Can anyone hear us?

16

I felt bad for Aron. Seeing him beam down and cry made me realize that this isn't a baseball team. It isn't family. It's survival.

I remembered the first time Aron came to me, young, afraid, and rejected. Now the team has grown and it began with him. It hurt em to see him like this. I had to do something.

Once Aron was done, he wiped the tears away from his face, eyes swollen and filled with sorrow. As my wife was still in the house, I called up everyone on the team and we gathered in the back yard.

"Why we here coach? Vex couldn't come." Jake began.

"Yeah, we need rest for tomorrow's game." Another added.

"Stop complaining! We've been abused, treated like garbage, forgotten, the list goes on." I began. Everyone quieted down instantly. "And you're all complaining about being up too late. We are one game away from victory!"

I looked everyone in the eye and they were each filled with determination, fury, sadness.

"I gathered you all here tonight to make sure we are all on the same page. Why are we playing baseball tomorrow?"

"To win?" Someone blurted.

"No! To make a statement. One thing I realized is that we don't have a team captain. Jake, I'm making you captain until Vex comes back."

"Oh, ok." He replied, shocked.

"Anything to say?"

Jake moved to face the line of players. "Coach was right, we aren't here to win. We are here to fight! To make a statement. Ted isn't in the hospital for an injury, he's in there because of the haters! They treat us like trash! So who's with me, let's show them that we are here to fight! To make a statement! To earn a place in this world." He put his hand in the middle and soon everyone had theirs in, too.

"Gators!" They shouted.

A few players stuck around to talk but not for long. Soon it was only Jake and Aron left.

--------------------------

I could tell something wasn't right with Aron. His eyes were red and swollen. Bad sleeping? No...

"Aron, everything alright?" I asked him. He turned to face me.

"Yeah, Ted, Why?"

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.

"No. But I need to tell you something, and you can't tell coach."

I hesitated. "Vex isn't in the hospital." I left Aron's mouth hanging open.

"What? What do you mean?" He asked.

"Shh! Coach will hear! Look, he was going into the hospital but he wasn't getting treated because he was black. So I took him to Elizabeth because she is a nurse. Luckily Vex is back at his apartment but still on crutches."

"Ok, so why can't coach know?"

"Because Vex is being evicted." The words hung in the air. If Vex is evicted, he will have no where to stay. And if coach finds out Vex will be homeless, he will let Vex stay with him, with Aron. Aron's dad won't like that. The words came together like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle.