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Ball Game

Once upon a time, there was a boy. This boy had a red, rubber bouncy ball. You know the kind - cheap, rubber things. But it was his own, and he treasured it.


Everywhere he went, the boy would bounce the ball off things. There was no greater joy for this lad than to see the ball leave his fingers, to hear it bounce off whatever surface he'd aimed at, and then come bounding joyfully back.

He learned to control the way the ball bounced, even putting a spin on the ball to change things up a bit. The texture of the ball added to this control, making the joy of bouncing it that much more fun.

Other people had different colors, and they were fun, too. But this boy enjoyed his ball.

He always harbored one secret desire - to find someone to whom he could bounce his ball. He wanted to share the sheer joy of feeling this ball in his fingers. But every one he tried to bounce the ball to grew either annoyed or would humor him for a while and then get bored. Some people even took the ball and ran away, leaving him bereft of his ball. The ball generally found its way back to him, eventually, though.

So the boy learned to content himself with bouncing the ball by himself. He never did give up on the hope that one day, some one would share the bouncing with him.

The End

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