A blinding orange sunset flashed beneath the brim of Leo’s baseball cap as he meandered home from practice with a failed test and impending consequences looming overhead. It was a given–his phone, his games, and quite possibly his position on the school team were in jeopardy. It seemed only a matter of time before the faculties he loved were plucked away. But as he rounded the block to his neighborhood, a text message from Finn vibrated him out of the mental fog and begged a detour. “It’s over,” read the news, and instantly, he knew Finn’s girlfriend had just broken up with him.
When Leo arrived at the park, his best friend was staring down at his feet on the edge of a lonely bench. For a short time, no one said anything. The two avoided eye contact until neither could stand the uncomfortable silence any longer, and with mutual understanding, they put on their gloves, took positions some distance apart, and began lobbing a worn baseball back and forth.
Affectionate chirping from nearby birds carried through the trees, mysteriously starting and stopping at exact intervals to form syllables, words, and sentences. With the slightest waver of cadence or adjustment of tone, their voices sounded somehow human, and eventually they asked, “Is everything okay?” On his next catch, Finn fumbled the ball, and it fell to the earth, breaking ground. With hesitation, he bent to pick it up while quietly admitting–he lied. The foundation of assurance where relationships stand, build, and, in his case, crumble had fallen apart. He had lied to his girlfriend, and she could no longer trust him. Their time as a couple had reached its end.
Besides the occasional one-liner to affirm agreement or attention, yeah…I get it, Leo said very little. He listened generously to the confessional in lieu of his own grief, but over time, the unsettling anxiety he carried was channeled through to the baseball. His underhand lob evolved into a toss, then a pitch, and the ball’s arc across the air lessened as power bent it straighter and straighter each throw. Finn followed suit, and fists were cast with the ball caught in a flurry of punches that bruised the skin of leather gloves.
When the sun finally picked up speed, scattering darkness into corners here and there, the ball made a final flight and stuck its landing. Leo and Finn parted ways, continuing worlds in opposite directions with somber eyes and heavy hearts. Each had a burden to carry, but in that hour of buddy ball, emotions were thrown back and forth so that neither had to feel the weight of them all.
Questions to Consider
- What is the mood of the story?
- What might the baseball symbolize?
- Has a friend ever supported you in your time of need?
Share your thoughts and ideas in the comment section below.