Part One - Blind Awareness

 

Part one of a two part story
 

 

One Friday after classes were complete, Frankie, Monzo, Jose and Tate were walking home through the park without any sense of urgency. 

“You guys want to come over to my house and watch the game tonight?” asked Tate.

“Duh, heck to the yea,” Jose  quickly responded. 

“A sleepover too, right bro?” added Monzo. “Popcorn and nachos maybe?”

“Absolutely,”  said Tate. “Just no farting, okay Jose? My mom got mad last time.”

“Aw-ite. I’ll try,” Jose said. “But you know my mom makes beans for dinner every Friday.”

As quirky type eighth graders, they all bust out laughing when talking about farts.

“Huh-huh, he said farts and beans, huh-huh, huh-huh!” yapped Monzo.

“Guys, shut up a sec,” Frankie blurted out. “Listen. You hear that?”

“Hear what dude?” said Jose. “Tu es loco, man! Tu es sch…”

“No! Listen.” Frankie dropped his backpack and put his arms out to stop the other three from moving. “Don’t you hear that beeping sound?”

“Seriously, bro? You going wacky on us or…” Monzo suddenly stopped his chatter. “Whoa. I do hear it, and it ain’t no bird either.”

“Me too, I hear it. And it’s coming from over there,” Tate said pointing through a cluster of oak trees.

“The ball fields?” Frankie asked. “Come on, let’s check it out.”

“Cool. Betcha they’re aliens,” Monzo yelled leading the charge through the trees. “I just know it.”

Once they cleared the trees, they stopped to survey the grounds. Hearing the beeping sounds again, Frankie pointed. “Over there, let’s go.”

They ran across the grass towards the beeping sound, stopping about half way there.

“Whoa… they, they are aliens,” Monzo cried out.

They stood in the center of the field and stared wide-eyed at the sight and sounds in front of them. 

“Weird, dude. They look like people. Sorta like us,” said one. “Why are they running so strange?” asked another. 

“Crazy right, man. Look at their faces? The black around their head, what the heck is that?” said a third one in bewilderment. “And that beeping sound must be from the mother ship,” added the fourth one. “We should leave before it’s too late.”

Suddenly from behind them came a voice much deeper than theirs. “Pretty cool, huh?”

The four turned almost simultaneously toward the sound of the voice.

“Holy crap., mister. You scared the bejeezus outa us, ‘specially me,” yelled Frankie.

Staring at Frankie, Jose , Monzo and Tate were two, ‘so called’ aliens and Mr. Peterson. 

“Hello, fellas,” said Peterson. “Come to watch us play?”

“Play? Play what? Alien tag-your-it? said Monzo, backing away ever so slightly from the three strangers.

“Aliens?” Peterson burst out laughing. “We’ve been called some freaky names, but this is a first. No fellas, we are not aliens,” Peterson said sticking out his hand. With a slight bit of hesitancy, Frankie, still thinking alien thoughts shook his hand. Followed by the other three.

“Come with us, and meet the gang,” Peterson said. “You’ll be amazed. Maybe shocked.”

Shocked? … Monzo thought to himself. Great to hear, bye mom, bye dad.

Reluctantly, the boys followed Peterson until they reached the group of alien-types. And they were immediately surprised at what they saw.

“See,” started Peterson, “no aliens, just people. Ordinary people, enjoying a day in the park.”

“I don’t get it?” Tate went on questioning. “Why are some blindfolded and some not?”

“Easy,” responded Peterson. “You caught us between games. The next one will begin in about ten minutes. You should stick around and watch, maybe even play. If you accept the challenge.”

“Okay. We’re down for that. Challenge accepted. What are we playing?” Frankie answered for his crew.

“Baseball,” Peterson responded.

“Alrighhhht,” chimed in Jose. “That’s our jam.”

“Uh, hold on fellas. Let me explain. This is not your typical game of baseball. This is ‘beep baseball’.”

“Did you say beep baseball?” Jose asked.

“Yup. Baseball for the blind. It’s fascinating. You’ll see. Ha, no pun intended.”