The incident

"No playing in the house,"
she says,
but as soon as she leaves
we play.

The ball glides from person to person.
doing tricks we learned in soccer practice
tackling each other to wrangle for the ball
Our feet start to quicken up.

Were now playing head, catch,
my favorite game
I'm in the middle
throwing the ball

I throw the ball to Jimmy
"catch"
he heads it
but not back to me.

The next thing I know
I'm standing in front of my mom's
favorite antique, shattered on the floor
"No playing in the house"
i hear over
and
over again.