Hurricane Gregory

H U R R I C A N E G R E G O R Y� Part 4

The athletic center was housed in a complex of buildings and courts located just a mile from the main building at the campsite. Gregory and Jamie walked over to their cabin so they could change into some comfortable clothes, before they made their way over to the athletic fields.

On their way to the gym, Jamie and Gregory passed several outdoor basketball courts and two tennis courts.

“Hey, would you like to play tennis?” Greg asked his partner.

“I can try. I’ve never played before…” Jamie shrugged.

The two boys walked up to a registration desk, where they checked out two rackets and a can of three tennis balls. At the court, Greg started the rally by serving.

Greg gently served a ball at Jamie, who was standing on the other side of the net. Jamie just extended his arm and held the racket, so that the ball would bounce right against the string of the racket. Unfortunately, he failed to swing his racket, so the ball just bounced from his string and landed on the court, about a foot or so in front of him.

“Jamie! You need to swing the racket!” Greg instructed his partner. With his racked, he demonstrated a standard forehand stroke.

“Oh… okay…”

Greg patiently walked to the middle of his court, where he bounced the second tennis ball in front of him, before hitting it over the net with the stroke of his racquet. As soon as the ball had bounced onto Jamie’s side of the court, he swung his racquet back, before slowly swinging it forward. The ball bounced off the strings on his racket, but it landed in the bet in front of him.

“Awww… This is hard! I must be doing something wrong…” Jamie wondered to himself.

“No, Jamie! You need to hit the ball a lot harder! You need to get the ball over the net!”

“Oh, okay. I get it…” Jamie replied.

Gregory served the third ball right at Jamie. The ball bounced on Jamie’s court, before he swung his arm back. He the swung the racquet forward at near blinding speed, striking the ball with the center of the strings on his racquet!

POW!

The ball ricocheted off Jamie’s racquet with such force, that the strings snapped! Not only that, but the ball soared high over the net, and over the back fence, ascending high over the sky at supersonic speed!

“Oops…”

Jamie held his racket before his face, and realized that he had broken a string!

“I guess I can’t use this racket anymore…”

“Jamie! All you needed to do is hit the ball over the net just hard enough, so that it will bounce on my side of the court!” Greg complained. “You don’t have to knock the ball into orbit!”

“Oh… I… I guess I don’t know my own strength…” Jamie said, embarrassed at his gaffe.

“Oooh boy…” Greg sighed, while rolling his eyes. “I shouldn’t be surprised, since I’m playing tennis with Superboy…”

“So… What do we do now?” Jamie asked.

“Let’s just go for a walk. That way, I know you won’t break anything…” Greg said, as he started to walk back to the registration office. The boys returned the rackets to the lady behind the desk. Jamie dutifully apologized for breaking the string on the racquet and losing one tennis ball…

The two boys strolled around the track, the soccer field and the baseball diamond. Several boys were playing basketball on the small, concrete court. Jamie and Greg just stood by the side line of the court, when one of the players had lost the ball. The basketball rolled right towards Gregory, who squatted down and scooped up the ball.

“Do you know how to play basketball?” he asked Jamie.

“Sure! I’ve played that before!”

“Here, see if you can make a basket with this…” Greg chuckled, as he passed the ball to Jamie.

Jamie palmed the basketball in his right hand and cocked his arm every so slightly. With his eye on the hoop he launched the ball into the air. It sailed down court and passed through the hoop with out touching the rim or the backboard.

“Whoa! Good shot!” Greg cheered.

Since he and Jamie were actually standing alongside the center line of the court, he realized that Jamie had made a half-court shot from the sideline of the court.

One of the boys walked up to Jamie, and asked him if he wanted to play on his team.

Jamie obliged, and he joined the boys. Greg just smiled, as he watched his super-friend play basketball with a group of regular kids.

Greg just looked on from the sidelines, as his buddy played basketball. Jamie made every shot, of course, although he tried not to play aggressively at all. He didn’t try to block anyone, or steal the ball. Whenever he would get the ball passed to him, he would dribble it a few times. Most of the time, he would just pass the ball to one of the other players on the team. He did go for a couple of shots to help out his team! He made every one of his shots, the ball passing cleanly through the hoop, without touching the rim.

After ten minutes, the short match ended, when two of the other players left. Jamie quickly rejoined Greg, and the two boys walked quietly off the court.

The two boys spent another hour wandering around, before they headed back to the main building. They enjoyed their free time, lasting well into the evening, so they could decide what they wanted to do during the evening and the following morning. The only thing Mr. Staples had requested from them is that they get enough sleep.

The boys met with Mr. Staples at the main camp admin and supply building, where they were issued their tent and supplies for that night. They reported their selected camp site, the farthest out from the main camp building, a secluded spot alongside the lake shore.

Along with their tent, they were issued a small cook pot, sandwiches, and boiled-in packets of food, several bottles of drinking water, and a bag of marshmallows.

After a three-mile hike, Jamie and Greg reached the proposed site, where they worked together pitching their tent.

“Do you want some soup, or some chili?” Greg asked him, while he held up both packets.

“Oh, I’ll eat just about anything. I’ll go for some chili, unless you want it!” Jamie replied. “But, let’s eat a little later, after it gets dark!”

“Alright…” Greg replied, as he set the two bags by the little pot in the tent. “I guess I’ll go for a swim, before we have our dinner…”

Jamie hadn’t needed Greg’s help to pitch the tent, but he wanted this campout to be a shared experience with his friend. He had used his strength to drive the tent stakes into the ground, and then Greg looped the ends of the ropes over them, which allowed the tent to stay upright firmly. Greg laid down their ground tarp inside the tent and then Jamie laid out their sleeping bags above the tarp.

Gregory quietly waded into the water, while Jamie read a comic book.

Greg swam about 8 meters or so from the shoreline and allowed his lower body to drop reorienting from horizontal to vertical. He allowed himself to sink to the bottom. The depth was just over his head. He landed in some underwater plant growth and quickly found his legs entangled in them.

To be continued


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