The Land of Idlewilde

Chapter 1 I dribbled the ball down the field -- first with my left then my right. The wind blowing my hair felt good. Even running against the wind was no challenge to me. I knew I could do this. “We can win with this goal.” I dribbled to the center of the field. The herd of boys chasing me could not break my concentration. “Line the ball up with the goal,” I told myself. I glanced at the goalie. “Good. He's shifted positions with me.” I scooted to the right to make him move from center goal. “That's it.” The goalie squared off in front of me. Waiting. Ready for me to slam the ball. I edged to the right just a hair. I kept a poker face. I refused to show my thoughts on my face. I knew that my kick had to be deep in the left pocket. The score was tied. “Concentrate on what you can do.” I glared at the goalie. “I can do this. Left pocket goal. I can do this; I can do this.” I took a deep breath and slammed the ball with my right foot. It zinged into the left corner of the goal. The goalie dived. He missed! The crowd went wild. I leaped and roared! I leaped so high I almost touched the sky. I dropped to the ground. Panting. Sweat and tears covered my face. I'd scored -- scored the winning goal. I stood up slowly. My teammates were all around me. I could just stare at them. Someone handed me a towel to wipe my face off. The roar in my ears was caused by the fans, yelling and screaming. My team gave me high fives as fast as I could return them. They lifted me up on someone's shoulders. I was screaming and laughing at the same time. Man! What a game. There could never be such a feeling as this. I grinned so hard my face was sore. The coach thumped me hard on the back. “Good work man. What a goal! You're one of the best sixth grade forwards I've ever seen.” He put both his hands on my shoulders. “In fact that last shot just might earn you the Player of the Year Award.” I beamed. The sixth grade soccer championship game was over. I sat by my best bud Tommy on the team bench. We watched in wonder as a soccer ball zipped past us. Would you look at that!” Tommy poked me. “It's headed to the woods. C'mon Steve. Let's get it.” He took off. I shook my head. “You're over-dressed in that Boy Scout uniform.” “At least I'm closer to it than you.” I flung my towel over my shoulder and trotted past Tommy. “Care to comment, Scout Man?! This ball is moving and so am I.” The ball shot into the woods. We leaped over undergrowth and broken sticks. “Whoever kicked this has a strong leg. We need him for our team.” “Why doesn't that ball have the same trouble moving through this mess that we have?” Tommy said. “Believe it or not, it's almost to the creek.” I jumped over a gully. “That creek is too deep in the woods for that. The ball can't get there.” Tommy said. “Don't bet on it. It's close.” The ball hit a small tree that was in its path and stopped dead. “Whoops. How did that happen? It went around all the other trees. But now, I have it.” I picked it up and threw it back to the soccer field. As it arched upward I remembered the last few minutes of our game: The kick into the left pocket, the goalie diving and missing, the cheers from the team. What a game it had been. Stunning. Then Tommy in his Boy Scout uniform joining me for the last few minutes. Really neat. “What a great goal, Mr. Player of the Year. .” I flicked my towel toward him. He grabbed the hamburger he'd balanced on his knee. “Good save, feller. I just had to keep up with you, that's all.” I examined Tommy's new badges. “You got both the Tenderfoot and the Second Class ranks from your Scout group. And in the fastest time in the history of your troop. Talk about hard work! Here's to you - my man.” I jerked at Tommy's tape measure that was fastened to his belt. “Be prepared….and all that good stuff.” I loved to tease him. “Wow. That ball was moving.” Tommy came up to me panting. “Yeah. It looked like it was attached to a string so someone could pull it. It went straight as an arrow,” I said. We climbed onto Flat Rock, our favorite picnic spot. Tommy took a bite out of his hamburger and put it down. I snatched it and snagged a bite too. “Glad you brought this. It hits the spot.” “Hey, that's my lunch.” “That's OK. You can share.” “I know. I know.” Tommy looked up the creek where it entered the woods. “What's that?” “What?” “Look. Coming at us straight from the woods by the creek.” He stood up. Chapter 2 The bottle bounced to Tommy. It did not roll to the right or to the left. It came straight to Tommy. “The elves are sending us a present.” He went to the creek to pick it up. It moved without veering just like the soccer ball had. Some weird things are happening here. First the ball lures us to the Flat Rock. Now a bottle is zipping up to us without turning. Why does my best friend think that elves are sending us a present?