The Green Basketball

 “Larry, what is this?” Jack asked.

“My dad bought it for me. It’s a green basketball,” Larry replied.

“It’s not even official weight is it?” 

Larry began to get annoyed.

“Dude, it’s the same as any other ball we’ve ever played with, it’s just green.”

After several pickup games, Jack became even more frustrated because it appeared as though Larry would not miss.

“You’re a cheater, your dad did something to that ball so you don’t miss a shot,” Jack said shoving Larry from behind.

Everyone noticed the commotion and couldn’t believe how frustrated Jack was just over a pickup game.

Janice, one of Larry’s close friends, stood watching from her porch. Noticing her friend Larry in danger, she ran to break up the fight.

“Jack, stop, it’s just a game,” she explained.

“I bet every dime I had on that game and this punk cheated. His dad rigged that green ball,” Jack replied.

“That’s a lie, I just got lucky. I got hot Janice, for some reason I couldn’t miss,” Larry said, rubbing his now swollen lip.

The other kids all began to side with Jack but thank God Janice was there to mediate. 

“Larry is a freak, and I’m never playing with you bums again. I knew I should’ve brought my ball,” Will said, after kicking Larry in the stomach and throwing his ball into the woods. Even Larry’s own teammates were jealous of him for making so many shots.

“What is wrong with you all? Larry are you okay?” Janice asked Larry after noticing blood coming from his mouth.

“I can’t breathe, Janice. Janice help me, I can’t breathe!”

Realizing that her friend needed emergency help the other players just left him there to die.

“He’s trash anyway,” Janice heard one of them say from a distance. 

She ran into her house to call for help but it was too late, Larry suffered from a punctured lung that soon collapsed after being beaten to death by the other players.

The entire community was devastated at the loss and Larry’s dad Russel regretted ever buying his son a green ball.

After finding the ball in the woods, Janice couldn’t help but cry over the loss of her dear friend. News spread about Larry pretty fast so in his memory people all over the world began to play with green balls to honor the death of a kid with an amazing basketball spirit. He just loved the game and in the end Larry taught the world that it was just a game. His town rose his little league number 8 jersey into the city gym rafters and the world followed suit so that no kid would ever see the same fate as Larry. Every time a fight broke out in a basketball game team mascots would run onto the floor with a green ball and a green number 8 jersey.

The End.