Ring! Ring!  Andrew dropped the basketball instantaneously, and his two friends followed.  ICE-CREAM MAN!  Andrew ordered his usual Green Shots, Eric asked for a Snow-Cone, and Frankie bought a Good Humor King Reese’s bar.  The three boys sat at the nearest bench and ate their snacks.  When they returned to the basketball court with sticky fingers and messy t-shirts, they saw four bikes and four kids playing ball with their basketball.

“Hey! That’s our ball,” Frankie shouted.

The four boys playing with the basketball, who must have been about fifteen or sixteen, just looked at the young boys and laughed. 

“The ball is ours now buddy,” said one of the four teenagers.

Andrew tried explaining nicely that the ball was his.  “I just dropped the ball on the court to catch the ice-cream truck,” Andrew said numerous  times.

This group of teenagers, who called themselves the “Bike Gang”, were not understanding and compassionate  to the younger boys situation. 

“This may have been your basketball, but now it’s ours,” said another one of the four teenagers.  “If you want it back then play us for it." 

Andrew, Frankie, and Eric all looked at each other simultaneously.  Eric explained to his two friends that these older kid’s are from over the tracks, and they go around parks starting trouble.

“I remember my older brother Angelo warning me about these kids,” Frankie said. 

“Well, they are kind of scary, but I can’t let them just take our ball.  I borrowed it from my brother John.  He will kill me if it is not back by dinner time,” said Andrew.