Out for our walk this morning a familiar noise was coming from the grade school in our neighborhood (the same one I attended when I was in sixth grade). Lyra was extremely interested in the noise and it actually felt good to hear it.
As we walked past I kept a side glance at the game. I noticed that most of the players were boys, all in fact, except for one girl. She seemed to be uninhibited by the gender difference and instead was running and yelling at each swing of the leg.
That would have been me. Back on the playground at Lincoln Elementary School in Cudahy I was always one of the first people chosen for a team. My swim practice had strengthened my legs and I had a natural talent at catching the ball before it hit the ground. Yup, I was the ringer on the team. But my favorite part of the game was when you caught a grounder and could really smack a runner with the ball. I would always aim for the face if it was a boy that harassed me. Hey, all is fair in kickball!
The best games were after eating lunch. You see, since so many kids walked home for lunch they would give you an extra long break - almost a full hour. If you ate your lunch fast enough and grabbed the ball first you could get to the diamond on the blacktop and start the game going. I would open my 'Banana Splits' metal lunch box, take three large bites from my sandwich, scoop my pudding cup using my potato chips, toss my garbage and be out of the school in under 5 minutes. I wanted to be one of the captains because then you could set up a fairly good team.
In those days girls couldn't wear pants to school. Dress code demanded skirts or dresses. It would be a few more years before I was finally able to wear pants. But nothing said I couldn't wear shorts under my skirt, which made it easier to kick a ball and run at recess. Doing so without shorts could be costly on windy days. Or the famous 'dress up' day (when boys would grab the sides of the skirt and lift it up to show your panties). I was never caught off-guard. My underwear choice was of no concern to anyone but me.
Our games would go on for weeks, or until someone kicked the ball on top
of the school - which wasn't difficult on the Kindergarten wing, which
was only a one story structure. Then you'd have to wait until the end of
the school year when the janitor would go on top and throw back all the
balls, Frisbee's and hula hoops (it can happen) to the kids below.
It was good to watch the game as we walked past, to see the kids doing something physical. The game hadn't changed in all those years, and the fun that could be had with a rubber play ground ball brought back so many memories.
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