Quan sits at the edge of the basketball court while kids play basketball in front of him. They’re rough with the ball. Traffic screeches past the playground and roars through the Broadway tunnel. Quan worries about his head. He doesn’t have a real human head. He has a basketball for a head. Kids whisper and point at him. They might pull it off, he thinks. He wants to try to make friends with those kids so he won’t feel lonely anymore. He walks over to them and asks them if he could be their friend.
“Yes," one of the kids says. “Do you want to play basketball with us?”
Quan says, “Yes.”
They play basketball. They all pant and sit down to drink water. A boy named Jim tries to grab Quan’s basketball head but misses. Quan thinks he is trying to get the ball from his hand but he realizes that he is trying to get his head. He drops the ball and runs away from the kids. He sits at the bus stop to wait for the #1 on Clay St. Birds fly close to his head and dogs bark at it. He looks at a wilted plant. At home he plays games on his computer. In one of the games cube people keep on busting into his house and taking his stuff. He makes a plan about how to get them to stop trying to take his head off. He stays up all night thinking.
The next morning he runs back to the basketball court and plays basketball with the same kids. He puts on a mask to prevent the kids from pulling his head off. The mask also protects him from dogs and birds. Jim is there again and he tries to take Quan’s head off again but he grabs the mask instead. Quan runs back to his house.
He cuts two seatbelts out of his car with scissors and gets two pieces of metal, drills holes in them, and screws in pegs. He attaches his new device to his mask and straps himself in. He rides the bus to the basketball court to play basketball again. Jim is there. He tries to take off Quan’s new and stronger mask.
He doesn’t succeed, but he rips the mask strap. Quan runs out of the court and goes back to his house. He goes to the garage to build more protection for the mask. Then he goes back to the park.
“Why is your head like that?” Jim says.
Quan notices a lump in Jim’s chest. “Why is your chest like that?”
Jim covers his chest with his hand.
“Huh?” Quan says. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing”
“What‘s wrong with you?”
“I have a baseball instead of a heart.” Jim starts to cry.
Quan takes off his mask.
About the Author
Hi, my name is Andy and I am ten years old. I live on Polk Street. I live with my mom, dad, grandma, and sister and this is my second published book. I like to play computer, basketball, ping-pong, and pay with my friends. I am good at videogames, knitting, drawing, and math. I want to be better at making friends. When I grow up I want to be an engineer because they get to fix electronics. Something I wonder is where did trees come from? Where did the first seed come from? If I were a planet I would be Jupiter because it has the most moons and one of them named Io has the most volcanoes. I wish that there were no more bullies.
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