A young granpa
all things considered
64
grand son
7
they get along well
Granpa
loves (I mean really loves)
telling
his grandson
baseball stories
Sure he embellishes
a
bit
but
most are true
and
most
did
happen
And
grandpa
loves
to take the kid
to
the
ballpark
Has since
he
was just 4
That time they got a ball
hit
into
the stands
you would think
grandpa
was in heaven,
is
in
heaven
It took months
til
grandpa
stopped jabbering about it
But
this
offseason
Granpa
is sullen
muttering
not talking baseball
just
shaking his head
“Those damn cheats!
What the hell
are
they thinking?
This
is
what
they
want kids
to
learn?
How to steal
the
God damn
game?
How
to
subvert
the whole story?”
And grandpa
cussed
Dad said to his little boy:
“Granpa
is angry
you know
what
they
did
that
sign
stealing,
but
he’ll get over it,
he
will,
season doesn’t start
for awhile yet…”
But the
grandson
was
sad
to
see his beloved grandpa
with
a frown,
with
a look of
anger,
and it wasn’t going away
So
finally
today
after school
he sat
next to him
“You told me
that
winning and losing
is
not as important
as
how to play
and
that’s what I know,
so
just cuz some of those creeps
cheated
doesn’t
change anything Granpa,
not
for
me,
doesn’t change anything…”
Grandpa
looked at him,
stared at him,
inhaled,
exhaled,
shuffled in his chair,
“You now what,
you’re
right…
But if you ask
me
to forgive
and forget
that isn’t gonna happen…”
There was a long silence
“I don’t wanna lose
our going
to
games
together
or watching
on tv
or talking about it,
that’s all,
you know,
and play catch again,
you pitch
and
I hit,
that’s all…
Why should
they
take
that away?”
Grandpa inhaled
crunched up his
face
and
stood up,
“You might not
understand
this
but there is
this thing
about 360 degrees,
where
the way it started
comes all the way around.
You’re 7 years of age
and
you just showed me
it comes back around.
I should not have forgotten it.
All right… get your bat,
I’ll get the damn ball,
let’s
get
outside…”