I didn’t know this camp had kickball, Eliza thought. What if I’m no good at it? 

Shelly, the camp counselor, divided the group into a blue team and a red team. “I’ll explain a few rules,” she said, “then the red team will be up first, and the blue team will be in the field first.” 

“Hey, we’re both on the red team,” said Betsy, as the teams took their places a few minutes later. 

“Yeah,” said Eliza, “but I’m not sure I can do this. I’ve never tried kickball before.” 

“It’s okay,” Betsy said, “just have fun.” 

A boy named Jason was up first. He kicked the ball hard and ran to second base. Then it was Eliza’s turn. The pitcher rolled the ball. “Kick that ball, Eliza!” yelled Betsy. 

“Ow!” Eliza missed. She kicked home plate instead and tripped. A few kids giggled. Eliza’s face turned red. She missed again and was out. “I knew I’d be bad at this,” she told Betsy. 

“Don’t worry about it,” said Betsy. “Everyone gets out sometimes.” 

Later, when the red team was in the field, a girl kicked the ball toward Eliza. “Catch it! Catch it, Eliza!” her teammates yelled. 

Eliza ran, but the ball came down fast and whooshed right past her. The other team made a home run. “I quit,” Eliza told Betsy. “I stink at kickball. I don’t want to play any more.” 

“I liked being on the same team with you.” said Betsy.

“Sorry,” said Eliza. 

The next day everyone except Eliza wanted to play kickball again. “You can watch if you want,” Shelly said, “and join in any time.”

Eliza watched. She watched Betsy kick the ball and get on base. Then she watched a boy named Jeffrey kick so hard he whirled around in a circle and missed the ball. Later, Eliza saw the second base person catch the ball and then drop it. She watched an outfielder make a great catch once and then another time miss the ball completely. 

Near the end of the game, it was Betsy’s turn to kick again. “Kick that ball, Betsy!” Eliza yelled. Betsy missed the ball on the first pitch. Then on the second pitch Betsy kicked hard and lost her balance. WAP!  She sat down hard on home base.

For a few seconds, no one did anything. 

Then Betsy started to laugh. Pretty soon Shelly started to laugh, too. Then everyone on both teams started laughing. Betsy did look pretty funny sitting there with her legs sticking out. Finally, even Eliza laughed.

Betsy looked at Eliza. “See?” she said. “I told you everyone gets out sometimes. Come on! Come play!” 

“Yeah,” yelled the other kids, “Come on, Eliza!”

Eliza stood up. “Okay,” she said, “but I’m not very good at this.” 

“Well, I’m not either,” said Betsy, “but it’s fun anyway.”

“Yeah,” said Eliza, “It is fun.” The two girls ran to the outfield together.

~The End~

Illustration Copyright © 2008 Candace J. Hardy

Text Copyright © 2008 Patricia Parker