Short
Story: Shared Pastimes
Hector Washington was
talking to his coach, Coach Blue, about their next game.
“Coach Blue I don’t see
why we have to play Rome, sports are our pastime. Not for the Romans, for the
USA,” Hector complained.
“Hector, sports don’t
belong to people, anybody should be allowed to play sports if they want to, and
I want to show other teams that,” Coach Blue explained. Hector stomped out of
the gym toward the front door of Mayflower
Middle School. Hector got into his car.
“How was your day
Hector?” Mrs. Washington asked.
“We have to play a Roman
basketball team on Friday!” Hector responded angrily.
“Well, it can’t be that
bad,” Mrs. Washington reasoned.
“Yes it is!” Hector
grunted. When they got home Hector went inside and up to his room. He went over
to his Mac, and started watching the Lakers game from the night before. He
hadn’t had time, because he was doing his homework. Right at halftime his mom
called him down for dinner. Hector dawdled down the stairs and over to the
dinner table.
After dinner Hector went
back upstairs, he was tired. He decided that he would finish the game tomorrow,
and went to bed early. Hector was having an amazing dream about being a
professional basketball player, when he was woken up by a splash of water on
his face. A ghostly figure that looked like Coach Blue stood in front of him.
“Coach Blue what are you
doing here?” Hector asked.
“I’m not Coach Blue, I’m
the ghost of basketball past,” The ghost replied, “I’m here to show you how important
sports are to the Romans,”
“I don’t care about
that!” Hector yelled softly. The ghost snapped his fingers, and they were in a
stadium. Hector looked around, there were a bunch of young men wearing leather
gauntlets and wooden bracers. It looked like they were playing volleyball.
“I have taken you to
ancient Rome, where these young men are playing balloon also known as wind
ball, it is like the modern game of volleyball,” The ghost explained. Hector
saw how much fun the Romans were having, then he sort of felt guilty. The ghost
told him he was going to get a chance to play balloon. For now he was going to
watch this game to learn the rules. Hector watched the intense game. Then he
got to play some too. He was running over to keep a ball from touching the
ground, when he realized he couldn’t touch it, and they couldn’t see him.
When he was done playing
balloon the ghost snapped his fingers again, and they were standing in a field.
The field was rectangular marked with boundary lines. The field was split by a
center line. The players were kicking around a ball. They were clearly
practicing for a game. The boy who had the ball was the only one being tackled,
but he kept getting up and kept running. Hector watched the game of harpastum,
and it was amazing. The strategy of these players was great. He got to play
around with a ball the ghost brought, and it was really fun.
Next, the ghost snapped
his fingers and they were in stadium crowded with Romans in the stands. The
ghost said that they were at a public sports game where chariot races and
theatrical performances took place. It was called the Ludi Games. Hector sat
down on the team benches next to the ghost. He watched the whole thing from the
bench, and he saw how exited the Romans in the stands were. Afterwards he got
to ride around on the horses, and he told them all of his feelings. Even though
he knew they couldn’t hear him. After he got off the horse, he was immediately
back in his bed listening to Beep Beep
Beep Beep. Hector reached over to his alarm clock, and turned it off.
Hector got up, got
dressed, and went down cheerfully to breakfast. His mom didn’t bother asking,
she knew he didn’t keep grudges that long. After breakfast Hector brushed his
teeth and put his books in his backpack, then he got into his car. School
seemed to drag on and on for Hector. As soon as the second bell rang in seventh
period Hector jumped up and ran toward his locker. When he got to the gym most
of his team was already there, because they had gym seventh period.
Once the team got there
Hector announced, “This might sound stupid, but last night the ghost of
basketball past took me to ancient Rome. I watched them play their sports, and
they were really enjoying themselves. They should be able to play sports too.
So I say we give them the best of the Pilgrims
and beat the rubber off their basketballs, and their mouths off their faces.
Who’s with me?”
“We are, let’s do this!”
The whole team yelled.
