The Home Run

Remembering.

Izzy's POV

"Are you ready?" my mom asked.
"I think so," I replied, as we walked out to the car.
"Do you have your papers?" my dad asked.
"Yeah," I said, holding the eulogy tight in my hands.
It had been about a week since Danny had been killed and we took several days to plan the funeral. We got everything ready for the funeral as quickly as we could. We just wanted him to rest.
We honored what Danny said he wanted. My dad stopped drinking, my mom used the cookbook and I finally got the guts to stand up for my mom and me. I had never seen my dad listen to my mom and I like that before.
       Danny said he wanted everything to be done as would be for a soldier, but chose his pallbearers and I was doing his eulogy.
"Here we are." my mom said as we pulled up to the church.
       "Ready?" my dad asked, giving me a weak smile.
       "As ready as I'll ever be," I said as we got out of the car. My parents walked into the church, but I hung back. The boys were all standing outside. We all looked so different when we weren't in dirt-covered jeans, sweaty shirts, and baseball caps. "You boys clean up nicely."
       "Well, you don't look too bad yourself," Ham said.
       "Yeah, yeah you really do. Just wait until Benny sees you." Yeah- Yeah said.
       "You'll never see me in a dress again, cherish it," I said, smiling at them.
       "And you'll never see us in this again," Bertram said. The boys and I laughed.
       "Where are Benny and Smalls?" Squints asked.
       "Their cars were still at their houses when we left," I said, running my fingers through my hair.
       "They better hurry," Timmy said.
       "They better hurry," Tommy repeated.
       "Speak of the devil," Kenny said. We all turned and saw Benny and Smalls with Benny's parents.
       "Hi, sweetie." Benny's mom said, hugging me.
       "Hey, Ms. Rodriguez." I said, hugging her back, "My parents are already inside."
       "Okay. Hello boys." she waved at the boys. They all said a collective hello and waved back.
       "You guys look great," Smalls said to all of us. We all said a collective thank you.
       "Izzy, you look beautiful," Benny said, walking up to us.
       "Thanks, Benny." I said, messing with the eulogy in my hands, "Oh, yeah. There's a couple of pews reserved in the front on the right side for you guys."
       "Okay." Smalls said as the other boys nodded, "We'll see you in there."
       I nodded and smiled as each of them gave me a hug while they all walked in. After a minute it was just Benny and me standing in front of the church.
       "How come you weren't already in there?" Benny asked.
       "I'm not ready to see him like that." I said, starting to get emotional, "This is gonna be so damn hard."
       "I'm with you till the end of the line." he said, "Remember the promises we made to each other?"
       "Yeah," I said. I took a deep breath then pulled him into a hug. I had my arms around his neck, while his were around my waist. I tiptoed a bit because he was a bit taller than me.
       "You'll be okay," he whispered.
       "Thank you," I said and released him.
       "Of course," he said, planting a kiss on my forehead.
       I took a deep breath looking at the doors in front of me. Benny entwined our hands and we walked into the church.

*~*

"And now to say a few words we have Danny's little sister Izzy." Father Abraham said, smiling at me.
I sighed walking out of the pew and up to where the priest gives his sermon. I looked down at the boys, then at my parents. I looked down at my paper then took a deep breath.
"Hello. Um..." I paused, "Please bear with me. I've never done anything like this before, let alone for my own brother."
       I looked at my Benny. He gave me a small smile and mouthed, 'You can do this.'. I sighed, then began speaking.
       "Some of you in here knew Danny personally, others didn't. If you knew Danny you were lucky. If you didn't know him, god I wish you could've met him. Danny was an incredible person. He was one of the kindest souls you'd ever meet unless you wronged him. He wasn't like anybody else. He was genuinely one of a kind.
"He always called me Hermanita, which means little sister. He taught me so much. He helped me perfect my English and Spanish. And as soon as my hands were big enough, he taught me how to play guitar. Then pretty soon after, baseball. I had never seen him more proud than when I finally learned how to play baseball. He would say I could play better than him. He taught me using a dirty ball on a string that hung it from a tree in our backyard. When he was here we were in the backyard and we were playing with the ball. And I guess you could say he hit a home run because, the ball came off its string, we heard a crash in the neighbors' yard and promptly ran inside.
"I know I'm never gonna forget Danny. I have so many memories, not to mention all the letters he wrote to me while he was away. And something I got and haven't been able to put down since I got them." I took his dog tags from around my neck and held them up. I felt tears start running down my face. I didn't look away from them as I spoke, "As hard as it's gonna be for us to say goodbye I know that Danny is at peace. I know that he doesn't have to deal with all the chaos in the world. I love him and I'm definitely gonna miss him. And as brothers go, I wouldn't change a single thing."

*~*

I sat down on the curb in front of the house and rubbed my face. I heard footsteps behind me, I turned around to see the boys.
"Mind if we sit?" Smalls asked.
"Not at all." I smiled as they sat down.
It was Yeah- Yeah, Squints, Timmy, Tommy, Benny, me, Smalls, Ham, Kenny, and Bertram sitting in that order. Benny handed me an open Coke as they all just sat.
"To your brother." Smalls said, "We may not have known him, but we still know he was a good man."
"And to us. May we have good luck. And may we have many more years of happiness and baseball." I said. We all raised our bottles in the air and took a drink.