Free Maude by Donna Mabry Page A

was going to
be a real baseball player. He was going to have his
dream.
    He and the rest of the boys on his team gave up
their evenings all week so they could get in practice
time. I hadn’t seen him so excited since Lulu was born.
That Saturday, he fidgeted all morning, pacing back
and forth, running up to his parent’s house, changing
his socks three times. When it was finally time for us
to leave for the ball field, he gave me a big hug. “This
is going to be the best game you’ve ever seen. All the
boys are going to put out their best, including the team
from Union City.”
    James’s parents were waiting for us, and we all
trooped out to the ball field together. James carried
Lulu, Mr. Connor carried a picnic basket, Mom
Connor carried a few hooked rugs for us to sit on, and
I carried supplies and toys for the baby. All five of us,
including Lulu, were quiet during the walk, we grownups were thinking on what the day could bring for
James’s future, and Lulu, well, she must have picked
up on our serious mood.
    Mom and Dad Connor and Lulu and I took our
seats on the benches built by the field. As the family
of a player, we didn’t have to bring our own chairs. I
sat in the second row with Lulu on my lap, and the
Connors sat in front of me. I looked around the crowd,
looking for strangers, trying to spot the man from St.
Louis. Word of the scout coming had spread to both
teams that were playing, and there was a bigger crowd
today than I’d ever seen before.
    Lulu was always a quiet baby and used to being
at the games. The noise when someone made a home
run didn’t bother her at all. She dozed off right away.
    My heart swelled with pride when the hometown
team took the field. James was the tallest of them, and
his blond hair helped me spot him right off. I thought
he was so handsome.
    Out in left field, James caught the ball to end the
first inning. At his first turn at bat, James got a hit that
took him to second base and was taken the rest of the
way to home plate by a teammate’s home run. We all
cheered as loud as we could. Lulu wriggled a little in
my arms, but settled back to her nap.
    I knew James was nervous by the way he kept
picking up a handful of dirt and rubbing it between his
palms, but no one else would have been able to tell it.
James was playing like he was already on the big-time
team. I was so proud of him. By the third inning, his
team was already two runs ahead.
    James got his second at-bat in the fourth inning.
He gave me a wave and a big smile as he stepped up
to the plate. He took his position and focused his
attention on the pitcher. The first ball was wide and
counted as ball one.
    The second ball was wide again, but James
swung and clipped the outside of it, sending it out to
right field, but short of the first base line. It went foul,
and it was called as strike one. The third pitch was
again wide and called ball two. The catcher stood and
walked out to the pitcher and put his arm around his
shoulder. They both lowered their heads, talked for a
few seconds, and the catcher went back and squatted
down behind the plate.
    The pitcher took some time before the next pitch.
He stared at James and finally wound up, leaning back
as far as possible, and threw the ball as hard as he
could.
    It traveled so fast that it was just a blur to me.
James moved his bat back for his hit. The ball
connected with his left temple with a loud crack,
jerking James off his feet and into the air. His body fell
to the ground with a thud and lay face-down. The dust
clouds billowed up around him and then faded away
into the air. James lay there and didn’t move at all. The
people held their breath and waited for him to get up,
but he didn’t. It was so quiet, you could hear the leaves
rustling.
    His mother was out of her seat and running to
him in a split second, his father a heartbeat behind her.
I told my body to move, to get to him, but I was frozen.
I turned to look into the face of the woman sitting next
to