Li'l Dill isTrying to Kill Me

After a month's worth of wheedling and guilt-tripping, PigPen and I finally convinced Li'l Dill Wonderboy to make it out to the racquetball courts with us, a decision PigPen regretted the first time one of Li'l Dill's serves nearly took off his head, and one I regretted as soon as I realized that I would have to play him next. After playing against Li'l Dill a couple of times, I've realized it's probably a good idea for me to update my will.

But it's not through high velocity impact by which Li'l Dill will cause the demise of myself; no, it's through utter exhaustion. You see, both PigPen and I have discovered that our percentage of non-stop running increases by about a factor of a zillion when playing against Li'l Dill as compared to when we're playing against each other, or any of the other Singles who have managed to make it out to the courts with us. Why so much more running? Well, for me, it's because Li'l Dill doesn't make as many out-and-out kill-shots as PigPen, giving me more opportunities to attempt to return the ball; for PigPen, it's because Li'l Dill can actually return most of his shots and keep the volley going, which, after a month of playing primarily against me, is obviously a foreign concept to PigPen. There were several times last night when I noticed PigPen stopping in his tracks, secure in the knowledge that he had just won a point, only to scramble across the court seconds later as he suddenly recalled that it was Li'l Dill "The Skill" Wonderboy he was playing, and not Cap'n Couch Potato.

I enjoyed watching PigPen and Li'l Dill play, since Li'l Dill's skills forced PigPen to step his game up quite a bit; there was one highly extended volley that received a standing ovation from Shack-Fu and myself due to the number of great shots and at least one occasion where PigPen landed flat on his back but then got back up in time to make another shot. But, while it was fun to watch, throughout the whole match I had in the back of my head the nagging thought that, thanks to the challenge Li'l Dill provides, PigPen's game is going to improve drastically, until soon he will be able to crush me so consistently that I will serve as little more than a brief warm-up and comic relief before the real game begins.

So long, ability to not totally embarrass myself on the racquetball court; it was nice knowing you, even for such a brief period of time.