BATTER-UP

BATTER—UP

Score is one to zero

There it was again. Tommy was sure this time. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as the tall shadow whisked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. Tommy had been watching TV, he jumped up out of his chair and instinctively attempted to follow it. “What the heck could that possibly be?” Suddenly he froze. His brain began doing gymnastics, what if somebody had gotten into the house. He was home alone; his parents had gone out and in different directions for the evening. “What if someone had broken in? Had he been chosen this night by some lunatic to be robbed or even killed?”

Thoughts of his feuding parents began invading his mind again. He weighed the options and decided that life was not worth living anyway. The prospect of his parents bickering had made his circumstances unbearable. Defending the little he had left with a baseball bat in his hand would not be such a bad way to go.

He snuck into his bedroom and over to the closet where he kept his baseball bat. Ever so quietly he opened the door of the closet and fumbled around some of his other equipment before he located the wooden bat. Tommy gripped his hands around the tape he had personally added for a better grip and pulled out “the slugger” then he slung the heavy equalizer over his shoulder.

Quietly he made his way to the kitchen. He stopped when he reached the door. Now he had to make his plan of attack. Tommy thought about how brave it made him feel when they sang the national anthem at school. So, with great resolve he began singing at the top of his lungs. “God Bless America” then he stomped into the kitchen with his bat swinging every-which-way.

I could go on to say that Tommy found no one in the kitchen, and that our parents came home together, and that we all lived on happily ever after. But I will not because Tommy died that day. There was a thief in the kitchen that had broken in. He blasted Tommy with his thirty-eight pistol and got clean away. The murdering thief did finally get caught and some say that he received his just rewards, which did little to resurrect Tommy.

If there is any consolation in all of this, it is in the outcome of our parent’s dilemma. The consoling of one for the other reignited their feelings and they reconciled.

My name is Jake, and I was born after Tommy passed. I would be his younger brother if he had survived. The story of my older brother comes back to me on this late night because I realize that I am about the same age as he was when fate played her role. Lately mom and dad are as they were then fighting again. There out on a date night now trying to pick up the pieces. Strange how life seems to repeat itself.

Wait what is that noise in the basement. I know I heard a rumbling down there. I am scared to go down and look around. Oh, I know what it must be it is just Ramon our cat. He has found a mouse that has snuck in from the chilly night.

I know what to do Tommy’s old bat is still in the closet I will just get that baby for protection and go down swinging and singing. God bless America…

There is a moral to this story if nothing else. Life is not always fair and pretty, and if we genuinely want a happy conclusion. Well, we should all learn how to write it…

Lad