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Death Step
Billy had four brothers, no sisters. His mom did always seem a bit
high-strung (as a parent I now understand why). It wasn't that they were bad
boys, they were actually basically good kids. It's just that there were five
of them.
Billy's mom used to let them run around during the day, but after supper, the
boys had to stay right by the house. She let them play
stoopball, but the deal was not to let
the ball hit her new front door. Someone had to act as backstop at the top of
the stairs and his sole duty was to catch or deflect those foul shots. This
arrangement worked for about two weeks until Billy got the idea for "Death
Step." Instead of getting only 100 points for hitting and catching the
pointer, shots off the top step were now worth 250, and if you called off the
human backstop and hit a Death Step pointer, it was worth 500.
So the lines were clear. You could do a regular game like mom said or go for
the 500 point shot, fully aware of the consequences. I still remember one
time when the ball hit the door and everyone scattered. Billy's mom came out,
grabbed the nearest kid and proceeded to smack him silly. She went right down
the line, grabbing each and every one, perhaps relieving her tension, but
definitely not eliminating Death Step from her kids repertoire.
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