I played jacks a lot as a kid.

I don’t think I discovered them, really, until we moved to a new neighborhood the summer after seventh grade. My best friend and I spent hours sitting on the terrazzo floor of my kitchen playing jacks and talking. (Yes, those were the dinosaur days before everyone had personal computers and videogames!)

Secrets are easier to share when you’re doing foursies or around the world or eggs in a basket. They tumble out like the tiny metal jacks spilling from your hand.