“Head is 100 points, body 50, balls…. Game over! That’s a Ballseye! and if you hit my legs it is 5 points. Game is to 1000!” My cousin, clutching the ball and dripping wet with the cool water of Lake Erie, couldn’t stop laughing. I was holding John Isaac, my brother, in a spring-like stance twenty feet away, ready to launch him into the sky only to come splashing back down in the water. He wanted Steven to hit him with the ball while airborne and he was giving us his rules. This was the game invented by a brilliant 8 year old, along with the newest word in the English dictionary; Ballseye. I couldn’t do it on account of becoming weak with laughter. He was killing us! “John, Of course he’s going to aim for your balls silly! Who the hell purposely marks their balls as game over?” I pleaded. His voice got quiet, “He’ll never hit my balls. That’s why legs are only 5. He’ll go for my balls every time and miss, hitting my legs instead.” “Oooohhhh,” I said, realizing the master plan behind his madness. Up he went, over and over again with us trying to whip the ball at him. Neither of us was successful at hitting balls and winning the game. We got legs every time and quit from physical exhaustion well before reaching 1000 points. What a slick little bastard.
The backdrop for the game of Ballseye was the greatest theme park ever invented, Cedar Point. It was our second scorching day, and the three of us were plopped in the lake on the back side of the park trying to find some relief from the 95 degree plus temperatures. We had enjoyed the first day immensely and had ridden rides in the morning, but the heat was just way too much in the mid day hours to be standing in lines for hours trying to ride the coasters. The EMT’s were very busy the three days we were there, rushing people around to local hospitals that had passed out from heat exhaustion or severe dehydration. We found out our air conditioner in the front of the RV wasn’t working, then we lost power completely trying to figure out how to get it back on. Mom called a technician, but he was unable to fix the AC. We did restore power however, which was a good thing for all of us since my mom was trying to figure out who she would give all the food to if we couldn’t keep it cold. Ahhhh….. family road trips! Don’t they all start out with problems?
The rides at the park were incredible, but you really do need three days to get on all of them. We got rained out at the Millenium coaster, a 310 foot brain bender, three times before being able to ride it with my mom. When we got on we went right for the front seat. It was late in the evening, and the drop was so hard and the ride so fast that we were covered in splattered insects by the time we reached the end. It was a real thrill, as were all of the rides, and my brother, with much coersion and begging, rode almost every single one with us. A few times he tried to back out by saying he had to go to the bathroom, but he was all smiles after every new challenge. It was a great start to our 6-week adventure.
My cousin Steven was supposed to make the whole trip with us across the country, but he bowed out after Cedar Point, heading home with Christina, who had joined us for the three days in the park. It seems he missed his new girlfriend and summer job. He barely looked up from his phone all weekend, texting like a mad man. Oh, to be young and full of dumb love again… ha ha. It’s just the three of us now.
We said goodbye and got on the road, heading for Starved Rock State Park in Illinois. This would be our stop-over for the night.
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