Exercise 53

There once was a little boy, Ryan, who wanted to become the best basketball player in his class. He struggled to barely walk down the court without tripping over this own two feet and wasn’t the most coordinated boy around. Every day after school he would get out his rubber basketball and practice for hours in his own driveway awaiting the arrival of basketball season.
Finally, after months of sweat, tears, and hard work, basketball season was fast approaching. Even though Ryan had invested what seemed like millions of hours to find some sort of talent in the game of basketball for himself it still wasn’t looking like try outs would go well. With all the hope in the world Ryan walked into the gym the first day of tryouts and gave it his all. When tryouts had ended that first day, he walked out of the gym disappointed in himself. He had never played so poorly in his life or looked more uncoordinated before. Every time the ball was passed to him it slipped right through his fingers and bolted to his chest. Every other journey down the court he tripped over his own two feet, plummeting to the hardwood on his bony chest. By the end of tryouts the other players had given him the nickname “butterfingers.” Ryan was so embarrassed by his performance at tryouts that he went straight home, picked up his worn out ball, and began to practice with tears pooling in his defeated eyes.
After an hour of practice, Ryan looked up to the front of the rim on his hoop and noticed a tiny figure balancing on the rim. He blinked many times, but the object was still standing there gleaming like a gem in the sun looking at him. Just then he heard,
“Young man I see the sweat, tears and hard work you have put into this game and just how much you would love to be a stand out player” said the gleaming figure.
Ryan stared at the luminous figure hovering over his hoop with puzzled eyes and nodded at what seemed like tiny women.
“I have a solution for you Ryan” said the minute figure. “Before going to bed the next during this week of tryouts, pour yourself a glass of this.”
Ryan took the bottle of clear liquid filled with sparkling specs in his hand and continued to listen to the women.
“Pour yourself a glass of this and sip it slowly until the cup is empty and tuck yourself into bed with your ball right by your side” said the women. “This here drink will turn you into the best basketball player in this town has ever seen.”
The smile on Ryan’s face was now ear-to-ear and his heart fluttered with hopefulness. That night after speaking to the angel-like woman he did just what she had told him to do. The next day at tryouts, Ryan had made a drastic turn around. He had more coordination than he knew what to do with and he was playing better than any of the other boys that were trying out. The angel-like woman visited Ryan every day after that, as he continued to practice and perfect his game on his home court.