Thinking about dodgeball, we actually played that game under a different name when I was in elementary school: bombardment. Dodgeball, for us, had everyone playing for themselves without any lines. You ran around the gym, were out if you got hit, and got someone out if you caught their throw. Even more diabolical was elimination, where a caught ball allowed anyone who was put out by the thrower to get back into the game. We often went entire recesses without finishing a game.

Then again, this is the part of the country where after bombardment we'd get a drink from the bubbler, or maybe a tonic at home. We also called suitcases Swedish lunchboxes, back then in nineteen-dickety-two. Damn the Kaiser.