Prompt: use the first line of Amy Hempel's short story Weekend, "The game was called on account of..."

                                                  The Game

The game was called on account of burning insecurities, and round cherry faces that were giddy moments earlier crumpled into disdain. The field, nearly 300 feet of smooth green meadow grass waves now went unseen as bright young eyes, dashed with tears stared at shoes in contempt. The lazy clouds above drifted in the same soft breeze that kissed reddened cheeks. Little Eddie Dean knew that his team was no match for his big brother Henry's, and while the calling of the game was a harsh blow, in his secret heart of hearts he knew it was right. One time he had seen Skipper Brannigan and Frank Mott light a cat's tail on fire just to see it run, and he knew that what happened to a stray cat wouldn't necessarily happen to a little boy, but other bad things could. Last year Jeffie Smitherson broke his nose rounding third. The grown-ups said it was an accident, a slip, but Eddie knew better. Eddie and his friend Jonas heard Henry and Skipper talking about Jeffie's fall through the bedroom door, their ears scuffed by the roughness of the chipped paint but not being able to tear themselves away. The little boys could hear how much they laughed. They weren't afraid of blood, those boys, especially if it wasn't their own.

Coach rounded up the little boys, mostly dry-eyed by now and those who weren't stared off to the sides pretending to be angry. The other boys on the team acted as if they didn't notice; this wasn't the time for teasing and anyway they understood. The high school boys jumped and laughed; honor and sincerity weren't in their vocabulary and in their eyes a forfeit was even better than a win. The big boys enjoyed scaring the little boys, loved the power, but this was way cooler – this time the coach was scared for the little boys. Henry and Frank high-fived while Skipper did a cartwheel and ran into Brent Jones. Scaring an adult was hot shit. They were hot shit.

The coach gave Eddie a soft, knowing smile and patted his shoulder. Eddie nodded his head.

Two groups of boys went home, the winners and the losers.