Chapter 14: The Empty Ball Field

It was bright and sunny on Friday. Red Hook hadn't seen much more than a misting of rain since the summer began. Darryl spent the morning reading his assigned chapter from Treasure Island and then writing a description of what happened for his mom to review when she got home. It took him longer than he expected. It was a long chapter. Darryl liked the book. He liked the adventure. He liked to imagine himself as Jim Hawkins, sailing across the oceans and exploring tropical islands full of pirates and buried treasure. Still, he rushed through the end of the chapter because he wanted to make sure that he got to the ball fields in time for the first game. He wrote his write-up so quickly it was barely legible. He decided that, on a day like this, he'd rather deal with an angry mother than miss a baseball game. He wouldn't get to play in a real game again until Monday, being relegated to the status of spectator for the weekend games by his age and inexperience.

Darryl grabbed his glove and a ball and raced down to the fields. He looked at his watch as he ran and figured that he would make it just in time to be picked for one of the teams. Since he never got picked until near the end, it wouldn't matter if they started picking before he got there. But when Darryl turned the final corner and faced the baseball fields, he was surprised to see that they were empty except for two other kids standing near home plate. Darryl's run slowed to a jog. He looked around, half expecting to see everybody come walking to the fields from another direction, but no one else came. 

"Where is everybody?" Darryl asked when he got to the field. He knew the other two boys who were standing near home plate but he wasn't friends with either of them. They were both a year younger than Darryl, twin brothers. They had just moved to the neighborhood this summer but already had more friends on the teams than Darryl did.

"Yo no se," one the boys responded with a shrug. Darryl looked around peevishly. He slipped his left hand into his glove and started flinging his baseball into the pocket of his glove with his other hand. He liked the snapping sound the ball made when it hit the leather. He figured that all he could do was wait. 

Vintner hadn't been to the ball fields in over a week. He'd been traveling for the past few days on a job. The job was a difficult one. He often wondered why things weren't made easier for him and wondered if his growing doubts about the whole thing were part of the problem. Doubt probably wasn't the right word. Vintner never doubted the job that he'd been given. He knew its source and he knew its purpose. He had just begun to lose his enthusiasm. So he was glad to have this bright, sunny day to try to forget it all, to try to remember a time when he was young and innocent. He was eager to see if Darryl had remembered his advice, to see if he had internalized it yet. He wanted to see if the kid was hitting better now, with more force.

Even before Vintner could see the ball fields he was aware of the silence. He didn't hear the pinging sound of the aluminum bats striking the baseballs. He didn't hear the sound of the slightly scuffed baseballs that the kids used whizzing through the air. Mostly, however, Vintner noticed the absence of laughter. So Vintner wasn't surprised then when the fields came into view and all he saw was empty grass. He was disappointed but he wasn't surprised. Maybe they didn't play on Fridays, he thought. He tried to remember if he had come on a Friday in the past and was pretty sure he had. Still, Vintner continued on towards the empty ball field, if for no other reason than the fact that he had nowhere else he wanted to go. As he neared the right field fence, Vintner realized that the field wasn't completely empty. Vintner noticed something moving near the batter's box. He took a few steps closer and saw a boy, sitting cross-legged on home plate. It was the kid he'd given the batting advice to. He had his left hand in his baseball glove and was snapping the ball into it with his right hand. When the kid picked the ball up, Vintner could see how the kid's dark skin contrasted with the whiteness of the ball. The ball was clean. Vintner knew that it had never been used in a game. The kid must have been protecting it.

"Where is everybody," Vintner asked as he approached the fence. The boy looked up, surprised to hear someone's voice. He quickly jumped up to his feet, getting into a less vulnerable position. "You don't have to get up," Vintner said. "I've just never seen the ball fields this empty before. No games today?" Darryl shook his head. "What happened?"

"Everybody's at the soccer fields," Darryl said, the tone of his voice unable to mask his disappointment. South of the baseball fields there was a park and at the other end of the park were a number of soccer fields. The games there were even more intense than the baseball games. Rumor had it that professional scouts sometimes showed up to watch.

"They're all playing soccer?" Vintner asked.

"No," Darryl replied. He looked off into the distance in the direction of the soccer fields. "Some famous soccer player is there playing in one of the games. They all ran off to watch and to see if they could get his autograph." Darryl looked like he wanted to kick something, anything. 

"You didn't want to go with them?" Vintner asked, sensing the Darryl's loneliness.

"I don't even know who the guy is," Darryl replied with a shrug. Darryl had been standing there with the twins waiting when one of the other kids that they usually play with ran all the way from the soccer fields to inform them that they had to hurry to the soccer fields because so and so was there. The kid was so out of breath that Darryl couldn't even make out the soccer player's name. The twins understood though. When they heard the name, they almost started jumping up and down with excitement. Then the three of them ran off, the twins following their friend towards the soccer field. None of them even gave Darryl a second glance. 

Vintner looked over the empty ball field. The sight made him feel hollow inside. He didn't like seeing the emptiness. Ball fields shouldn't be empty on days that beautiful. "So, do you want to play catch?" Vintner finally asked.