The Best Life

The baseball game was lasting longer than he could have predicted. Their son, Jimmy, was nine and into everything sports, meaning that he and Diane were into everything sports. They spent the long winters at basketball games, the springs at countless baseball games, and the falls shuffling between wrestling and football. It was exhausting to them, but Jimmy was their only child and they were of the opinion that his happiness ranked monuments above their own. Every since Jimmy was born, they were amazed by his endless energy for everything. At times, Rich couldn't imagine what the boy would be like at seventeen. He was sure that, with all the activities and school work he was involved in, the boy would wear out by fourteen, tops.

It was actually the pain in his behind that gave notice to how long the game was dragging. To shift his thoughts off his increasingly painful rear, his mind drifted off to thoughts of the upcoming trip to London on which he and Diane had just finished the plans. He had certainly never imagined taking such a trip, but as he was doing exceptionally well at work, they seemed to have everything they needed.

Rich was from a small town and an exceptionally poor family. Looking back, he never imagined he would be president of such a lucrative business. He always thought he would have stayed in that small town and worked for the rest of his life at the factory that lay down the road. In actuality, his rise to the top had happened nearly overnight. One day, he was on his way home from a twelve-hour shift at the plant. The next day, he was on his way to the large office which would be his own. He was never able to recall how or why he was so blessed, but since taking the new job, he refused to question a thing. Somewhere, deep inside, he thought if he asked too many questions, they might dig deep into their records and discover it wasn't really him who was supposed to be there. In this, he spent nearly ten years basking in unimaginable wealth.

"Watch me!" Jimmy yelled loud enough to snap him into reality.

Rich looked over at Diane for a brief moment and mumbled something about another home run when the crack of bat meeting ball rang out. Sure enough, it was another home run. Rich stood up and went to yell out to his son when an awful feeling overcame him - the feeling of something weighing heavily on his chest. Something so heavy that it almost tore his breath away. In the time Rich thought about a possible heart attack, the pain disappeared.

"Ugh," he said as he sat back down, "that was the oddest feeling I've ever had."

Strangely enough, he was feeling fine now. There was no residual pain at all in his chest. He was waiting for Diane to take his hand in hers and start worrying about him, but she didn't. In fact, she hadn't even noticed. Her gaze remained focused on the game and her son. He thought about mentioning it to her again, but decided against it. No need to worry her about something that may not amount to anything.

"Do you think we ought to take Jimmy out for pizza tonight? He's really been working hard at school and baseball," Diane asked.

Even though Diane mentioned using the pizza as a reward for Jimmy's behavior, Rich knew deep down that Diane was worried about leaving Jimmy with his mother while they went off to Europe.