Saturday, November 3, 2012

Spectator Sport













Since we didn't set off for the playground until the end of the afternoon, all of Huntington Park was somewhat darker and emptier than usual by the time Mabel Watson Payne got into action. She was ready for fun nonetheless and right in front of my eyes she invented a new & complicated game for herself. This involved depositing a neat layer of sand on the seats of each of the four crisscross rubberized baby swings hanging in their row. She then required herself to run back and forth pushing each swing to keep all four in continuous motion (while not spilling the deposits of sand, which were enjoying rides). I was the amazed audience, shouting out support and admiration (which is very likely as close as I will ever come to behaving like a proper sports fan).