Park Table Smash

I bounded off the coffee table, slipped under the front door behind the morning mail carrier, and bolted straight to the park's green concrete ping-pong table. Scrambling up the bench leg onto the slab, I found the perforated steel net standing like a miniature urban barrier. Right beside the post sat an abandoned neon-orange ping-pong ball and a flat wooden craft stick. Total street paddle! I gripped the stick with both hands, squared my sneakers along the white centerline, and drove into a hard forehand swing. POCK! The stick connected with a crisp pop, sending the hollow ball soaring cleanly over the steel net into the far court. First serve locked down!