Chapter 24

She positioned herself directly behind the ball and scanned the field, looking alternately to the left and right sides of the net. I lowered myself into a crouch and moved around on my knees for a while.

She questioned the number of opportunities given to her, "How many tries do I get?".

"In a typical situation, one," I stated, "but because I'm such a nice guy, you can have three."

She let out a snort.

It's possible that I would have let her kick me all afternoon, but at some point I would have been exhausted. Additionally, it was still a little difficult to breathe.

“Okay.”

She kicked while bending her knees and bringing her foot back behind her knee. The ball grazed her toe and continued rolling at roughly the same speed as a plastic toy truck designed for a toddler. I ran over there and grabbed it just in time to prevent it from hitting the side bar.

"Ruth, Ruth, Ruth," I made fun of her three times. "You have to put some muscle behind it!"

I approached her while holding the ball,