Tabor City tribune. (Tabor City, N.C.) 1946-1991, 1947-07-18

MS lace. lH6 SlSll lllSlllCliSu i'm
and 1 forgot to listen to the sig
mails.
All at once, everybody began
hurrying about and | found my
self at the bottom OF a large heap
of bodies. When everybody got
off someone patted me on the
fanny and said, Good boy"
decided l had made good play
and felt rather proud.
Returning to my squat position
in the line, I looked again into
the face of the frowning boy OPP
posite me. :,
care you in pain?" I asked.
But before he could reply, the
same madness broke out again
and 1 was pushed forward upon
my unhappy opponent who kicked
me in the stomach. Five OF slI
others jumped on my back: The
situation was becoming quite I'M
pleasant.
However, I was getting the
spirit of the thing and, back in
line again, l heard IA" called
and broke out in a mad dash
around end,
The move had been merely fol
self-protection: l wanted to gel
.. out of reach. Three other tel
lows had ideas of their own anc
before I advanced five feet. they
threw themselves at me anc
knocked me to the ground with q
painful thud.
l went to the boy who seemed
to be headman and announced
81 quit. Something's wrong"
"What's up?" he asked.
give been in this game 10
minutes and have not once had
my hands on the ball." | said
"But everyone seems determined
to break my neck and 1 want tc
know why"
"Oh," said the boy. "That
doesn't mean anything. That's
football"
"Well, you can have my share
of it," I said and left the field.
Tennis, basketball, in all the
sports, | ran into the same
trouble. I soon developed a rep.
utation in the neighborhOod and
found myself without any athlcti-
cally inclined friends.
When | entered the army, my
company was taken to an open
field and told to take part in 4
relay race. A new soldier, | wa:
still baffled by the army and wa
naive enough to want to put up
a good show. When it came my
turn to run, | took off like the
proverbial bat out of hades but
moved about ten yeards when ]
last my balance and fell, skiddlne
another 10 yards on my face. Al
ter that | was always excused
from races.
In calisthenics, I was in SINH
lar quandries. One morning sew
eral hundred of Us were given the
order to run in pace. | found II
difficult to 60 through the run,
ming motion without moving and
l kept inching ahead of the front
of the line.
"Stay in place" the sergeant
ordered.
81 can't" l said.
"You'd better" he MD.
"This- whole thing is redlcu-
lous, anyway" said.
ooh you think so, huh?" said
the sergeant. "Follow me"
He led me to the instructors
platform, forced me to ascend,
and there, before hundreds OF
men, commanded that | run III
place until he stopped me. ran
in place for Is minutes and had
to be exceptionally careful not to
move too far or | would have
fallen from the platform 10 feet
to the ground.
A few months ago, I got an
idea for what | thought was al
excellent baseball story. | wrote
it and rushed it off to an editor
1t was returned with a letter
which read:
eve liked your story very
much and would like to buy 1t
except for one thing that puzzle"
us. You have II men playing on
one team and have all them come
to bat in the eighth inning yet
only two runs are scored. VIII
YOU please tell US how you flgur-
ed this out? Everybody in the
office would like to know. We're
stumped."
Despite all this, my feelings
are hurt because | have not been
asked to join any Of the local ball
clubs. However. after this IS
printed, | doubt if | shall receive
vey many invitations. I've had
that trouble all through life.