Sideline Chalkboard

I pushed past the chain-link gate and made my way to the perimeter of the asphalt basketball court. Time for fresh ground. Near the steel leg of a green park bench, someone had abandoned a thick stub of yellow sidewalk chalk beside a discarded plastic whistle. I planted both cleats into the coarse green paint of the bench slat, dropped low, and gripped the chalk with two gloved hands. With firm, measured pressure, I dragged it across the wooden grain, scoring three parallel hash lines and a clean boundary box. I positioned the whistle squarely in the pocket. The play is drawn.