Foul Ball

Foul Ball

By Christopher Rubio-Goldsmith

Souvenir
 
It’s 1994 and you and a friend playing teacher hooky and watching
a Spring Training game in Tucson between Seattle and the D-Backs. The day,
a tourist center postcard. Right away a college kid catches a foul ball
and receives a nice little ovation. He then skips and jogs over
to the section you are sitting in, and right in front of you and your amigo;
he gifts his prize to a young woman, wearing sunglasses and that spring break
by the pool designer ensemble. Her friends approve of the moment. Of course,
she accepts with enthusiasm. His smile makes him look 12 and he saunters
back to his section with that special feeling that comes over young men
at certain times around young women.
Just later as the teams switch in the field she turns to her friends
and says, “If he was smart, he would have put his phone number on the ball.”
This is where you and your amigo laugh. Spring training games are
all about remembering to take your chances. Swing big and hard on a 3-0 count.
 
Sure Shot
 
A moment later your friend, who is always on top of sports, says, “This is el joven.” (A casual statement
between sips of cerveza). Alex Rodriguez, before he was A-Rod is stepping to the plate. 18 years old,
and sure enough he cracks a shot and puts all of those cliches into your head: he goes yard,
a dinger, tater, blast, goner, bomb and my favorite, a four-base hit. Recalling simple pleasures is the shine. The ball had no chance of going foul. And don’t we all deserve the pleasures of an afternoon where something happens that surprises. A moment that we may remember long after
we stop paying attention to those notions of temptation.
 
 
El Sandlot

Later that afternoon you wonder if the young college student realized he should have put
his phone number on the foul ball he snagged out of the air, said something more, sat
down and told her he saw her from way over there and introduced himself.
If he understood his goof, then he is ready for his next foul ball. A foul ball
that may detour his first or next lost love, detour a grip of missed choices,
detour his young delusions, and the failures we all experience as we muddle
through crowded shopping aisles and later search for our seats on the third base line.

Christopher Rubio-Goldsmith was born in Merida, Yucatan, grew up in Tucson, Arizona and taught English at Tucson High School for 27 years. Much of his work explores growing up near the border, being raised biracial/bilingual and teaching in a large urban school where 70% of the students are American/Mexican. A Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, his writings will appear in Clockhouse, and Inverted Syntax and have been published in Sky Island Journal, Cool Beans Journal, Discretionary Love and other places too. His wife, Kelly, sometimes edits his work, and the two cats seem happy.

Michael C. Paul is an illustrator, writer, and historian. He grew up outside of Kansas City, has moved around a bit over the years working as a history professor, illustrator, and occasionally an editorial cartoonist, and now lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and daughter. For more, visit https://mikepaulart.com or @MikePaulArt.

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