Aaron Clark

TRUANTS AT THE BALLPARK

One kid with his dad had a hotdog like an arm and a soda he needed both hands for. I chewed dry Hot Fries that we’d snuck in the game under our hats. We’d forgot soda.

We’d left school before lunch and walked an hour to the Ballpark. Keith bought tickets with quarters he won all week from Odds & Evens.

“We better go,” I said. “My mom might worry.”

“Your dad just left her,” Keith said. “After my dad left, my mom stayed in bed all day. Your mom won’t care.”

For the first time, I thought that, too.

CP

Aaron Clark teaches English at Brookhaven College in Farmers Branch, Texas. His new infant boy is in the 90th percentile for height and weight.