So I found myself with a muse...
Jan. 9th, 2004 02:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dewinged-11:46 AM
Begin.
For every double play I pulled off from the outfield when me and the guys used to play baseball in the park; for every diving catch I made when the batter would drive a fly ball into the hole between left and center, it's that one time that I missed the catch that sticks out in my head.
We had taken over one of the large clearings in the park to play ball, like the guys and I usually did every Saturday during the summer. There wasn't many of us; usually a dozen to fifteen kids from around the neighborhood who got together just to play ball. Shit, half these guys wouldn't even look at the other half during the school year. But here, it was all good. It was summer, we were all of fourteen, and we didn't give a crap about who we were supposed to pal around with when folks were looking. You wanted to play, you played. If you didn't, it was your loss.
So, there I am. Something like two in the afternoon in the middle of August, and I'm back out in Left. I swear to God, I really thought the sun was holding a magnifying glass right on top of my head, because I was sweating in places I didn't even knew could make sweat. Ricky Pierz is at bat, and he just ripped one at eye-level, right at me. Of course, I was too cool to think I needed anything like a hate or sunglasses, so the sun's right in my eyes. I didn't even see the line drive til I caught of flash of white coming closer to my face, so I put my glove up and *bam!* The ball hit the glove, the back of my glove slammed me right between the eyes, and I saw stars and little balls with wings flying around my head. Honest to God.
As for the ball...well, Ricky got a lucky run in that afternoon, and I made damn fucking sure that he never even made it to first for the rest of that summer. Anyway, the ball hit the edge of my glove when I went for it, so it pounded the glove against the front of my skull and kept going in a mini pop-up, right into the bushes. See, we had that one field, but the Park, it was huge. Still is, really. And, as per the unwritten rules we had set up, the one who dropped the ball had to go find it. Sure, we had extras just in case someone batted it into the lake, but still, we didn't want to waste what stuff we had. So it was into the bushes I went.
It took me about two minutes to find the missing ball. It had landed and rolled, finally losing momentum right on the edge of the other side of the bushes. So there I was, crawling on my hands and knees, poking my head and shoulders through the bushes and looking like a new blond branch the thing just sprouted, when I decided to look up.
No one noticed me there, which was all well and good. But the area on the other side was one of the more public areas of the park. Surrounded by bushes and trees, it was mostly cement and brick on the ground, swept clean and kept free of weeds growing up through the cracks. This was one of the public areas, so the place was pretty packed. A hot dog vendor was peddling the sort-of meat that he sold for a living, 'bladers were going past, kneepads and all. And over to one side, there were a whole bunch of stone tables with checkerboards set up. A lot of old men used to sit there, out of the sun, and we'd see them there for hours, just playing checkers or chess or whatnot. And that was pretty much true, that time.
Except for him.
It was another kid, seated at the table on the side closer to the sun and the rest of the park. He was hunched down, givng the chess setup in front of him an intense look, with a hand moving over the black pieces on his side. His skin was a little pale for the summer; almost the opposite of my sunburned face (which hurt like hell that night. Never went out with sunscreen again.) He looked close to my age, but I had never seen him before. His face was round, starting from high cheekbones ending in a small, chubby chin, with dark brown hair that was in a short haircut, the front sticking up and the rest combed casually to the side. And his eyes...I swear. I fucking swear they were the deepest blue eyes I'd ever seen. Like, 'this color doesn't exist except in my mind's eye' kind of blue. Never before, and never again.
I just hung there, looking like an idiot, just...I couldn't even explain it. I wanted to say something, and I didn't get why back then. Somewhere, I could hear some of the guys I was playing ball with calling my name.
"Kier! Kier!"
I heard them, but at that moment I didn't give a shit if they never found me...
Begin.
For every double play I pulled off from the outfield when me and the guys used to play baseball in the park; for every diving catch I made when the batter would drive a fly ball into the hole between left and center, it's that one time that I missed the catch that sticks out in my head.
We had taken over one of the large clearings in the park to play ball, like the guys and I usually did every Saturday during the summer. There wasn't many of us; usually a dozen to fifteen kids from around the neighborhood who got together just to play ball. Shit, half these guys wouldn't even look at the other half during the school year. But here, it was all good. It was summer, we were all of fourteen, and we didn't give a crap about who we were supposed to pal around with when folks were looking. You wanted to play, you played. If you didn't, it was your loss.
So, there I am. Something like two in the afternoon in the middle of August, and I'm back out in Left. I swear to God, I really thought the sun was holding a magnifying glass right on top of my head, because I was sweating in places I didn't even knew could make sweat. Ricky Pierz is at bat, and he just ripped one at eye-level, right at me. Of course, I was too cool to think I needed anything like a hate or sunglasses, so the sun's right in my eyes. I didn't even see the line drive til I caught of flash of white coming closer to my face, so I put my glove up and *bam!* The ball hit the glove, the back of my glove slammed me right between the eyes, and I saw stars and little balls with wings flying around my head. Honest to God.
As for the ball...well, Ricky got a lucky run in that afternoon, and I made damn fucking sure that he never even made it to first for the rest of that summer. Anyway, the ball hit the edge of my glove when I went for it, so it pounded the glove against the front of my skull and kept going in a mini pop-up, right into the bushes. See, we had that one field, but the Park, it was huge. Still is, really. And, as per the unwritten rules we had set up, the one who dropped the ball had to go find it. Sure, we had extras just in case someone batted it into the lake, but still, we didn't want to waste what stuff we had. So it was into the bushes I went.
It took me about two minutes to find the missing ball. It had landed and rolled, finally losing momentum right on the edge of the other side of the bushes. So there I was, crawling on my hands and knees, poking my head and shoulders through the bushes and looking like a new blond branch the thing just sprouted, when I decided to look up.
No one noticed me there, which was all well and good. But the area on the other side was one of the more public areas of the park. Surrounded by bushes and trees, it was mostly cement and brick on the ground, swept clean and kept free of weeds growing up through the cracks. This was one of the public areas, so the place was pretty packed. A hot dog vendor was peddling the sort-of meat that he sold for a living, 'bladers were going past, kneepads and all. And over to one side, there were a whole bunch of stone tables with checkerboards set up. A lot of old men used to sit there, out of the sun, and we'd see them there for hours, just playing checkers or chess or whatnot. And that was pretty much true, that time.
Except for him.
It was another kid, seated at the table on the side closer to the sun and the rest of the park. He was hunched down, givng the chess setup in front of him an intense look, with a hand moving over the black pieces on his side. His skin was a little pale for the summer; almost the opposite of my sunburned face (which hurt like hell that night. Never went out with sunscreen again.) He looked close to my age, but I had never seen him before. His face was round, starting from high cheekbones ending in a small, chubby chin, with dark brown hair that was in a short haircut, the front sticking up and the rest combed casually to the side. And his eyes...I swear. I fucking swear they were the deepest blue eyes I'd ever seen. Like, 'this color doesn't exist except in my mind's eye' kind of blue. Never before, and never again.
I just hung there, looking like an idiot, just...I couldn't even explain it. I wanted to say something, and I didn't get why back then. Somewhere, I could hear some of the guys I was playing ball with calling my name.
"Kier! Kier!"
I heard them, but at that moment I didn't give a shit if they never found me...
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no subject
Date: 2004-01-09 01:48 pm (UTC)