Thursday, May 6, 2010

The Sandlot…

I babysat my grandkids this past weekend and as luck had it; my best friend had hers too. We decided we they should get together to play. While the girls (ages 5 and 6) amused themselves decorating my patio with sidewalk chalk, the boys (two of them 8, and the other twelve) played baseball.

My yard is not small but apparently it was not large enough to accommodate their homeruns…which they only counted as such if the ball was hit over the fence. Looking back I guess I am partly to blame. I didn’t have a ‘real’ ball for them to play with, but a tennis ball. And boys this age hitting a tennis ball with a metal bat is going to result in…home runs.

So the ball went over the fence periodically and each time one or another of them would open the gate and retrieve it until my crotchety neighbor yelled at them, “Get off my grass and get out of my yard!” They obeyed and the next time it happened they did what any good kid would do. They rang her doorbell and asked if they could get their ball. She replied with, “Fine! Just don’t take anything else!”

Really? Short of uprooting a bush the only thing they could take is one of the plastic sunflower thingies that she has set out to scare away birds. And really, the aura around her house is enough. She really doesn’t need the cheesy spinning sunflowers to scare away anything.

This reminded my friend and I of the movie ‘The Sandlot’; where kids are just trying to play ball, but their ball ends up over the fence and they’re afraid to get it. Granted it was just a tennis ball and not a league ball that was signed by Babe Ruth, but similar scenario.

The kids were so freaked out about how and why someone could be so mean; and to be honest so was I. I mean really, the only time anyone steps on her grass is when the local landscape company comes once a week to cut it. She’s basically one of those people that could be dead in her house for weeks before anyone discovers her because she has no contact with anyone.

Anyball, we decided it was safer for them to hit the ball over the other side of the yard and have it end up in the street.

4 comments:

Sheila said...

Sometimes I just don't understand people.

Unknown said...

That's the kind of neighbor that should get mooned. And that's a suggestion I should never have made to you - because you're the one person I know who just might do that.

Unknown said...

People are so ridiculous sometimes! Still, glad they had fun....

Badass Geek said...

Having crotchety neighbors is an unfortunate requirement.