I took it maybe my last trip to the Calvin University nature preserve on Sunday. Weather was in the mid 70s, which is remarkable in Michigan.
I went to the deck and there was a mother and her two little daughters already there. One of them obsessed about putting anything in the pond. She grounded up some leaves and tossed them in the water. Then some twigs. Then she found a Nerf football and was planning to drop that in when her mother intervened and told her not to.
Disappointed, she decided to fling the ball away from the water. Right to me.
It was hardly a perfect spiral. More like a punt floating above me. I was able to move my arms enough to make an attempted catch. I summoned up all the power the gods would give me. I flung the arms outward and the ball bounced off my hands and onto the deck.
“You dropped it,” she said.
“It was a bad pass,” I retorted.
Her mother admonished her behavior. Her better behaving sister took an interest in me and asked what my blue straw was for.
“It’s for drinking water,” I told her.
She followed the straw that was attached to my water bottle in the back of my wheelchair.
“I see it’s held up by a water bottle holder.”
“That’s right.”
She read my sticker on the bottle. “Who is Howard?”
“That’s me. What’s your name?”
“Esther.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Esther.”
“It’s nice to meet you too.”
Her misbehaving sister was trying to toss a branch twice her length into the pond but her mom intervened again. Fortunately, she did not throw this toward me.
It was time to find a quieter spot. I said goodbye to Esther and her mother. No goodbye to her bad sister.
So I fumbled the opportunity to catch a ball. It was nice talking with Esther for a while. Kids are so inquisitive with little filters.
Showing off my family Greek heritage!
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