Make Up Rules

"I'm probably gonna fall"
"Maybe just put your hand on my shoulder and I'll walk with you"
"Okay," Anthony stepped his right sneaker up onto the skateboard and put his small glove on the top of  my shoulder.
"Ready? Go."

After cleaning up from lunch, Rachel and I plopped down on the couch and continued our
conversation. "I don't have the same gifts as you, Rachel, I can't just meet people and strike up a conversation like you can. Maybe I'd rather organize some event or have people over or something. Like a block party. For me, a block party would be a great thing for our neighborhood."

Rachel looked out the street-facing window. "How about that kid," nodding to the lone fifth-grader across the street, playing on what was left of the neighbor's grass. Only days earlier, cops stomped up this same lawn, guns drawn. They had received an emergency call regarding one of our most notorious neighbors, Buddy*. But today there were no policemen, just Anthony tossing a football high up in the air and catching it again. "Looks like he needs someone to play with."
I grabbed my jacket, sneakers and skateboard. I opened the door as a twenty-five-year-old and stepped out thinking like an eleven-year-old.

"I think I can make it all the way to the white car," chipped Anthony as he picked up my skateboard and ran back up the street. His friend, Amaya**, had come out too, playing on another skateboard. After a few more runs, Anthony rode right up to me and got off his skateboard. "Will you play football with us?" he asked, smiling up at me. It was literally freezing and my hands were brittle and numb in the cold. "Sure, Anthony." What else have I got to do on a Sunday afternoon than run patterns, throw interceptions, make up rules, punt a football on the neighbor's roof, and switch teams with a couple of fifth-graders?



*Yes, this is the same guy who initiated this dramatic incident a month ago. We've had our fair share of scares from that house.
**For those of you who are curious, the answer is yes. Yes, this is the same Amaya who won second place in the twenty-fifth annual Michigan state punt, pass & kick competition at the Lions game. And she's my neighbor. Booya.