“Me play” said the mentally challenged boy.
“Sure,” I said
I threw him the ball.
“Yeah! Me catch!” he screamed.
“Okay, now throw it back,” I said.
The boy threw it back. I caught it and dove underwater.
“You don’t have to do this,” said the boy’s mother.
“No, it’s fun,” I said.
“Yeah go under `gain!” yelled the boy. So I dove underwater.
We continued playing for half an hour. When the boy went away he had the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on his face. This small experience made me feel normal. I thought that’s what anyone would do. A boy wanted to play, so I did. This made the boy feel good so it made me feel good. But after that people stared at me.
One boy even came up to me and said, “Why were you playing with that retardo?”
I said nothing and walked away.