Broken Windows

Response to Pia's blog post "When magic yarn turned into socks":

She writes about "Pojken med gulbyxorna”(The Boy with the Golden Trousers). Based on a Swedish book about a boy who finds a pair of pants in a storage and then discovers he is able to get an infinite amount of money from the pockets of said trousers.

"This isn't a good place to play baseball," said Rafael. "The house over there is too close."

Rafael was right, thought Nick. But, the city park was a long ways away and this vacant lot had been recently mowed and the freshly cut grass called out to him. Even better, the lot had a chain-link fence running along the house across from Ms. McMurtry's house.

"This'll do," said Nick. "Besides, we're not playing baseball we're just practicing pitching and hitting." Rafael stared Nick in the eyes but didn't say anything just as Nick had expected.

The fence rang as one of the balls got past Nick who had swung hard and expected to hit a line drive towards shortstop. Rafael picked up another ball and threw a soft curveball that cut just before Nick connected with his bat. The ball flew high into the blue sky and crashed through a second-floor window in Ms. McMurtry's house. They heard a high-pitched scream come from the house. Nick and Rafael scrambled to pick up a couple nearby baseballs, grabbed the backpack, and ran from the vacant lot.

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Nick went into the shed behind his house and looked at the gold pants hanging from the rafters in the back. He stuck his hands in the pockets and pulled out two $20 bills. He hoped that would be enough to replace the window. He taped the $20 bills to a baseball -- crinkling the edges of the bills a little bit. He pulled out another $20 bill and wondered who he might bribe to leave the baseball on Ms. McMurtry's porch. Sam might be a good choice, he would appreciate the money yet was trustworthy enough to actually deliver the baseball without stealing the money.