shooting hoops as the light fails

I just took Bela for a walk at 8:30 p.m. The light is failing.

And two kids--one from our neighbor on the right and one from our neighbor on the left--were shooting baskets as the light failed.

I remember doing that over and over and over, when I was a kid.

My Dad had put a pipe in the ground that held a basket and back board, in the yard beside our apartment, 6 feet down from street level.

I shot baskets endlessly as the light failed all through three seasons of the year.

If I didn't have Bela with me I would have gone over and asked to take a shot.

I can shoot basketballs through a hoop with the best of them--even now, at my age.

I would have impressed those kids with a couple or three 17 footers.

They yanked me back to when I was their age--10, 11, 12, 13, 14, on and on--shooting hoops as the light fails.

I thank them for those memories. Really.