The Hackey Sack King

The Great Balancing Act

“Don’t you ever get tired of bouncing that thing all day, Jason?” Aaron asked.

“Naa, not really. It’s fun and wiles away the time. Keeps my mind active. Helps with coordination too.”

Dubbing himself as the Hackey Sack King of Washington County, Jason took a hackey sack footbag wherever he went. Every moment was an opportunity to bounce the bag. As he walked down the street, his body was always in motion, always bouncing, always attempting new tricks.

When he didn’t have a footbag with him – which was rare – he used folded up socks, shoes, baseballs, tennis balls, basketballs, you name it, anything that could reasonably bounce.

Walking with his friends across town and over the Mason River bridge one afternoon, Jason bounced the hackey sack off his feet as he kept up with the conversation. Sara, Craig, Jason, and Aaron were fairly tight as friends.

“Sara, ever tried it?” Jason asked.

“Are you kidding? Did it once but I could never get the hang of it. Hurt my legs. Don’t know how you do it actually. Might’ve even twisted something.”

Tossing the footbag towards Sara, Jason said, “That’s where practice comes in. Here, catch. It’s easy peasy. Give this a shot and I’ll bounce the smart phone off my foot a few times to show you how easy it is, even with non-bouncy things.”

“You sure, Jay, I mean…?” asked Craig.

Before Craig could finish, Jason had already bounced the phone off his foot once. When the phone came down for the second bounce, it landed at a peculiar angle and the force of the phone corner against the rubber on his shoe sent the phone up and over the wrought iron rail. Jason reached for it, but the phone was already heading towards the river 20 feet below.

“Dude…” Aaron said, pulling Jason down when he started to climb the rail to fetch the phone from the river. “It’s not worth it. That water is deep and fast. Freezing too.”

“Welp, that was stupid,” Jason said.

Jason climbed down and leaned over the rail to stare at the spot his phone entered the dark water.

Nobody said a word as Jason stared into the water. He noticed the hackey sack down by his feet, the one he had tossed to Sara. He picked it up and threw it as hard as he could into the middle of the river.

“It just goes to show you…”

“What’s that, Jay? What’s it show?” Craig asked.

“I have no idea, Craig. No idea at all. Got any hobbies I can take up? Let’s go home, shall we? It’s been a pricey day.”