Renee Oelrich

It’s a sunny day on the tee ball field and Allen is trying to hit the nerf ball on the cone. When he finally tips it over, he drops the bat and runs to third base. The coaches, one on third base line and the other as the pitcher, try to get Allen to run the other way to first base. Allen does go to first, but he ran back to the plate then over to first, because that’s what you do. You run the base line only when you knock the ball to the ground. As Allen stays safely on first base, the next little guy gets up. The Pitcher/coach puts the ball on the cone and yells ‘ready’ to everyone, then moves to the pitching area and tells the boy to swing. That little guy smashes it four yards, drops the bat and runs to first. Obviously, he’s played a lot more than most of the kids here today. Allen gets told to go to second, so he bolts his little legs and halfway there, he steps on his other foot, wobbles and falls to his knees, then hands, then holds his head inches from the dirt. In a brief moment, the calculations of whether he is injured or not run through his mind, then he gets up and trots to second. He places his hands on his shirt. Clearly, he skinned them in the dirt. The pitching coach walks over to check Allen out. The coach tells Allen it’s just a few scratches; they’ll turn to scabs and itch a little, but it will be okay. Allen’s alright and ready to keep playing. He shakes his hands, blows on them and rubs them on his shirt and pants; but he finishes the game. After a few days and many Band-Aids with ointment that wouldn’t stay on very long, Allen did in fact have some small scabs that itch a bit. By the next weekend, Allen was picking and itching at his scabs and his hands seemed dry and sore. Back at the tee ball field, it was a cloudy day with some mist falling and the parents decided to let the kids play a couple innings since they were there. It wasn’t long before the bigger rain drops came and everyone packed up to head home. By mid-week, Allen’s scabs were gone, his hands felt better but he didn’t. He got home from school with a cough and some sniffling. His mom asked if he felt okay and he simply replied, “I have a scab in my throat. I need some ointment” His mother looked at him half laughing and said a sore throat needs some aspirin and the sniffles need Kleenex. Then sent him to bed.