Chapter 2-002

Soccer camp had ended, and I'd been so bored because there was nobody, absolutely nobody, in the neighborhood to play with.Oh, there were kids, but every one of them was older. That was dandy for my brothers, but what it left me was home alone. My mother was there, but she had better things to do than kick a soccer ball around. So she said, anyway. At the time I didn't think there was anything better than kicking a soccer ball around, especially not the likes of laundry or dishes or vacuuming, but my mother didn't agree. And the danger of being home alone with her was that she'd recruit me to help her wash or dust or vacuum, and she wouldn't tolerate the dribbling of a soccer ball around the house as I moved from chore to chore.