The Joy of Striking Out - Essay Example

I turned away from the haughty glances of the softball moms that had gathered together to giggle and dispense their snide remarks. Every game would make me wonder if they were snickering at my mother or me. Was my misfortune the object of their entertainment the fifth inning, my sister was hitless and my mother was missing? I spotted her behind the concession stand sneaking into her purse to top off her drink. I again sensed a wave of laughing and whispering. The icy stares of the 'good moms' sliced through my back.

I just wanted to go home and hide. The only bright spot of the day came when my sister struck out in the bottom of the seventh inning to end the game. That meant that the torture was over. There would be no more false cheers, no tittering gossip, and no pretending that everything was OK. My sister was silent as my mother staggered back to the car. "I'll drive," I said. Though I was old enough, I didn't have a driver's license. I had no adult to take me to get the necessary permits. Driving was one more thing that my mother didn't allow me to do.

I couldn't play sports, music lessons were too expensive, and driving was out of the question. My mother wouldn't even let me date any boy that had a car. "Oh, well," I thought, "Who needs 'em. I've gotten along this far without a man in my life. What're a few more years."As we began the short drive home, my mother kept criticizing my driving. "Stay on the road," she yelled. "Watch that car." My mother was irritated with my sister for going 0 for 3 in the game and she was taking it out on me. My patience had outlived its useful life.