Balls!

As in all times of emotional upheaval, we went to a laundromat. As we loaded our smoke-infused clothes into the machine, we reflected on what had been an intense two weeks with our guest, Will. Keepups were by now synonymous with laundry - and with a fresh bottle of Dew in hand to combat the intense heat, we unleashed the USA ball for its first proper session since the beginning of the Baylis chapter.

After a spectacular double inversed "around-the-world" from Tom "Globe-trotter" Probert and the infamous "ass-clamp" by Mike "Thigh-Vice" Hill, the two freestylers had attracted quite a crowd...of one. A tiny Mexican child sat mesmerised on the step of the laundromat, occasionally making a break away from his harassed mum to make a perilous dash across the car park towards the colourful football.

We attempted to ignore the little guy and focus on perfecting our technique, but it proved impossible. He was just too cute. Before long we were engaged in a game of 'throw the ball', our new friend needing a superhuman effort just to raise the ball above his head! When our clothes were finally ready and it was time to leave, we scanned the laundry, finding the tiny dude busily enthralled in a game of 'put the ball in empty washing machines', which we suspected might have been an attempt to hide it from us.

He was clearly in love with the ball, which was surprising to us as from a keep-up and aesthetic standpoint, we hated it. Nonetheless, after 2 months of trying to get value for every penny (cent) we had spent in this fund-sucking country, we were committed to not buy another ball. Tom prised it from the little guys tiny hands and we stomped back to Spot with our fresh clothes. 

As we reversed out of our space, we saw the little fella, nose pressed against the Laundromat glass, tears welling up in his eyes. We stopped in our tracks, and as we glanced at eachother, we knew what had to be done. We walked back in and handed over the ball. He was going to get much more out of it than we were. We expect this moment to be one of the award winning scenes in our upcoming film's success at the Oscars next year.

It was a satisfying ending to the ball's career for Mike. Tom however, was clearly disappointed he didn't get the chance to make a sequel to the Badlands episode of the previous month, where he had mercilessly massacred our Adidas Classic ball by launching it into a canyon.

With the prospect of buying a new (and improved) football to look forward to, we headed back to our hostel at Venice Beach and settled into the downstairs bar for an afternoon of happy hour Blue Moon wheat-beers, chicken tacos, and the obligatory blog update. Fatigued by another day of activity, we returned to our room and slept.