Opening Day

I may not make it to this week’s meeting since I’ll be on my way back from Blacksburg, but I wanted to contribute something anyway. I hope you all enjoy it. – Dan

Daniel slid his finger underneath the flap, feeling the waxy paper crinkle in his fingers as he pulled against the glue that held it sealed shut. He was sitting crosslegged on his bed, in a room whose walls were adorned with the symbols of his heroes: a Chicago Cubs pennant, the Wade Boggs poster he had gleefully liberated from a well-worn copy of Sports Illustrated for Kids, and the shelf with his very own baseball glove and the foul ball his dad caught for him at the local minor league game.

His mother had given him permission to ride his bike down the hill to the Minute Mart for the very first time, and he could spend his allowance on whatever he wanted. His eyes had wandered past the racks full of chewing gum, bubble gum, and candy as far as the eye could see; he even passed up Necco wafers — his favorite! — until he found just what he was looking for. There, sitting neatly in a rack next to the cash register, was pack upon pack of baseball cards. The labels’ bright primary colors shouted their names at him:

“Topps!”

“Donruss!”

“Fleer!”

It felt like an eternity. How could he choose only one? So many decisions! Daniel pressured himself, knowing that every minute that passed meant one less minute he could spend with his new purchase before dinner. Which one would it be?

Finally, swayed by the offer of one stick of bubble gum inside, he plucked a tightly wrapped package of Topps cards from the rack and paid for his selection. Pedaling furiously home, his mind had already begun to wonder what surprises lay inside the package, tucked securely in his hip pocket.

Now, sitting on his bed, he could barely contain his excitement. Daniel’s hands trembled as he unsealed the pack. The bubble gum, which had cracked into many small pieces, tumbled out onto his lap. His dismay was soon forgotten, however; he turned over the cards one by one, each revealing a new name and face, and each image giving Daniel’s imagination one more opportunity to walk next to his heroes.