A baseball game was being played. This game was the finals.
The winning team could get gold medals. These two teams were
The ANCHORS and the BLACK TIGERS. John was a member
of the ANCHORS. He was sitting on a bench and he was worried.
Now, the ANCHORS was losing, 0-8. There was a batter for the
ANCHORS in the batter’s box. This was the bottom of the ninth
inning, and there were two outs. John thought that the
ANCHORS could not win this game, and he thought that his
teammates thought the same thing. He looked at Kevin. Kevin
was in the batter’s box now. He was amazed to look at Kevin
because Kevin never gave up. John noticed that his teammates
never gave up. The umpire said ,
“Strike!”
John was ashamed. Tears came to his eyes. The umpire said,
“Strike!”
Now, John thought,
“Hit Kevin! Please hit Kevin!”
The umpire said,
“Strike! Three outs! Game set!”
John wanted to say “I’m sorry.” for his teammates and the people
that cheered up the ANCHORS.
That night he said to his mother that he had given up when
Kevin had been the batter. His mother seemed to be surprised,
but she said nothing. She put her hand on his head, and she
smiled at him. He understood what she wanted to say. She
wanted to say,
“Then , you have to try hard the practice and you have to do your
best for the next game, don’t you?”
There were two people in John’s family: John and his
mother. They lived in an apartment house. There were a street in
front of their apartment house. There was always the traffic light
on the street. Some apartment houses were built there. There was
a big park near John’s apartment house. Children always played
baseball in this park. Kevin lived in the same apartment house of
John. Kevin was John’s close friend. They always played baseball
in that park. The members of the ANCHORS lived in these
apartment houses. They practiced baseball in that big park.
The next day, John went to Kevin’s room. John talked withgood player!”
The baseball game was b
Kevin at the entrance. John said to Kevin,
. All the
members didn’t give up but I did. I’m sorry, Kevin.”
Kevin didn’t say anything. He came back to his house. John
wanted to cry. He went to the park instead of crying. He practiced
baseball by himself. It was the summer vacation, so John didn’t
have to go to school. He practiced every day. But other members
didn’t come to the park.
A week passed, Kevin came to the park when John practiced
alone. Kevin said,
“You can’t improve to practice only by yourself. Let us practice.”
They practiced baseball for three hours. John was very happy.
After practice, Kevin said,
“I saw you every day. You practice every day. You are
eing played. The ANCHORS and
the BLACK TIGERS played. The ANCHORS members had
practiced hard during the summer vacation. All the members
believed that the ANCHORS would win. The ANCHORS was
losing, 0-1. This was the bottom of ninth inning, and there were
two outs. There was Kevin in the batter’s box. The ANCHORS
members didn’t give up. Of course Kevin didn’t give up. The
umpire said,
“Strike!.”
John said,
“You can hit, Kevin!.”
The umpire said,
“Strike!”
John said,
“We practiced hard. Believe for yourself!”
The umpire said,
“Strike! Three outs! Game set!”
The ANCHORS members cried. But John and Kevin didn’t cry.
John said,
“Then, we must practice more, mustn’t we?”
Kevin said,
“Yes, of course!”
