Bend it like . . . ?

After my turn to be bullied, teased, and dropped in a game of British bulldog we lined up to be picked for football. Like their professional counterparts, the boy captains puffed on cigarettes as they chose the team. The ritual humiliation for the short, tall, or fat was being the last to be picked. Being tall, I was shoved into position between the twin piles of jumpers with the short and fat boys my defence. The light plastic ball seemed to be possessed and …