As the old man approached my friends and me, he tripped over his cane and fell over. I was the only one out of our bunch to go help him. Once he was on his feet, he shook my hand and told me thank you more times than I could count. He smiled at me and went on his way. My friends and I did the same.
We decided to play a game of football with the other kids. I decided to go barefoot since I run faster like that. I noticed the old man was sitting on his porch watching us play. He started laughing when my friend got tackled and started yelling gibberish at the other player. Soon he went back into his house. Once we finished, we all went back to my house to get a snack.
It started raining so my friends decided to go home. I didn't mind getting a little wet so i took my bicycle out from the garage and went looking for a few puddles. When I rode past the old man's house, I saw he was looking for a something in his garage. I rode back to my house and got our flashlight. When I returned, he was sitting down to tired to keep looking. I asked if I could help and he happily agreed. What we found was amazing. It was a old set of baseball cards that the man collected when he was a boy. He invited me into his house to look at them.
Apparently he really liked baseball. Inside was a trophy case full of gold gloves, ribbons, and trophies. There were posters of famous players with their signatures on them. The one thing I keep looking at was a baseball in a glass case. It was signed by none other then Cy Young. He offered me a drink and we sat down and looked at the cards. When we finished, he asked me if I liked baseball. I told him I loved playing, especially pitching.
"I'm getting old you know," said the man. "I just can't get around like I used to. My wife and son died in a car accident.
"Sorry to hear that, sir. Did he like baseball too?"
"Yes, you remind a lot of how he used to be, as well. I was meaning to give this ball to him when i died, but since you helped me today and that he is no longer here. I want you to have it."
I couldn't speak for some reason. He smiled and said that I had to take good care of it because not many people have a ball signed by Cy Young. He said it was getting late and that I needed to go. He handed me the ball in a little sack and I told him thank you. He watched me ride away until I was out of sight.
The next day, I went riding by the old man's house when I saw 2 or 3 cars outside along with a ambulance. I stopped and asked what happened. The driver said they got a call this morning saying that a man had passed away in his sleep. I realized it was the man that gave me his ball.
At his funeral when everyone had left, I dug a little hole in the soft dirt above his grave. I placed the ball in the sack and buried it in the hole. Maybe, he would like to give it to his son now.
Lesson Learned
14 years ago
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