Twenty-Seven Minutes

“You’re going down.”

Jeff nodded, then turned towards the makeshift bench.  His eyes narrowed, as he grabbed his right ear, wiggled his nose and stuck his tongue out.  Sitting on the makeshift bench made of two overturned buckets and a big rock, his two friends nodded in understanding.  They paused as they contemplated the unspoken message, then responded.  Each message was unique.  Ears were tugged, feet were kicked and eyes were blinked.  One hat even turned sideways.  

Jeff spat in the dirt and rubbed it with his heel.  Message received.

He turned his attention to the pitcher who was pawing at the ground like a bull.  “I will destroy you” his eyes said.  His ripped pants and missing front teeth said otherwise, but the eyes don’t lie.  This was serious business.

Jeff’s hands gripped the bat tightly, and the sound of leather grinding as he twisted it in his gloved hands signalled that it was time.

The first ball hit him right in the shoulder.  Luckily he flinched back and lifted his arm at the last moment.

“Oh come on Curt, what the heck?!”

Curt kicked at the hat on the ground that marked the pitcher’s mound looking sheepish.  

“Sorry!  Sorry, sorry”  he grimaced, his slight lisp exaggerated by his missing teeth.  To be fair, he had lost those teeth several weeks before due to a wild pitch from Joe, who gave a loud “whoop whoop” from the outfield.

The second pitch was dead on but Jeff swung so hard he missed and lost his balance, just barely catching himself.

Cheers from the outfield.  “Strike that asshole!” Ian’s dirty mouth was easily recognizable.  Then the obligatory “Sooorry” as he covered his mouth and looked around to see if any adults were in hearing distance.  His mom had a way of appearing that spooked everybody.

From the makeshift bench, even Ernie ran his hands through his hair.  “Faaaaaak.”  Adam covered his face in his hands.

Jeff took a breath and focused.  Just like his dad said.  Take a deep breath and relax.  Swing like you just don’t care.

The wind up.

The pitch.

CRACK!

The ball sailed into the back end of the field.  Matt wasn’t fast enough to catch it but even from the infield you could see his white legs moving.  Meanwhile Jeff rounded first, then second.

Matt’s throw fell far short, but Joe was expecting that and was already running towards him.

Meanwhile from the bench Adam and Ernie were losing their minds as Jeff rounded the discarded purple juice box that marked third.  The noise only got louder as he made his dash for home.  Ernie and Adam were on their feet screaming at the top of their lungs, and Matt, Ian and Joe were running from the infield.  

In true Jeff flair he dove for home, simultaneously streaking the front of his shirt with grass stain and shredding the knees of his pants.  It wouldn’t be the first time.

The cheering that followed was worthy of the world series.  Six small bodies jumped up and down screaming and high fiving with the seventh in the middle until they toppled over into a heap of bodies that slowly rolled off of each other, chests heaving.

Above them blue sky stared back at them, witnessing the perfect pitch, the perfect game and the perfect day.

“Hey Ernie.”  Joe snickered.  

“What?”

“See that giant cloud over there, that one above the trees?”

“Ya”

“It looks like your mom.”

There was a perfect moment of silence, before breath exploded in laughter from everywhere at once.  Matt was laughing so hard snot came out of his nose, and Adam cackled obnoxiously in between breaths.  But no one laughed harder than Ernie who should have recognized a trap when he saw one.

Eventually Curt sat up, wiping the tears from his eyes but only really succeeding in smearing dirt across his forehead.  There was a piece of paper stuck to his arm.

“Hey what’s that?”  Ian snatched it and held it up.  “2 for 1 slurpees, one day only.”  He looked up wide eyed.  “Hey that’s today!”  

“Oh wicked.”  Jeff piped up.  “I heard there’s a new Mountain Dew flavour!”

Adam frowned.  “My mom says I can’t have Mountain Dew.”  This earned him an annoyed smack on the back of the head from Ernie. 

“Your mom’s not here, dummy.”

Ian was the first to stand up.  “Well, I’m getting a slurpee.”

Matt jumped up next and soon like a squad of gophers they all jumped up and marched towards the edge of the field.  Their bikes could be seen gleaming in the sun where they left them next to the playground.

They probably would have stayed on mission if it weren’t for the shopping cart.  Matt was just passing the corner of the playground intent on slurpees and his new “Kuwahara” bike when he saw sunlight reflecting off something lying over by the bushes.  Curiosity got the better of him and he deviated from the rest of the group.

Jeff was just pulling his bike up when the sound of shaky wheels caused him to look around.  Matt stood there with his prize.  An old beat-up shopping cart, likely stolen from the grocer nearby.

Curt didn’t miss a beat.  His bike collapsed onto the ground with a crash and in two strides and a leap he was inside the cart.  Adam jumped in beside Matt and the two of them sprinted as fast as they could while trying to keep the cart from toppling over on the rough ground.  Curt was just starting to regret his decision when they plowed him and the cart straight into the bushes. The back wheels lifted up and the whole thing toppled over.  

There really was only one valid response.  He untangled himself from the cart and the web of leaves and branches that scratched at his skin, righted the cart, spun it around and ran it straight at Matt and Adam who were looking somewhat sheepish as their plan had worked a little too well.

The two were quick to react and the cart flew past them, gaining momentum as it descended a small hill and careened into the side of the merry-go-round.

Joe was the first to see the potential they had stumbled across here.  He was down the hill in three steps.  He pulled the shopping cart to the side and grabbed the bars of the merry-go-round and started sprinting around the circle, all the while pushing it faster and faster.

“Hop on!”  Ian didn’t have to be told twice.  He jumped on just as Joe quit pushing and leaped on.  It was spinning pretty fast now.  Ernie was there in a heartbeat.  He planted his feet and each bar that spun past him he pushed as hard as he could until it was going so fast he could barely keep up.  Curt hopped on next just barely able to time it without getting hit. 

A low groan was just audible.  Ian was hanging on for dear life and his stomach was not impressed.  Round and round it spun, a tyrannical blur.  But there was no stopping it.  

Faster and faster they pushed until he just hung on with his eyes squeezed shut.  Joe and Curt weren’t doing much better.  Joe’s head was buried in his arms while his hands hung on for dear life around the base of one of the poles, while Curt had managed to wrap one leg around a beam andwas hanging on for dear life.

Finally it was Joe who cracked.  “Stop!  Stop!  I mean it!  Stop!”

Ernie and Adam gave it a handful of extra pushes just to make sure he meant it and then tried to grab a bar as it went past to slow it down but it was still going too fast.

Matt and Jeff glanced at each other, then at the shopping cart, then back at each other.  They sprang into action, lifting the shopping cart back up and with a solid push sent it sailing into the merry-go-round.  There was a loud BANG and a yell and the shopping cart ricocheted off and landed in the grass.  Meanwhile the merry-go-round had started to slow somewhat, although what effect the shopping cart had on that is still very much open to debate.

At last Curt, Joe and Ian stumbled off into the grass.  Ian just started heaving and threw up right there right in front of everyone.

“Groooosssss!”  Matt yelled which didn’t help as they all jumped back groaning.  But it was already done.  Joe turned white as a ghost and made it two steps before heaving into the grass.  Curt immediately started dry heaving before unleashing as well.

Laughter from the others turned quite quickly into sounds of puking.

Adam shivered. “Oh god I hate the sound of puking!” his cheeks puffed up and then he threw up right onto Ernie’s shoes.  

“Ah what the hell!”  Ernie managed to get out but the smell hit him and he hurled.  Jeff’s eyes started watering and he dry heaved which caused Matt to do the same and soon the seven of them were throwing up whatever they had.

Silence followed.

Adam was the first to speak up.  “Hey Ernie, you see that cloud?”

Snickers began to fill the space and soon they were all laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.

Finally Ian managed to orient himself long enough to get on mission.  “I'm going for slurpees.”

On this they could all agree.  

Soon enough there were seven bikes pedaling down the field.  They were like a biker gang on a mission.  There would be no more shopping carts.

Probably.

Sure enough, three shortcuts, one ravine and two busy intersections later seven satisfied looking boys sat on a curb in a row sipping on Big Gulps.  For once there was silence, broken only by the faint sound of slurping through giant straws, and Matt muttering “ugh brain freeze” as he rubbed his temples.

The plastic cups were clear, showing all slurpee colours of the rainbow mixed together in glorious abandon.

The reds and blues of cherry and blueberry were the same colour as the flashing lights of the police cars that would block one of the residential roads exactly twenty-seven minutes later.

The green of the coveted Mountain Dew was the colour of the mangled bike that would lie by the side of the road, wheels still spinning.

The white cream soda was the colour of the baseball that would wait forgotten in the middle of a field for a long time.

Adam piped up.  “Hey who’s pitching tomorrow?”  

“Me!”  Ernie’s hand shot up.

Jeff jumped in.  “Hey, what if we bring our Super Soakers?”

Joe and Ian nodded vehemently.  “You are a genius!”

Curtis pushed it even further.  “We can fill our Super Soakers with slurpee and head down to the river!”

“Whoooa.”

Matt groaned.  “Oh no I left the ball at the field!”

The response to this was a mix of groans and insults but it was generally agreed that it would be there tomorrow waiting for them.

Finally the sound of slurping grew louder as the cups were emptied one by one.  Except for Matt who kept getting brain freezes.

Eventually the bikes were picked up from the ground, and this time it was Joe whose comedic timing was perfect.

“Hey Ernie.”

“What?”

“You see that cloud?”

They all roared into a fit of laughter as they sped off.  There was no need for goodbyes.  They would see each other tomorrow.