always saying that some kid is a "lovely child?" Well, this girl really was. Her legs were kind of too long and she was a kind of skinny, and her hair kept falling across her face, but she was just lovely, and not corny either. What it was, I think, she had this real nice smile. It wasn't an ear-to-ear thing or terribly cute or anything, It was just-well, It was the kind of smile that made you want to breathe real deep and say "ahhh." And then her eyes were this soft gray blue color, just like a reflection from the Spring sky. She looked like the kind of girl who would grow up looking beautiful some day, but that you kind of can't help but wish she would always have too long of legs, and always be sort of skinny. I watched her feet when she hopped back out from number five. She had on these red keds. When she got to the part where you put your feet in one and two, she stepped on one of the "two lines." I said, "Hey, girl, you missed." "I know," she said, and then she threw her heel back into number five, I could tell that she wasn't at all afraid to talk to me the way a lot of kids are, but she wasn't real forward, either. "Why did you do that one over?" I said. She stood in number five on one foot and looked at me kind of funny and then she said, "Because I missed, of course." Then she picked up the heel and hopped back out. "Well, yah, but you're just playing alone, so what difference does it make?" I said. She said, "If you miss, you have to do it over again. It doesn't matter how many are playing." I watched her do number six. She was playing the pick up kind, and to tell the truth, she looked a little awkward when she would pick the heel up and when she hopped and all. It sounded pretty neat when she scuffed her keds on the cement, though, because everything else was pretty quiet. She threw clear down to number seven and then I said, "What fun is it to play by yourself? There's no way to win." When she got to seven, she put both feet down and then she turned around and looked at me. She just let both arms hang down to her sides and then she said, "Well, I didn't have anyone to play with, but it's fun to play, anyway. You don't have to win, to have fun." I liked her more than ever when she said that. She said it like it should be such an obvious thing. I walked over to this tether ball pole by the side of the hop-scotch thing she was playing in. It was one of those poles sticking out of a tire with cement in it. It didn't have a tether on it, but they never do. I just leaned up against the pole part and stood in the tire part and watched her. She missed number eight and walked down to get her heel. I said, "Why did you decide to play today? It's still winter." She flipped her hair back off her fate with her hand. She said, "That's what my mother said, too, but it seems like Spring today, to me. I always play hop-scotch in the Spring." "Why didn't anyone else play with you?" I said. She didn't answer for few seconds. She carefully threw at eight again, but she missed, and then on the way down to get her heel, she said, "Everyone else went to this stupid birthday party at Craig's house, but I didn't want to go." "Why not?" I said. She stood at the end of the hop- 24 scotch and looked over at me and said, "I don't like birthday parties. The girls all act stupid, and wear lipstick and try to act old, and the boys act silly and tease the girls and stuff. It's all stupid. I wouldn't have gone over there for anything." She threw at eight and made it. When she got to seven she put both feet down and then she said, "Don't you think it's silly for sixth graders to wear lipstick?" Before I could say anything, she said, "I do. I'm not going to wear that stupid stuff." She hopped back with the heel and then I said, "You could have gone to the party without lipstick, couldn't you?" "Yah, but who wants to," She said, "I wouldn't go for anything. I can have more fun over here. Those stupid girls think they're so smart." "Do you like boys?" I said. "No," she said, and then she threw for number nine and missed, and she said as she went after it, "I like to play ball with the boys and stuff, but when they get at parties they act silly around the girls and tease them and everything. I hate them." She tried for number nine twice before she made it and then she hopped down and picked it up. I sat down on the tire part and leaned against the pole and then I just watched her. I really felt sorry for her, She was so nice, and Spring was hopscotch season to her. I hated to see a girl like that feel bad. The sun was starting to set just a little bit and everything was starting to look pink. Gosh, she looked nice hopping out there, even with too long of legs-no, I mean, especially with too long of legs. The she did a funny thing. She tried for ten once and missed it, and then she just picked up her heel and walked over and sat down on the tire with me. She said, "Where do you go to school?" "I go to college," I said. She brushed the hair off of her face and leaned her head down on her hands and said, "Boy, I wish I was in college. You're lucky. I'll bet the boys don't act silly at college." "A lot of them do," I said, "And all of the girls wear lipstick and act like they're at a party all the time." "I still wish I was grown up, though. Only, I just wish I could just do it all at once, so I won't have to wear lipstick and learn to dance and things." "Well," I said, "You know when I was your age, I wished the very same thing, But now I wish sometimes that I could just come back and be a little boy again. Like today, I've been wishing all day that I could go outside and play marbles, but I can't. When you grow up and go to college and things, everything changes. Every thing is sort of ruined. You learn things that ruin things. Like the sky-they tell you what the sky is made of, and then it's never quite as fun to look at, and they tell you where echoes come from so it's never as fun to hear one, and they tell you why people smile and they never look quite so nice, and they tell you why Spring comes, and then after that you can never play marbles in the Spring." She looked up at me like she was very concerned and she said, "Why can't you play marbles anymore?" "Well," I said, "people would laugh. It's just not the same anymore. Spring is just a season of the year. I'm just too old to play marbles." She leaned back on her hands again and she sat there just staring at the sunset for quite awhile. I figured that she didn't understand. Then she looked up at me with those soft blue-grey eyes and she smiled and said, "I don't care how old I get, 25