Nell was spending much more time at the playground, where it was easier 
for her to do all of the exercises that Dojo was teaching to Belle. She also 
played games with the other kids sometimes. One day she was playing tetherball 
with a friend of hers and kept beating her every time. Then a boy came up, a 
boy bigger than either Nell or her friend, and insisted that he be allowed to 
play. Nell's friend gave up her place, and then Nell played against the boy, 
whose name was Kevin. Kevin was a big solid boy who was proud of his
bulk and his strength, and his philosophy of tetherball was winning through 
intimidation. He would grab the ball, wind up melodramatically, baring his 
teeth and getting his face bright red, then smash the ball with a windmill 
punch, complete with sound effects that always showered the ball with spit. The 
performance was so impressive that many children just stood and watched it in 
awe, afraid to get in the way of the tetherball, and after that Kevin would 
just keep smashing the ball faster and faster on each revolution while vomiting 
profanity at his opponent. Nell knew that Kevin's mom had lived with a lot of 
the same guys that Nell's mom had lived with; he frequently sported black eyes 
that he certainly hadn't gotten on the playground.