We chose our own activities the next morning.

Joplin chose tetherball.

So I chose tetherball, too.

Even though I’d never heard of it.

And I decided to try to have fun.

Since this would be one of my last days at camp.

We walked together to a field

with poles scattered around it.

Each pole had a ball attached,

hanging from a rope.

When activity time started,

a counselor explained the game.

“Each pole will have two of you,”

she said.

“You are opponents.

If your opponent hits the ball one way,

you hit it back, in the opposite direction.

Don’t let her hit the ball so many times that

the rope wraps all the way around the pole.

Whoever wraps the rope all the way around

wins.

Got it?”

She waited, to see if there were questions.

There weren’t.

It didn’t seem too hard.

“Let’s give it a shot,” the counselor said.

So Joplin and I walked to a pole,

to give it a shot.

“You start,” I said,

being very nice.

She took the ball

and raised it high

and hurled it.

It flew in a circle

far, far above my head.

Then sailed back her way,

and she hit it,

hard.

This happened again and again.

So high and so fast,

I never even touched the ball.

It took about five seconds

for her to wrap the rope all the way around the pole.

After she did, she grinned at me.

“Isn’t tetherball great?” she said.

“No, it is not,” I said.

But I couldn’t help laughing a little.

Because that game had been ridiculous.

Then I turned and shouted,

“I need a shorter opponent!”

 

I ended up playing a short Honeybee.

I even won two games

and lost two more.

Joplin won six straight

against a tall,

but not tall enough,

Cicada.