Bird wings rustled in the grass nearby.  Toby stopped and then started forward again.  Dry grasses scratched the boy's legs; the ground was fast and rocky.  Suddenly the boy stumbled over something and fell.  Hot, pebbled dirt pressed against his cheek and legs and the palms of his hands, but when he reached out to steady himself, his hand hit against something warm and round and almost the size of his cousin's tetherball.