jody brooks : “a local baseball story”

 

The soot and the rumble weren’t supposed to be part of the game. Neither were the holes or the weeds or the deflated punching bag they used for second.

 

Here are the other things they had to deal with: the railroad tracks on the edge of the outfield, close enough to feel the breeze as the train went by; the potholes in deep center which everyone aimed for.

When the train came, as it did every afternoon, the soot and the squeal and the shake reminded them that they weren’t in Wrigley, that they were in Clyde and their mothers were up the street, their fathers in the mines below.

 

Every morning, the coal slid down into the open cars, echoing like a giant steel drum. Piled up like that, the coal looked light as truffles.

 

During the week, their mothers teased hair, piled high and starched. Their fathers were white teeth and grime-etched wrinkles. Mothers wore pearl earrings and polka dots. On weekends, they talked while they waited for their bowling balls to roll under the floor, back to them. Fathers downed PBRs and sunk 8-balls. They spoke of pits and quarries while their sons and daughters met at the top of the bleachers to look at National Geographic and to look at the stars.

 

The sons and daughters wanted to fly carrier planes; they wanted to build towers. And on Saturdays, they wanted to played ball.

 

Chris was up to bat when they heard the train. He swung, dropped his shoulder only slightly, and the ball went. It went over Michael’s head, over the deflated punching bag, over Tina who was running back, back until the threat of potholes stopped her short. The ball flew. It didn’t start its downward arc until it was free of the field, headed toward a coal car where it landed, settled, a single white ball in the middle of the dark.

 

Jody Brooks lives in Atlanta, GA, where she works as an editor, teacher, & writer.  She grew up in Southern California & has a degree in architecture from UC Berkeley which she now uses to design, build, & structure stories. She is currently finishing her MFA at Georgia State University.

 

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