How to Hit a Homerun

Ten year old Austin Davidson is running around the house playing pretend baseball. His adoptive mother, Ms. Richards, is in the backyard making burgers for dinner. His older brother James is up in his room doing his homework. The youngest kid in the house is three year old Layla Nolan, she is sitting in her height chair and throwing food onto the floor.  The house is a complete disgrace and completely inappropriate place for three young children to live in. Mold is scattered across the wall and down the rugs. In the living room there is a small tv on top of a little brown table. The couches are completely discolored and is stained a greenish yellow. Ms. Richards has neglected to clean the house, she is more concerned of what hides away in her room.  Abigail Moore is twenty four and is a district attorney for the local police department. She is currently in her office going through some suspects files and attempting to tie Ms. Richards to the breaking and entering crime that took place a few weeks ago. An older man with a stolid personality walks in.

“Mr. Allen, may I have a word concerning the phone meeting today? If I may be honest I felt like you were bashing me a little bit.” Abigail says.

“Listen Moore, you are an amazing district attorney but, you’re the first attorney that we’ve had that’s... gay. It is not common in Texas.” Allen says carefully.

What the hell? Did he really just say that? I know that not a lot of people in Texas are like me but why am I being called out? I work just as hard as everyone else and I’m bashed because of who I am?

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Abigail snaps.

“All I’m trying to say is that you might not get that many opportunities at large cases because of your… sexuality.” Mr. Allen says. Silence is followed after Allen’s statement.

So what I’m hearing is that I have even harder than everyone else to even have a chance of being put on a pedestal for my work. I mean it’s never stopped me but the odds are just continuing to stack up against me.  

“By the looks of it you’re probably gonna make an arrest for the breaking and entering case. Make sure you take your handcuffs.” He says to break the awkwardness. Abigail blinks and refocuses on Allen.  

“You’re letting me make an arrest? What happened to the whole ‘you won’t get that many opportunities’?” Abigail gets up out of her chair and puts her blue button up coat on.

“That doesn’t mean that I agree with everyone else. I’m letting you make the arrest because I want you to show everyone who has ever looked at you differently that they are wrong.” Mr. Allen says. Then he heads back into his office and continues taking notes. Abigail excitedly grabs her notes and head to the house of a suspect for an interview.

Austin is called for dinner after twenty minutes of playing pretend. He runs into the kitchen with full energy and yells, “Homerun!”

His mother laughs and tells him to sit down at the table and start eating. Austin looks down at his well-done burger with a bunch of pieces of melted cheese on top. He grabs the burger by both of the buns and wolfs the whole thing down.

“So, who is playing tonight Austin?” Ms. Richards asks.

“It’s the Phillies vs. the Brewers.” Austin replies.

James says, “Why are you so obsessed with baseball? You need to start watching football because everyone else in Houston does.”

“Why do I have to watch football if I don’t want to?” Austin says with a frown.

“Because we don’t fit in here because we are adopted, we have to make an effort to fit in or we will just be made fun of.” James retaliates. “I just got picked on yesterday that I have a younger brother who doesn’t like football. I was shoved into a wall because of you.”

Austin doesn’t answer and just continues to eat his dinner. The family is interrupted by a knock at the entry gate. His mother gets up and answers the door. She is greeted by a tall woman with great posture. She’s wearing a blue button up with a black suitcase in her right hand.

“Hello, I’m Abigail Moore, and you are Ms. Richards right?” She asks holding out her hand.

“Indeed I am. How can I help you?” She replies.

“There was a report of a break-in a few doors down and I wanted to come by and see if you saw anything unusual.” Abigail says while peeking inside the house. Fear crawls inside of Ms. Richard’s eyes and she makes a run for the back porch exit.

Why do they always run? They should know I always catch them. They are just making it worse on themselves.

Abigail sprints after her, speeding by the kids sitting at the kitchen table. She jumps from the top stair and catches up to Ms. Richards, tackling her to the ground and cuffing her hands behind her back.

“Ms. Richards, you are under arrest for breaking and entering.” Abigail states with a stern voice. The police arrive within minutes and she is taken into custody. She walks back into the house where the three children are sitting worried about their mother. She sits beside them and says, “Everything will be alright, I promise. Do you guys have any other relatives to live with?”

Austin replies, “No. We don’t know our birth parents.”

That is very sad. They don’t know where they came from, I can’t imagine what that feels like.

Abigail ponders for what to say next, then she came up with a brilliant idea. “How about I help you find where your parents are? Does that sound cool?”

Austin’s face lights up with joy and has a smile from ear to ear. “We would love that!”

I have to bring my baseball bat! Maybe it will help with the investigation!  Maybe if the baseball bat helps it will bring hope to finding my father. Running to first base now!

“Wait, let me grab one thing really quickly.” He disappears behind the front door and comes back in a matter of seconds with a large baseball bat in hand. “This is the only thing I have that belongs to my father. I hope it will help.”

Abigail takes the bat out of his hand and holds onto it. “Let me take you guys to the station okay?” James and Austin shake their heads and follow Abigail to her car. The kids and parents in the neighborhood gathered around Austin’s house and they start to tease the kids.

“Take these losers out of our town.” One said.

“They don’t belong here leave!” Another yelled.

The kids and Abigail keep walking until the reach her car and the kids get inside. She pulls out of the driveway and the people start cheering and clapping that they’re leaving.They are probably relieved that the “outcasts” we never coming back. The kids look away from the window and no one speaks the whole car ride. After ten minutes they all have reached the station and Abigail brings the kids into her office. She sits them down in the chair across from her desk.

She points at the tv and asks, “Do you want to watch?”

Austin replies in a soft and delicate voice, “Can you turn on the baseball game?” James gives him a dirty look but doesn’t say a word. Abigail lifts the remote and turn on the tv she sees a news anchor speaking right outside of the station, stating that a gay district attorney is helping out three adopted kids find their family. He called them outcasts and nobody supports them. Abigail quickly switches the channel to the baseball game and storms out of her office.

She walks right into Mr. Allen’s office says loudly, “What the hell is that on the news?”

He replies, “It’s the people down here. Sometimes it takes a while to accept certain things. They might not be ready for yours. How about to take a breath and talk to your family.”

“No! They don’t accept me either. I only have myself. I’ve had to work harder than everyone else here just to get where I am! My family tossed me to the rats because I was honest with them!” She screams.

Realizing that she just screamed at her boss, she rushes out of his office and back into her own. Austin stops her at the door and says, “I heard what you said; you were pretty loud. If you want to prove all these people wrong do what you do best. Solve the case. Everyone will support you like a baseball team. Hit a homerun.”

She smiles and says, “Okay, let’s get to work.”

She starts to take out files and files on adults, searching for a connection to Austin and James. So far, nothing. She hasn’t given up hope yet. She stayed up until two in the morning way after the boys have fallen asleep in her office. She takes a five minute break to recollect her thoughts. She watches the kids sleeping on her office floor. Austin is sleeping with his baseball bat tightly in his hand cradling it.

It would be nice to have a support system for me and them, a steady one. These poor kids have no one now. I took the only thing they had, just ripped it away. Maybe instead of me begging to find a steady support system for myself, maybe I should give one to someone else.

She sits up to see Layla curled up in a ball with her blanket wrapped around her.

Abigail glances down at her desk and opens the file labeled Mary, Jackson. She’s forty two and lives in Tennessee. She calls Mary on the phone pleading that she will pick up.

“Hello? Who’s this?” She answers.

Abigail has a bright smile on her face. “Hi! This is Abigail Moore from the police department down in Houston, Texas. I was wondering, did you put two kids up for adoption by the names of James and Austin?”

“Yes why?  Mary replies.

“Well your children are looking for you and I didn’t think I’d be able to find you.” Abigail says in honesty. She was starting to doubt herself as the minutes turned into hours. “Would you like to have custody with your children again?”

Abigail can hear a relieved laugh on the other side and Mary says, “Yes! I’d love to! Both me and my husband!”

“That’s great! I’ll contact the department near you and arrange a flight down here to meet your children! I’ll see you soon!” Abigail says with delight. She hangs up the phone and looks at James and Austin sleeping soundly on the floor. She smiles and says out loud, “ I did it!”

A few days later Mary and her husband are in Texas to meet their kids. There are reporters at the scene capturing every moment. The reporters all stand behind Abigail and support her 100% now. James and Austin run to their parents hugging them with tears in their eyes.

Mary comes up to Abigail, “I heard there was another child. What will happen to her?”

“I’m going to adopt her and she will have a wonderful life! The papers are almost finished.” Abigail replies.

“Thank you so much for reaching out to us. At first I was scared to face my own children. I gave them up because I didn’t want them to live in an poor environment. But now I can fully support them.” Mary exclaims.

James hugs Abigail and says goodbye. Then Austin runs to her and grab ahold of her waist.

“Thank you so much Abigail. You have changed my life and I’m so happy.”

Tears fill Abigail’s eyes, “You’re welcome. I think now that you have your family I will go and start my own with Layla. You showed how important family is and now a lot of people support me and you.” She starts to turn away but Austin stops her.

“Wait, one more thing.” He grabs his baseball bat and says, “ I want you to have it, because you didn’t hit a homerun, you hit it out of the park.”