Baseball in Bed

Kevin always was a sports fanatic. He had a passion for all sports, but he seemed to particularly love baseball. We would often play baseball while he was in bed. It was something that he really liked to do because I would try to take the time to position his body the way that a baseball player would actually bat, throw, or slide. At first I would just try to put his body into a batter’s position (with a small wooden bat in his hands). We would take great pains to get just the right arm and leg positions. He was very particular, because he knew what the proper stance was for a hitter. He knew how high the arms should be, how the head was turned and held. Once he had the proper stance of a batter, he would want to practice swinging the bat—over and over again. Of course, over time, Kevin would want me to help him make some of the noises and sounds that go along with a batter at the plate: “Hey, batter, batter, batter! Hey, batter, batter! Hey, batter, batter SWING!” After a while, Kevin would want the umpire (which was me) to call balls and strikes. Kevin, true to his nature, would not want to walk or strike out. He always, at this point, wanted to get a pretend base hit. And since he hit the ball, he would want to run the imaginary bases. 

“Mr. Allen. Can you pick up my feet, please?” he would ask. And I’d pick up his little ankles and feet and pretend like he was running the bases after just getting a base hit. Kevin, with his ball cap on, would run his heart out.