He had kicked the ball back to the boy, and would have continued on his walk down the upscale street had the boy not booted the ball back to him.  He got to it just before it bounced into the street and kicked it back.  He watched the boy give chase down a long driveway, and, as he then turned to continue on, saw the boy give a look back at him.  He stood and waited for the boy to catch up to the ball, and then stepped a little ways up the driveway so the boy could hit it back to him, but the boy kept running and ran right into a house.  It took only minutes to realize that he had not hesitated a moment to make it back to the safety of the main street.