Joseph knew he couldn’t catch the ball. He went way back into the back field to try to catch it but by the time he got there, the ball had sailed over to the other side of the fence.

“That’s our only ball!” Joseph thought as he watched the ball bounce away from the chain link fence. Joseph crouched down to see if he could squeeze underneath, but he was too big to fit.

This wasn’t good. Principal Walters told the boys of St. Francis All Boys Catholic school to not play so close to the fence. At first the boys thought it was like jail, imprisoned from the world. But they quickly forgot that when they realized the small patch of fence was what separated them from St. George’s All Girls Catholic school. The warnings from Principal Walters went right out the window.

For a fleeting second Joseph wanted to climb over the fence, but that idea passed when a girl in a skirt and pigtails picked up the ball and threw it back over the fence to him. She winked at him and ran off, leaving Joseph dumbfounded.