Perfect Girl Express (ON HOLD)

Chapter 11

I nod my head getting off his lap and waiting for him to tell me what we will be doing. I decided that I would go back to not speaking since that nightmare kind of took the breath out of me.

Damien gets up and leads me downstairs, we head to his backyard. He goes to a little shed toward the back and brings out three different colored balls. I wondered what they were and then Damien took out some more things. There was a bat, a hoop, and a glove. He scattered them around the grass and came back over to me.

"Do you know what sports are?" He asked.

I think for a moment and remember that the facility taught us men like playing and watching those things. They said it was a man thing. I nod my head. He walks over to the ball that's orange and has black stripes on it.

"This is called a basketball," he says handing it to me, "you can bounce it."

I take the ball and look at it closely. It is medium sized and it has tiny dots on it. I bounce it once and it comes back up to me. I catch it and bounce it again, and again, and again.

"Yeah! You got it, your a natural." He says. I smile and hand the ball back to him. He puts it down and goes to get the hoop. He drags it toward the concrete and puts it up. He takes the ball bounces it three times and throws it into the basket in the hoop.

"That's why it's called basketball. The objective is to get the ball into the basket." He explains. I nod my head and take the ball from his hands. I take a step back and throw the ball toward the hoop. The ball hits the board and comes right back to me. I frown and throw it again. It does the same thing and I become frustrated. I was about to throw it again when Damien stops me.

"There is a technique to throwing the ball. You have to put one hand on the bottom and the other on the side." He says taking the ball and showing me.

"You use the hand on the bottom of the basketball to push the ball up and into the hoop." He says pushing the ball up to show me.

He gives me the ball and I do what he says. I push the ball up and it goes no where near the basket. I look at him confused, I mean I did what he said.

He laughs a little," that is what we call an air ball. It's when the ball doesn't even touch the rim."

He goes to get the ball and gives it back to me. I try again and this time I make it. I smile and jump up and down.

"I made it in!" I say very excited.

"Yes you did Sawn!" He says and puts his hand in the air.

I look at his hand and then to him. I guess he wants me to shake it. Maybe that is how you congratulate someone in basketball. I turn his hand and shake it. He laughs again and I am confused once again.

"I guess they never taught you how to high-five either," he says. I shake my head and give him a look to say "explain".

"A high-five is when your hand and someone else's hand connect like they are clapping." He takes his hands and puts them together in a real fast motion.

I do the same thing with my hands and I laugh a little.

"So it is like I am using my hand to congratulate your hand." I say.

"Um I guess you could say that," Damien says,"you want to try it?"

I nod my head and put my hand in the air. He puts his up and I connect mine with his.

"It makes a clapping sound too," I say high-five him over and over.

"Alright Sawn don't kill my hand now," he says stopping my hand.