Through the Hoop

THROUGH THE HOOP

by
DJ McKenzie 

(age 12)

The clock was ticking down quickly. There wasn’t much time remaining. It was Saturday, December 19^th, 2015, at the basketball court at the Stafford High School. Our first playoff game was coming to an end, and we were ahead by two points. The other team had possession of the ball. Five seconds on the clock, four… three… two… The other team chucked the ball towards the basket and missed! We won the game! With the final score of 36 to 34!

My name is Alex. I live in a mansion with my mom, my dad, and my older sister. As you can probably tell, I play basketball. For a hobby, I race remote control cars with my best friend, Jason Fields. Jason plays basketball too, and he is the best player on our team. He often makes most of our baskets. Then there’s Michal. He’s our comedian on the team. He makes lots of puns and jokes.

During Christmas vacation, Jason spent the night with me. The next day, we took out my sister’s and my snowmobiles for a ride.

We were driving around for about five minutes when Jason had an idea. “We should make a jump!” Jason Exclaimed. At first I didn’t agree, but Jason persuaded me to do it. So we started making a jump.

Once we were done building the ramp, we couldn’t decide who would do it first. So we did rock paper scissors, and Jason won. He got on to his snowmobile and started towards the jump. He flew into the air, and was nearly fifteen feet in the air. Everything was going fine, until the snowmobile flipped over. Jason let go of the handle bars and hit the ground with the snowmobile landing on his foot. “OW!” Jason yelled out in pain.

I ran over to him. “Don’t move, I’ll go get my dad.”

I ran to the house and burst through the door. “Dad! Jason tried to go over a jump, but he fell off, and the snowmobile landed on his foot!” My dad quickly called 911, and followed me outside. We rushed towards Jason and knelt down beside him.

“Calm down, Jason. The ambulance will be here soon,” my dad calmly said.

A few minutes later we heard a siren and saw an ambulance pull into our driveway. Two men stepped out. Without a word, they gently lifted the snowmobile off Jason’s foot, brought out a stretcher, and carried him into the ambulance. We got into my dad’s truck and followed the ambulance. “Will Jason still be able to play basketball next week?” I asked my dad. My dad hesitated for a few seconds.  “I’m not sure. I don’t know how bad it is.”

I couldn’t bear the thought of Jason not playing next week. He was the one who made us win every game.

We were in the waiting room at the hospital. Jason’s mom, dad, and his little brother Max came through the door. Max pointed at me and yelled out. “You made my brother get hurt, it’s all your fault!”

“Hey, stop it! It wasn’t his fault,” Jason’s mom said to little Max.

“Please excuse him. He’s only 4 years old,” Jason’s dad said.

“I understand,” I said.

Just then the doctor walked through the door. “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Fields?”

“Yes?” Mrs. Fields replied.

“I’m Dr. Gordon. Your son has broken his ankle in two places. He will need to come in for a checkup tomorrow. We highly suggest that he doesn’t play any sports for the next four to six weeks. When his ankle has healed, he will be in therapy for probably another four to six weeks, just to get it strong again.”

“Can we see him?” Mrs. Fields asked.

“Sure, right this way,”

We walked down a long hall and into a room and saw Jason lying on a large bed. He looked towards his parents with a bland look on his face.

“Mom, will I be able to play basketball next week?”

“I’m afraid not, Jason. Your ankle is too badly injured.”

It was game day on January 2^nd. We would play our playoff game, and then if we won, we would play for the championship that same day. Jason was there watching, but I wished that he could be playing. “I wonder if we can win without him.” I thought to myself.

The game started, I dribbled the ball down the court and called out a number. I passed the ball to Michal, but the pass was batted down, and taken by the other team. Grant Friller, a player from the other team, got an easy layup. Five minutes went past in the first quarter. The score was 28-14. The other team was in the leading position. By the fourth quarter, we were taking the leading position, 56-54. Michal passed the ball to me, I shot, and made a basket. The game was over the final score was 58-54. We won the first game but it was hard, and I had a feeling the next game would be even harder.

My mom and dad took Michal and I to get some ice cream before our next game. I got cookies and cream with hot fudge. Michal got one scoop of strawberry, one scoop of chocolate, and one scoop of coffee, with hot fudge, whipped cream, sprinkles, and peanuts, and a cherry, or something like that.

“Michal, you’re going to get sick if you eat all that before a basketball game!” I said.

“No, I’m not. I’ve eaten three cheese burgers and a whole whoopie pie before a basketball game, and I didn’t get sick!” Michal said with ice cream all over his chin.

The next game started, the championship. We made the first shot, but that didn’t make a difference. By the end of the first quarter, the other team was in the lead 16-4. It didn’t look good. Jason was there cheering us on in a cast and crutches, wishing that he was playing.

It was the fourth quarter, and we were just about to collapse. We didn’t have very many players, some were sick, some were on vacation, and some had hurt themselves. We only had seven people, so everyone was exhausted. The score was 47-43. We were close. Michal made a three pointer to make the score 47-46. Ten seconds were left on the clock. The other team had the ball. They passed it and shot… they missed! Michal got the rebound with four seconds on the clock. He passed it to me, and from half court, I chucked it at the basket. The buzzer went off as the ball went through the hoop! The final score was 47-49. We won! I never would have thought that we would win a championship game without Jason, but we did!

Six weeks later Jason got his cast off, and the doctor said that he was free to go back to regular activities! I hope nothing happens before soccer season starts.

                                                                               

                                                                                 THE END

(Assignment for Lesson #5 - Settings) 

If you are between the ages of 4-12,

(or know someone who likes to write stories)

I would like to post your story here.

Send me an email. I'd love to read your story!

Signed,

Wiggles the Polliwog