By Mo McCooper, April 14, 2011 — Starting in the summer between 7th and 8th grade when I was still under 5 feet tall, I would hide in a big bunch of bushes next to the town playground and find tennis balls before the owners came to look for them. If the balls were brand new we would get another kid to return them. The others we took to streets in the north end of town where usually an older kid, better with a knife than we, would cut the ball in half. Usually teams of three would then play half ball with broom handles as bats. I was awful at this game. The worst pitchers could strike me out every time.
One of the reasons I put up with being the butt of the jokes and the last one chosen was the food which the neighbors would bring out to us on the sidewalks. Lemonade, iced tea, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and other tasty treats. But the finest food of all was Bobby Neely’s mother’s homemade chocolate chip cookies and homemade iced tea with real lemons and fresh mint. FANTASTIC!