Cole
Eli refused to play.
He stood beside the dugout with his baseball glove hanging from one hand while the rest of his team warmed up on the field.
Natalie crouched in front of him.
“You wanted to come.”
“I changed my mind.”
“You can’t change your mind five minutes before the game.”
“Yes, I can.”
“Eli.”
“I said no.”
The coach pretended not to watch from several feet away.
Parents filled the bleachers behind us. Some looked over with sympathy. Others looked away too quickly.
Everyone knew about Gavin.
That meant every ordinary problem had become part of the tragedy.
Eli wasn’t only a boy refusing to play baseball.
He was the firefighter’s son who had lost his father.
I approached slowly.
“Your mother says you’re quitting.”
“I’m not quitting.”
“Then put on your glove.”
