THE INSANITY OF BABE RUTH

Mom and I had gone in on some tickets so we could enjoy our national pastime at least once this upcoming summer. Our home team, the St. Louis Cardinals were facing off with the Arizona Diamondbacks so we all figured it would be a easy victory for the Cardinals. We decided we would take grandpa for his birthday and my four year old nephew, Isaiah. This would be his first ballgame; he was extremely excited about it and had been informing everyone that he was going to see some baseball.
The morning of the ballgame, I got a bit of a surprise. Mom and my grandmother, Nano decided to take a last minute trip to Florida that very day so Mom would not be coming along with us. I was furious with her; this entire baseball trip had been her idea and she was ditching us at the last moment. It wasn’t typical of her to do something like this which confused the hell out of me since she wouldn’t explain why she was leaving for Florida so sudden. She then told me that my brother, Cory and his wife, Julia would be taking her place. Then out of the blue, Terry, my mother’s husband walked into the room and announced that he wanted to go to the game as well. The confusion in my mind kept mounting as Terry hated baseball and he especially hated the St. Louis Cardinals.
Mom and Nano then rushed out of the house without even saying goodbye. I was literally pissed on how they had been acting and I turned around on Terry and asked him what the hell was going on and all he could say is that he was ready for some baseball, a clear mimic of my nephew. I rolled my eyes and stormed out the door yelling at everyone to get into the van. This entire morning had been nothing but bullshit and all I wanted to do was to go back home and leave all of this chaos behind me. The only thing that stopped me from just leaving was the excitement in Isaiah’s eyes and how ready he was to embrace baseball.
Everyone got loaded up in the van as I got behind the wheel while Julia climbed into the front passenger seat with my other 3 year old nephew, Elijah. I asked her what she was doing with Elijah and why he wasn’t in a car seat. She replied by saying there wasn’t enough room so he would have to set in her lap. I could immediately feel my blood begin to boil. Not only was this plain stupidity on Julia’s part but it was also against the law and there was no way in hell I was driving while my nephew was in clear danger of being hurt along with my possible arrest and conviction of child endangerment.
Terry then stepped in and said he would drive and if I didn’t like the circumstances then I could stay at home. I couldn’t comprehend anything that was happening at this moment. Terry was clearly pissed about something and my fear was that my mother had decided to leave him and our family. I didn’t say anything to him and made my way into the back of the van taking Elijah with me. There was no way I was going to have him in the front seat with Julia where he could easily fly out the window. I buckled us both in the seatbelt and we were soon off to St. Louis.
Upon our arrival at the stadium I was shocked on the disarray the area seemed to have fallen into. They had begun remodeling Busch Stadium even though the stadium itself was only four years old. The area that our seats were in was the real kicker. They had taken down the guard rail along the front roll of seats on the second balcony where we were seated. There was only about three feet of walking space between our seats and a drop off of at least thirty feet. Julia and Cory were standing on the very edge with Isaiah and Elijah jumping up on them trying to get their attention. I screamed at both of them that the kids could easily fall and I grabbed them and placed them in their seats and told them both not to move. This entire ordeal was ridiculous! I then noticed that Terry, Cory, and grandpa were already drinking and it was just a matter of time before one of them plunged to their deaths. This day was going to end badly has it began.
They had built a playground on the side of the baseball field and Julia decided to take the boys to go play. I was relieved when she did this cause my eyes were constantly on them. My heart had been pounding in my head from the fear that one of them were going to fall. Terry, Cory, and Grandpa were already drunk off their asses. They were hugging each other and slurring their words in their vein attempt to communicate with me. They had also laid claim to the soft cushioned seats while I got stuck with a wooden bench at the end of the roll. I paid for half of the tickets and I got shelved with a wooden bench. This entire day was a big FUCK YOU CHAD!
My headache began to pound beyond believe as the first inning began. I laid down on the bench and closed my eyes for a moment to try and to collect my thoughts. Suddenly, I felt someone come up behind me on the bench. I opened my eyes and turn my head to see an handsome British man with a bit of nerdy quality about him. He looked at me with a hint of devilish glimmer in his eyes and asked if it was okay if he curled up behind me on the bench for he too had been through a long day. This whole experience was strange enough and I couldn’t grasp that this complete stranger wanted to lay down with me on a ballpark bench. I told him it was okay and I turned my head back towards the sixth inning. A short time later I felt the strangers arm wrap around my waist. My heart was pounding in my head again as this British stranger embraced me. I glanced up at the three drunken members of my family; they were all to involved in explaining the meaning of baseball to noticed the stranger spooning me.
Glancing back towards the field I realized that they had stopped the game in the middle of the ninth inning. I noticed three security guards chasing a small child into the middle of the field. In the horror of my realization I stumbled off of the bench and almost went over the edge. Isaiah had interrupted the game by running across the field towards home base. The three guards caught up with him and snatched the screaming boy up into their arms. In the corner of my eye I saw Julia come around the corner without Elijah. I screamed at the top of my lungs telling her that Isaiah had been accosted and asked her where her other son was. She simply replied by saying that she dropped them off at the playground and got some beer for everyone. I just stood there in disbelief as shock took a hold of my body.
Julia walked around me to join the drunken heralds as the three security guards came around the corner with Isaiah. Embarrassment began to dwell throughout the complexion of my face as the guard asked me if the kid belonged to me. I told them that I had never seen the kid in my entire life as Isaiah screamed out, “UNCLE CHAD!!!”. Damn, the child had blown my cover! I relented and took Isaiah in my arms as the officers began to scold me about leaving a child by himself on the playground. I looked back at my alcohol induced family as they were laughing about the whole situation. Anger began to build inside of me while I turned and looked down at the British stranger who was reaching out to me to join him on the bench. I silently laughed at myself at the thought of having a life with this man. I didn’t have time to deal with what this stranger wanted let alone the needs of myself. The officers continue to point out the irresponsibility of the circumstances when I noticed the game was over. The St. Louis Cardinals had lost by eight; a horrible lost at the end of this horrible day.
I couldn’t take anymore of it… my mother had abandoned us, the male members of this family were drunken lunatics, I had a handsome stranger who I would never be with, I had one missing child and another that had interrupted a national televised game, and I had three officers scolding me on the responsibilities of parenthood even though I am childless. I held on tighter to Isaiah and I closed my eyes and started to scream. I screamed with everything I had inside of myself and I released the building negative energy that had been building inside of me the entire day.
I opened my eyes and my bedroom ceiling was staring down at me. I looked to my left and the British stranger was replaced by the emptiness of my soft bed. The noise of the disappointed ballgame crowd was replaced by the silence of my bedroom. My loud drunken family was replaced by the pictures of them on my nightstand. The entire incident had been one long dream and I had fallen victim to the manipulation that all seemed so unreal to me at this point. I grabbed the remote control and turned on the television set and found a tennis game that I started to watch from the safety of my own bed.