Читать книгу No One You Know - Jason Schwartzman - Страница 15

We are playing three on three and he is by far the best. It seems like he never misses. He raises the ball up slowly into his stance, shoots, swish every time. He is a beautiful machine, a magic trebuchet of basketball. There is no net so the ball just goes through. I find ways to get him the ball. Bounce pass. Hand off. Down low. Guy never says a word, but we win every game. It’s something I like about pickup – the instant chemistry you sometimes develop with strangers – learning each other through playing. I say goodbye and he waves. The third player, I don’t even remember. I only remember the shot. My own style is awkward – I can’t shoot unless I’m fading away, a runner in the lane, a tough post-up. I don’t take jump shots unless I’m off-kilter, veering left so my body is a diagonal. If I miss, I can blame that. No one ever cares, but I can blame that.

Many of us who play here are afflicted by these minor basketball diseases of the brain. Someone who was told he dribbles too much so all he does is pass. Someone who is afraid to take layups, even though they are the easiest shots, since he was scorned for missing a few gimmes in a row. He’ll pass backward or he’ll retreat to take a much deeper shot, a Hail Mary. His stance is unusual, the ball held above his right shoulder, like a shot putter. But he does not go for layups anymore.

The same night, I’m going out to get food, I’m on my corner, I see the shooter – the shock of seeing any one stranger twice.

“Hey!”

He had such an elegant shot, I want to know what he sounds like, how he speaks, to see how far the fluency goes. The shooter turns and recognizes me, but doesn’t know what to say. For the first time, the ball rattles around the rim.

“You live around here?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he says, but he seems unsure how to navigate the interaction. Paralyzed almost, like he can barely speak. Or he doesn’t want to, not with me.

I raise my hand in a final salute. Maybe one day we’ll have a real reunion on the court.

“See you out there.”