My brother Minoru and I carry a wooden bat made by father and a glove that mother sewed a piece of sail.
The bat was made of an oak tree, searched in a thicket. Light, strong and
hitting well.
The kids play a couple of defensive positions simultaneously because of
the lack of numbers. The infield is triangular, not diamond, and players
are just a pitcher and a catcher. First and second baseman are outfield
players...
They play around like crazy until nightfall. By the time getting back,
everyone is covered in sand.
"You dirty so much. Take a bath right away."
Mother isn't angry as she stares at two of us covered in sand. We get naked
and take a bath in a steel drum in the narrow backyard.
............
The good brothers, Shigeru and Minoru, got into a fight, playing baseball.
It was a casual rivalry. From the sandy beach, Minoru, younger brother,
came home crying with his gloves in hand. Shigeru followed with a defiant
look, with a bat and gloves, racking his brain.
"How can I make excuses to father?"
Neither of the two boys took care of dirtiness with sand, mud and sweat.
What did Minoru say to nag at Shigeru while crying? Shigeru must have appealed
Minoru's fault in a loud voice.
Their gentle father did not raise his hand. He didn't preach either.
He took the bats and gloves from the sons in silence. Two bats were cut
in half and thrown into the furnace of the bath. The furnace blazed for a moment.
The two gloves of sails were generously sliced with a kitchen knife, and
also got burned in the furnace.
Minoru wasn't crying anymore. Shigeru had forgotten the excuse. Their faces
remained twitchy.
Since then, the two boys did not go straight to the sandy beach when getting
home from school. There was no reason to go there.
Their dad never made a bat again. Their mother didn't sew gloves either.
Even though it was the parents' great happiness to listen to their sons'
proud talk over dinner....., especially the silent father with good smile.
He was eager to their talk on the sandy beach above all, while letting
them do as they like about school work.
The famous baseball characters, like Oshita, Kawakami, and Bessho, are no longer in the vision of the sons' future. In particular, my dream was to become a professional baseball player. My dad was most excited to watch his sons playing baseball. He often showed his face at the children's baseball tournaments on the playground in elementary school, and bragged as though it were his own.
It was around when the rakugo by Sansho-tei Karaku was played from the
five-ball super radio on the tea chest.
