he even had the traffic drones at the lights crosswalks tell him three times that he couldnt cross – he liked people inanimate things telling him three times not to do something because he liked to deny and ignore them – three strikes an youre Out is the saying  Buhbye  

he coopted it 

the game had long ago ceased holding sway over his imagination

                                                                      he was sorry it had 

he had fond memories of stickball on the street and pickup games in parks trees aligning foul lines a bundle of branches or leaves madeup the bases the hardball was wrapped in black electricians tape because they found it in the trash thrown away when its cover came off the bats they used hadnt fared well either knobs broken off a wild swing pulling it out of their hands the pitcher infield ducking throwing themselves down out of its waySORRY! tapers and barrels gouged labels obscured they werent Louisville Sluggers Louieville cheap knockoffs they used broken bats bodys and handles stabbed in the ground to help better define the foul lines too

he tried to talk his parents into letting him play Little League when he was old enough   

then it was a sign-up fee a cap a tshirt 

not the rigmarole it is today

kids gotta look like pros uniforms cleatswhats wrong with gym shoes no pickup games gotta play on groomed regulation fields foul lines cant waver or wiggle cant guess if the balls fair or foul batters used to call it as they ran there werent fences to knock the ball over relays often got a kid sliding at home the plate dug out of the earth by a kids heel

his parents said No

they said they werent spending their money  

I can make money

They take checks. You can’t sign permission forms.

cut and dried

so he only began playing legit ball when he got to high school

by then he was seveneight years behind the curve and didnt have a reputation to precede him

despite that he made the team three years

played sparingly

coaches wanted to win

fourth year his broken arm from basketball didnt heal in time

he couldnt try out

never was able to establish a reputation to have a place held for him

probably the only thing that went right his senior year was winning the pool between better than ten guys who had a sense of humour regarding the lottery for Nam 

but they were going to college

had places held for them

he didnt

he went to Canada

he was an American misfit

1436,  Friday,  24  5. 19

1321,  Monday,  27  5. 19