Hal v. Stice: a panther in a back-brace
A born net-man, Ortho Stice played with a kind of rigid, liquid grace, like a panther in a back-brace. He was shorter than Hal but better-built and with quicker feet. A southpaw with factory-painted W’s on his Wilson Pro Staff 5.8 si’s.
Context
Stice's game-body in one line: "a kind of rigid, liquid grace, like a panther in a back-brace." Predatory and fluid, but with a stiffness laced through it — "shorter than Hal but better-built and with quicker feet," a lefty net-man. The oxymoron does the work the gift-body portrait does at supper: something beautifully made and moving, but braced, constrained, not entirely free in itself.