A Brighter Tomorrow: My Journey with Julie

I tell the teenagers that we were here first. I look at Julie for backup and she says that we’ll play them for the court. Fourth graders versus the teenagers. Whoever reaches thirty-five points first.

Mike scoffs that it’s a piece of cake. They could beat us with a hand tied behind their backs.

Stinger turns to his brother and protests he doesn’t want girls on his team. Tracy insists either the girls play, or the kids don’t play at all. It’s his choice.

Truthfully, I don’t want to be playing on Stinger’s team either, but it’s worth it if it means Julie will see she deserves a spot on the Jaguars team. Stinger huffs and grabs the ball.

From the first rally, we can see Mike and Tracy are strong opponents, even though it’s just two of them against four of us. Every time I try to pass, Tracy blocks it, and whenever Julie or T.J. goes for a basket, Mike knocks the ball away. But I realize these aren’t the only reasons our team isn’t scoring.

The next time we have the ball, Stinger looks for T.J., but Tracy is all over him. T.J. yells to pass to Julie, as she waves her arms right by the hoop. But instead, Stinger goes to the point and misses by a long shot.

Again and again, Stinger refuses to pass to Julie or me, even when we’re wide open. Mike and Tracy catch on and stick to T.J. whenever Stinger has the ball, and after a while the score is 16-10. The next time Stinger ignores me, Tracy intercepts the pass, and I’m fed up.

I yell at Stinger that I was right there, but he ignores me. T.J. passes the ball to me, though I’m at a strange angle with no clear shot at the basket. Stinger stands right under the hoop, ready for my pass.

If I go for the shot and miss, our team won’t score any points. But if I pass to Stinger, I won’t get the ball back again. Tracy is coming right at me. I need to decide.