rattling rain another backache to start the day

I stand for two-and-a-half hours.

Frankie’s first meet is at Felix Festa Middle School. The sprawling campus has multiple buildings and vast fields–but no bleachers. I spend much of the meet circling the chain-link fence that encloses the track.

He runs the hurdles, the first event. His team wins every heat, even the last one in which Frankie places in the middle. His next event–the long jump–is at his discretion. He wanders back and forth across the field before finally making his three jumps. Then he waits for his last event, the 800 meter.

It’s over by almost seven.

croaking bullfrogs an aching left arch to finish the day