When I was a little girl, there was a black family that we were close with. My parents grew up with the parents, and my brother and I grew up with their kids. I could out run any kid in town except for Stanley. He was on the track team and he was fast. I had just picked a couple of apples and was walking down the driveway when I saw Stanley and my brother walking down the lane to the driveway. There was a Pin Oak next to the driveway that was about 3 times taller than the house that you could climb like a ladder, so I went all the way up.
Right before they got to the house, Mike and Stanley stopped, right under the tree. I held out an apple, knowing I could never hit one of them because of all the limbs, but I figured I'd give it a shot.
The apple was like a pinball. It hit the branches on the way down, and then hit the top of Stanley's head. I couldn't believe it. But it was the look on my brother's face, looking at that apple and then the oak and back to the apple, that made me laugh out loud. Stanley said, "You have to come down sometime". I said, "no I don't." So they went in the house.
As I started down the tree, my Dad pulled in the drive and I knew I was safe. He was between the tree and the house, so I jumped down, and the second my feet hit the ground, Stanley flew out the door, and it was on. I can still hear my Dad and my brother's laughter as Stanley chased me all over the yard. It took him awhile, but he caught me. It's hard to run and laugh at the same time.
The only difference between Stanley and me was he could run faster than I could.