16
Sé My mother asked Stroud if anybodyvisited him in the hospital, and he said he'd had two visitors, his niece and the preacher from the church down the road, and he could have done without either. "Theres nobody left," he said. "My niece, Josephine Young, but I don't really count her." "Did you have a large family?" my mother asked him. "I remember you said you were the ninth child, but did you and your wife havechildren?" "Let me show you," he said. "Stay right there." He stepped into the next room and returned with a framed photograph. "I keep this beside my bed, and I look at it every night before I go to sleep and everymorning when I get up. Me and Ramona and the baby, little Truman Jr. He wasn't even a year old then. We called him Tru." "Is he your only child?" my mother asked. "Was. He's gone too. Been gone a long time, longer than his mama. It's hard to believe, but if he was alive today, he'd be a old man too." He looked over at me and said, "Come here, boy," then reached down and picked up the baseball that waslying on the floor beside him. "Let me show you something Leroy taught» me. 6? /6 My mother asked Stroud ifanybody visited him in the hospital, and he said he'd had two visitors, his niece and the preacher from the church down the road, and he could have done without either. "There's nobody left," he said. "My niece, Josephine Young, but I don't really count her." "Did you have a large family?" my mother asked him. "I remember you said you were the ninth child, but did you and your wife have children?" "Let me show you," he said. "Stay right there." He stepped into the next room and returned with a framed photograph. "I keep this beside my bed, and I look at it every night before I go to sleep and every morning when I get up. Me and Ramona and the baby, little Truman Jr. He wasn't even a year old then. We called him Tru." "Is he your only child?" my mother asked. "Was. He's gone too. Been gone a long time, longer than his mama. It's hard to believe, but if he was alive today, he'd be a old man too." He looked over at me and said, "Come here, boy," then reached down and picked up the baseball that was lying on the floor beside him. "Let me show you something Leroy taught " me. He showed me how to move the position of my thumb so it was more directly under the ball. He said if I released it the same as my regular fastball, it would sink. "Puts a overspin on it, you see. It wont feel right at first, but you'll get used to it. Got to get your control first, though. Remember that." I asked Stroud if his son had played ball. "Did he play? Look here. He hit a ball so hard one time, they stopped the game so they could measureit. Four hundred eighty-six feet. He wasn't but sixteenyearsold. JackieRobinson never hit a ball that far.Leroy sawTru playwhen he was just a boy and said he was one of the best he'd ever seen." "Did he play pro ball?" I asked him. "He would have," Stroud said. "I do believethat, I believehe would have. But he was killed in the war, son. A shell caught him in the head, and when they shipped him home, you couldn't stand to look at him. Ramona made the folks show him to her, though. I told her it was a bad idea, fought with her about it, but shewent on anyway. I looked at him too, and I can see it now like it was yesterday.No face. No head, really, just a stump of meat, like you'd seein a butcher shop. Ramona screamed like she'd been set on fire, reached over in there and tried to drag him up into her arms, and I had to pull her back, and we both went outside and got sick." "I'm so sorry," my mother said. "I can't even imagine it." Stroud said, "No, you really can't." 68 He showed me how to move the position of my thumb so it was...
OR
