David's Letter to Yokum

I know, I didn't email you for months and now you get two in one day: don't complain and just enjoy it. After spending most of the day emailing, shopping and cruising town ( including a couple of beers), Suzi and I were heading back to the boat, walking along the boardwalk when we came upon a bunch of locals playing baseball on the beach. I started watching of course and was enjoying the hell out of it.

The bats were aluminum, the ball was covered in sand, and the bases were huge holes in the sand. But they could play fairly well, and I watched some guy hit one to left field that must've gone 320 ft. at least. The next batter then stepped up, and on the first pitch he hit a high pop up behind home plate where I, along with about 25 other locals, were standing and watching. Well I reacted, dropped the bag I was holding, forgot about the backpack I had on and started chasing it down. After my first step I looked down and saw a bike lying in my way so I side-stepped and kept tracking the ball. It started curving back towards the beach, and I started back-peddling. What's the first thing you're taught about catching a high ball? I don't remember either, but I'll bet you it's not to back-peddle. But here I was back-peddling fast, trying to get under it and damn if I didn't kick that bike! I started down the same time the ball got to me, and it hit me right in the hands but bounced out straight up in the air. Just before I hit the ground, back first I might add, I reached up and grabbed that sand-covered ball with one hand and then landed on my butt and back.

I was a little dazed, and my butt hurt, but I was too proud to show it, so I scrambled to my feet and held that ball over my head to the roar of the crowd the likes of which I haven't heard since college football. Everyone had huge smiles on their faces with their arms raised in the air, even the guys on the field. I threw the ball back to the pitcher, it landed about 20 ft. short and my arm was still attached to it. My shoulder still hurts!

About that time Suzi walked up, smiling and telling me what a great catch I'd made and that she hoped I didn't hurt the computer! Oh, did I forget to tell you that we had our computer in the backpack I landed on? But it was a happy ending. After getting back to the boat, we found no harm to the computer and only a small hole in the backpack. Thus it was just another day at the beach. And I loved every second of it.... Sobo