Everything in Between

Tuesday, August 27th 1991

'Fuck naw. I'm not gettin' it.'

'C'mon dude. In and out, real quick. We promise.'

'No way man. I'm not falling for that shit... again.'

'Joe you HAVE to! You're the smallest one here. None of us can get under there.'

'Nope.'

'Alright, fuck you then dude. We'll just play kill-the-man without the ball and you're it.'

'Fine, I'm goin' home. I ain't gotta play shit!'

Joe turned his back to the group of boys that had gathered around him and began stomping away in the direction of the grassy ditch where he left his bike. Keith, one of the kids from the group, jogged after him and halted his progress.

'Seriously Joe, no fucking around this time. I swear. We need the ball so we need you. For real... if you help us then we'll help you. C'mon Joe...' Keith paused in a moment of sincerity.

'Fine.' Joe pouted his way back over towards the group.

He cut through the middle of the rambunctious herd of school boys busy, cursing, wrestling, laughing and spitting into the wind. He stopped in front of a chain link fence nearly ten feet high with three rows of barbed-wire set across the top. Inside the fence, two enormous blue pastel tanks hummed and throbbed with energy. None of the kids knew what was inside the bulky metal cylinders or cared enough to investigate. As far as they were concerned, the fence's only purpose was to mark the back of the end zone when they played football.

'Ty, he's gonna go in.' Keith motioned to his friend and Ty jogged over to join them.

Ty was thirteen. Tall for his age, skinny, light-skinned black kid with slanted eyes and a box haircut that had a step shaved into the left side. His hair changed frequently. His dad was a barber and would frequently cut a Gumby, a step or multiple steps and numerous lines with intricate designs that decorated the sides and back of his head. Ty pulled his red sweatpants up as he trotted over to help Keith with the fence. The two of them gripped the bottom of the chain links. Keith took the lead.

'Alright, on the count of three... one, two, three!'

The pair grunted and flexed their arms as they pulled the bottom of the stiff fence from the grass below. They lifted the fence just enough for Joe to roll underneath, clipping his shirt on a link and slowing his progress.

'Get in there Joe, shit!'

Joe unhooked himself and rolled the rest of the way in. Keith and Ty dropped the fence and let out a gasp of relief as soon as they let go, shaking the fence's indention from their hands and smiling. Joe found the football by the base of the right tank. He snatched it up and walked back over to where he had entered. His unkempt dirty blonde mullet bouncing around his bony face.

'Toss it over.' Keith put his hands up showing Joe he was ready to receive the pass. Ty ran a half-hearted post pattern to encourage Joe to throw the ball out, making him feel like a real QB.

'Nope. Not until you let me out. I ain't fuckin' stupid!'

'Joe... you are fucking stupid if you think me and Ty can lift the fence high enough to get you and the ball underneath at the same time. Just toss it over and we'll get you out of there.'

'We can figure it out. I seen you guys do it with Thomas before.' Joe was tossing the ball to himself in a way that mocked the kids on the outside. He had the ball so he had the upper hand in negotiations.

'Thomas!' Keith yelled over to his friend who was busy in a heated competition with the other kids, trying to see who could hit the far pine tree with a rock first. 'Thomas! Dude... did we ever pull you out of the fence while you were holding the football!?'