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
