SHORT STORY

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,

“I’m sorry, Kevin. I gave up when you were the final batter

. 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!”