Down at the schoolyard Oobi rocked on the swing. His feet dragged against the sand as he swayed back and forth, thinking about what he could do that day. He stared across the hot asphalt hoping to see some children to play with, but all he saw were black birds on the field and cars on the streets. “Where were all the kids?” He wondered to himself. “Where have they all gone?”
Cannubi couldn’t care less. The field was a grand place to be even with no children. Look at all the birds he could chase, and maybe even catch one. Watch how fast he could run, and feel the wind inside of his mouth.
Oobi let out a pitiful sigh.
As the last bit of air escaped his breath, as the last bit of self-pity fell from his lips, around the corner swaggered Tyree Jefferson.
“Hey,” said Oobi, as he hopped off the swing. “Watcha doing?”
“Going home. Gotta water the plants and the backyard.”
“Oh,” said Oobi. A small circle of disappointment formed on his mouth.
“How come you haven’t gone to the fair?” Tyree asked. “It’s really cool. In fact look what I won.” Then Tyree pulled out of his pocket a translucent ball with small electrical connections embedded inside. “Isn’t it cool?” And he pushed the ball in front of Oobi’s face.
“What does it do?” Oobi questioned.
“It’s a lightening ball!” Exclaimed Tyree. “When I bounce it on the ground it lights up in different patterns and sparkles in the night. Tonight I’m going to catch with it against the garage door.”
“Could I come over and play catch with you too?” The question came out as excitedly as Tyree had said it.
“I guess. But why don’t you see if you can get one for yourself. It’s not that hard,” said Tyree. “All you gotta do is knock down some metal milk bottles with a baseball. And you can throw a baseball can’t you?”
“Sure I can, said Oobi. “I can throw harder than any person on my street.” He made that statement with much emphasis, even though he was the only boy on the street, and he knew the two girls that lived down the corner were much younger than he was.
“Well then, good luck,” Tyree wished Oobi, and then he bounced the lightening ball on the ground as it sparkled back into his hands. “I gotta go or my mom will be really mad.” Off Tyree jogged, lightening ball and all, leaving Oobi with the image of the magic ball still dancing in his head.
When Oobi got home he could hardly contain his excitement. “Mom!” He shouted. The screen door didn’t even have a chance to close. “We’ve gotta go to the fair so that I can win a lightening ball! It’s the most amazing ball I’ve ever seen. I can play catch with it at night and it sparkles different patterns and never the same!” Oobi’s mother came out of the bathroom, wiping her hands.
“What did you say boy?” She looked down and kissed him on the head.
And this time Oobi told the story again, this time with even more embellishment. He told about how the ball could come back to you no matter where you threw it. How it changed color. And by the time dinner came around, and dear old Pannubi was at the table, the lightening ball had the ability to go around corners, it could disappear, and even go under water for great lengths at a time.
“Well,” said Pannubi, “if it does all those things. Then I guess we better go to the fair and see if we can’t win one for ourselves.” Then the family cleared the table and set off for the fair.
The fair was wonderfully lit, and all the rides swirled around in the night air. Cotton candy bounced around in children’s hands, and candy apples glistened with shiny redness. Oobi ran down one aisle and down another. He furtively searched out the game that could let him win the lightening ball.
“Don’t you want to ride the merry-go-round?” His mother asked.
“Nope.”
“Don’t you want to ride the Ferris wheel?” His father asked longingly.
“Nope.”
“Not even the roller coaster?”
“Not even the roller coaster.” Oobi said through gritted teeth. “We’ve gotta win the lightening ball before there’s none left.” He marched down the midway turning his head in every direction. And then he saw it. There was the game. The milk bottle game, the game that would win Oobi the lightening ball.
“Come on dad. Let’s do it.” Oobi dragged his father by the arm that paid the man dollars upon dollars to knock the milk bottles down. But milk bottles for some reason didn’t fall. They stood like metal soldiers that refused to fall down. “Come on dad. We’ve got to win the lightening ball.” The lightening balls sat in a box flickering between giant stuffed dinosaurs.
“I don’t think I can do it Oobi.” Pannubi shook his head sadly. “For some reason they don’t want to fall down. I guess I don’t have the arm I used to. Let’s go do something else, we’ve spent enough money already.” And with that he patted Oobi on the head and tried to drag him away. But Oobi stood firmly.
“Tyree Jefferson did it dad! If Tyree Jefferson can do it, you can do it!” And then he tried to reach in his father’s pockets for another dollar.
“Hey Oobi,” Pannubi pulled Oobi’s hands out of his pockets. “Don’t do that again. I’ll give you your last chance, and then that’s it.” Pannubi was angry, his face was flushed from Oobi’s insistence, but when he saw that look of desperation in the boy’s eyes, he gave the boy a stern look, and then one last dollar.
Oobi quickly pressed the dollar in the carnival man’s hand, who like a cat, stuffed the bill into his apron and then produced the ball to Oobi with his other hand. Oobi strained as hard as he could. He stared at the milk bottles as if he could make them soft and spongy, and fall over with just a blow from his breath. Then he wound up and threw as hard as he could. He fired the ball so hard that he fell on his bottom. He threw the ball so hard that his arm ached for two days. He threw so hard that he felt faint and dizzy. And when he looked up, there sat the three milk bottles. Never bothered, never fazed.
The carnival attendant rubbed the bruise on his head where the ball bounced, then bent down and picked up his fallen cigarette. “You know kid, you’re worse than that other boy that almost broke my sign. I don’t think I can afford to let you to play here again, so here take this consolation prize and don’t come back.” The carnival man reached into the box and gave Oobi a ball. “Now go on kid and go ride a ride.”
Oobi looked down and saw the lightening ball in his hands. He let out a squeal of delight and skipped down the midway, the lightning ball flickering along with all the lights of the carnival.