Dipair

As the bright lights dimmed at the stadium, the young boy still sat in his seat. Although everyone else that had been at the game had left, the young boy still sat. Waves of emotion were running inside of him. They were rolling over him, revealed through the grin, ear to ear, from the boy; it was pure happiness. His favorite baseball player had hit a home run, but not just any home run. The hulk of a man had hit the game-winning home run. This game-winning home run was not just a game-winning home run: it was a game-winning Grand Slam, a four-bagger. As the young boy’s favorite player had rounded the third base, he had casually tipped his cap to the roaring crowd, as if to say that his glorious achievement was nothing, just doing his job. When he had done this, it had seemed like he was tipping his cap to the young boy, not anyone else. This was a defining moment, perhaps even the happiest moment of his short life.

Years passed and the young boy grew into a young man of 15. The passion for the great game of baseball still burned strong within him. Today was the young man’s first game with the high school varsity team and he was twitching with excitement. It was still a few hours until he was to report to the stadium, so he sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. After flipping through boring infomercials for OxyClean, found ESPN News. He reached over for his Fruit Punch Gatorade and took a sip as he read the headlines from the day. Suddenly the bottle fell out of his hands, spilling red all across the floor, like blood from an open wound. He read the screen again to make sure his eyes had not deceived him. His favorite player, his idol, was discovered selling steroids, HGH, and other banned substances to fellow players. He had been taking them himself as well. Consequently, he was escorted to jail. His trial was to be held Thursday. He could watch it on live ESPN, where announcers would be giving play-by-play commentary about the trial. The young man turned off the T.V. and sat there for a moment, soaking in this horrible nightmare. As he sat there, he thought of that game many years ago and the joy he had felt. He felt as if he had just been violently shaken awake for a wonderful dream to live in a nightmare of a world. He then realized that it was all a lie. He wondered why he even enjoyed this child’s game, just a child’s game. While sitting there, he got a call from his coach. The game was cancelled because of rain. Hard, pounding, gushing rain.