What if? V.3

That incredibly familiar yet
intensely satisfying smell
inundates my nostrils

The smell of hope and expectation, of
goals and glory, of
passion and promise, of
Spring

And of baseball.

It’s the game that I love, the same
rugged brown dirt that tears knees to a pulp, the same
plush green grass that makes mothers cringe with every dive, the same
sunflower seeds that flutter gracefully to the earth between every pitch, the same
pleasure

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaBut something’s different
aaaA new
aaaaaaaaafieldaaaaaaaa coach aaaaaaaaaaaaaaateam
chance

One chance.

Now I’m a policeman
patrolling centerfield
trying to catch a five-ounce needle
in a thousand square foot haystack

I’ve done this before, but the
pressure…

CRACK!

A tiny missile soars through the perfectly blue sky
trying to land gently in that great mass of green
and I’m the only one who can intercept it

But it’s too far…

I leap
eyes focus
muscles strain
tendons stretch

Leather greets leather and the ball
drops