As part of the Black Writer’s Program I’m participating in via the NY Writer’s Coalition, each week we’re given a prompt with which to write about. This past week of the five prompts provided I selected the one on favorite childhood games and how to play them. We were given 20 minutes to write something and then we shared our pieces with the rest of the class. The following is an original work. Enjoy!
As we clean up our desks in response to the directive given by Mrs. Gregg our homeroom teacher, we eagerly watch the clock daring it to say 3:15pm so we could leave. As I’m putting away my Bienvenidos Spanish I textbook to grab my backpack, I meet eyes with Brian, my best friend, and he signals to me that we’re racing outside to be the first ones to play the best game on earth – Foursquare.
How to Play Foursquare
The game requires a semi-hard playing surface and a rubber ball. The ball is typically a red rubber ball much like the ones used for kickball. The ideal surface can be a blacktop, a tennis court, concrete, or a gymnasium floor. The court lines can be drawn with chalk or marked with masking tape. Each quadrant is labeled: J, Q, K, and A for Jack, Queen, King, and Ace.
The J stands for Jack and is the lowest rank. The ranks ascend to Queen, King, and Ace, with the goal always to become the Ace by advancing up the ranks. The game begins with four players in squares. The Ace gets to start each turn with the ball. The ball must bounce once inside the lines in the receiving square before being served to another person’s square. Each player moves up a square if a player in a higher-numbered square loses a point by either hitting the ball out of bounds or not letting the ball bounce be serving it elsewhere.
The clock ticks. The bell rings. We take off for the door. Eager to be the first outside in a school brimming with at least 400 students from all over the world housed neatly on a Quaint corner in Detroit, MI – we were not gonna be stopped.
As we round the winding staircase from the top floor to the back door. *click!* The door unlocks as we push our way onto the playground which housed a section saved for those who liked soccer, a section for those who liked to jump rope, a section for those who wanted to play basketball, and our favorite blacktop where the fun was about to go down.
I assumed the role of the Ace as when I played – I never lost and was only unseated when my mom came to get me, which I hoped would be late today. I knew at some point Brian would think I was tired and try to unseat me as he always does but I had something for his ass.
The line forms as kids ready themselves to go next. One by one – eliminated. Then we get into a rhythm. Brian moved from Jack to King. My girl Krystal was our Queen and we were the team to beat. With each new player, we honed our response making sure not to slip up and be dethroned.
Minutes changed to hours. The bright blue-tinged afternoon sky was now hazy and colored dimly with reds, oranges, and purples. Beads of sweat-soaked our clothes but this was serious. This is what we’ve been training for all day. Handing out ass-whupping to kids for free. Our shit-talking was perfected almost as if we were born to be part of grown folks’ conversations. No profanity, but “if you don’t get yo Bubblicious chewing, small shoe wearing, is that your sister’s shirt, goofy self out of our house! You’re not ready for us. Buh bye!”
