Neglected

It was early morning about 8:00 am; John was in the passenger seat of his fathers red Pinto station wagon. He was dressed in his white pants with blue stripes, leggings and a blue hat matching his shirt with the number 7 right in the middle. Holding his mitt in his lap and chatting about, well about anything and everything. If it was one thing John could do it was chat. His father pulled into the baseball park and pulled up next to the other cars, cars that had been there since 7:30am the time John's baseball team was supposed to arrive to warm up for the game. "Can you stay and watch dad", John asked, knowing well the answer that would follow. "No son, I have some business to attend to this morning, page me when the game is over." John Trotted over to join his team. He watched his dad drive off as he was rounding the field for his first lap of the 10 he was running to pay of his debt for being late.

The game went as they always went for John, sitting out most of the game, wishing he could be somewhere else, wonder what he could do to make his father proud of him, to make him really stand up and take notice. When he finally played it was right field, the position of least impact for the team. John was up twice, this was an especially lucky day for him, because he got hit with the second pitch, he was on base one less strike out for the season. One less time he had to see the disgusted look of his teammates as he turned dejected from the plate after swinging for the third time with no connection on the ball. The game ended, the score was not important; he had suffered through another game and would soon be back with his father.

John went to the phone booth and paged his dad, he hung around the booth for a while waiting for the return call, it was not unusual for this to take some time today was no exception, an hour or so after he had called his father finally returned the call. "Things are crazy today son, I will come and get you as soon as I can", his father said. John went off to play for a while, swinging on the swings, jumping on the big tractor tires that were filled with standing water from the rains a few days before. His friends came and went each in turn arriving prior to their games, practicing, playing and being picked up. John paged his father a few more times, but received the same empty promise "I will be there as soon as I can". The funny thing is John never stopped believing this, he knew his father loved him, his work was important for the family and necessary if the family was to maintain their current lifestyle. Sometimes just knowing things is enough; this is not one of those times. John sat inside of the big tractor tire and wondered what he could do to make his dad sit up and notice him, to be so proud that just once he could come first.

It was dark when the last car pulled out of the park, leaving John alone. John had just paged his dad, and was waiting for his return call. He was huddled by the only light left shining the 'Phone' sign above his only connection with the world. Tossing his ball high into the darkness and trying to catch it upon its earthly return John cried lightly, muttering to himself, if only I could do the right thing to make him notice me. Alone, frightened, cold and hungry John finally saw the sight his eyes had longed for, the pinto returning. "Hi son" His father said, "How are you". "I am fine Dad", he said aloud, while thinking to himself "I am fine now Dad, now that you are here."

STU – October 2008