"Bonds" by Annette L. Brown

 – Fireworks rain over the bay. The crowd roars.

Mays and Aaron grace the field and screen, heroes I shared with my father and now with my son.

Annette L. Brown is a mother, wife, and retired teacher, who lives on an almond farm in Central California where she enjoys spending time with family and friends. She is grateful for the support of The Taste Life Twice Writers and The Light Makers’ Society and for simply having time to write. Annette has pieces reflecting her love of nature, family, beauty, and humor in several publications including Cathexis Northwest Press, Last Stanza Poetry, Flash Fiction Magazine, Every Day Fiction, and other Personal Story Publishing Project anthologies.

Author’s Talk

Annette L. Brown

My father taught me to catch and throw when I was so young I feel like I’ve always known how. As a child I played softball, idolized baseball players, and dared to imagine I might be the first girl in professional baseball. Completely unrealistic for me (I was never that good), but I saw magic in the game.  

Barry Bonds’ monster 756th home run shifted the magic from baseball to family, his hit becoming a catalyst for pulling pieces together: the memories inspired by Willie Mays and Hank Aaron who were part of the celebration, the cheers of 43,000 people stretching into the dark toward the fireworks, and the joy of having my son at my side. The elements working in tandem felt like my past, present and future wrapping arms around me, lifting me above the experience. I knew I would write about it someday. 

When I began writing this piece, I knew I had to include the memory of seeing guns in baseball. I cannot think of Hank Aaron, read or hear his name, without the image of four armed guards marching him to his team bus clawing its way into view. But I know that racism is not the only human failing which surrounds or joins the players on the field. Barry Bonds is not without his own performance-enhancing-drug demons. However, for two reasons, I chose not to include mention of that issue in “Bonds”: first, I am frustrated by the way Major League Baseball complicated the situation, ignoring juiced athletes while fans and money poured into the sport, taking real action only when public outcry demanded it; second, the piece is not a treatise on the failures surrounding major league baseball. It is about the connections Major League Baseball has created in my family. 

I hope “Bonds” will remind you of how shared passions have enriched your life and built bonds with those you love. Cheers!—Annette L. Brown