Bocce Ball

Bocce ball brings back a lot of childhood memories. I used to watch a bunch of men play it on the grassy area by the beach, and I didn't understand it. That didn't make it any less fun to watch.

There are a variety of colored balls, all very heavy to handle, and the men were apparently trying to displace others' bocce balls with theirs. At least I think that was it. The most fun of it was that the spectators, probably the players' wives, served lemonade to everyone watching. They chattered away in Italian, which I didn't understand, but it sounded pretty. These women were almost always smiling and humming.

The smiling and humming stopped when they disagreed with a play. Their shouting would have made most people quiver, but the players just gave them dirty looks and went on playing. I didn't have to understand a thing to enjoy being a spectator. At eight years old, I thought they were putting on a show for my enjoyment.