the rock garden. Oh well, it was all fun while it lasted!
SOLO BALL GAME
I tossed the ball high in the air,
Expecting I would catch it.
But I almost always missed it,
And I’d have to go and fetch it.
I hit the ball against the house,
It bounced back really good.
But then I broke a window,
So I didn’t think I should.
I threw the ball up on the roof.
It rolled back down to me.
At last I’d found a ball game,
With no problem I could see!
I threw the ball up on the roof.
It rolled clear over the top.
That was the end of the ball game.
‘Cuz then I had to stop.
It wasn’t that I’d done a wrong.
No, it wasn’t that at all.
When I went around the house,
I couldn’t find the ball!