Notes: Thanks to Mari and Sammy for the squeal-inducing feedback to the idea and the story. You're the best, ladies!
Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support! It is always appreciated.
Special thanks to my brother for inspiring the story :-)
Hope you enjoy!
When He's Right (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
April 26th, 2021
"There's the birthday boy!" Grandma Ang said when the beachhouse door opened and DJ came in with Michael and Steve who had picked the two up after school.
"Happy birthday, DJ!" the gathered group cheered. Catherine and Angie were there, of course, along with Grandma Ang, Elizabeth, Joseph, Danny, and Gabby.
DJ beamed excitedly, petting Cammie whose tail wagged at the greeting. "Wow!" he exclaimed. "I didn't know you were all going to be here!"
"We wanted to wish you a happy birthday on your real birthday, too," Danny said with a grin.
Catherine came over to give him a kiss and hug as Angie wrapped her arms around her brother. "It's you' real birfday, DJ!" she squealed happily despite having told him Happy Birthday several times already that day.
"How was school, honey?" Catherine asked, helping him out of his backpack. She, Steve, Angie, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Ang had been in DJ's class earlier in the day for DJ's Special Person presentation and to bring cupcakes to celebrate his birthday with his class, but that had only been for about a half hour after lunch.
"It was great!" DJ said, holding his new Special Person book that his classmates had made for him because he didn't want it to get bent in his backpack. He looked at his best friend who was over after school as a special birthday treat. Michael nodded his emphatic agreement. "Because it's my birthday I got to pick the Brain Break and I picked Simon Says."
"It was so fun," Michael said. "And 'cause we had Music today we sang 'Happy Birthday' to DJ twice. In Music and when you brought the cupcakes."
"We ate da yummy cupcakes in DJ's class," Angie said, her eyes bright at the memory.
"And Mrs. Iosua, the principal, said Happy Birthday to me in the hallway!"
"Wow!" Elizabeth said, giving him her own birthday hug. "Sounds like a very exciting day."
"It does indeed," Joseph added.
"Do you want to see my Special Person book?" DJ asked.
"We absolutely do," Catherine said genuinely. "But before we get settled and look through it, you did get a couple more cards in the mail today."
DJ's eyes widened with excitement. He'd loved receiving birthday cards in the mail over the last week, a fact his parents were very much aware of. "Can I open them?" he asked.
"Of course, honey," Catherine said, sharing a quick smile with Steve. "They're right over there on the coffee table."
"Over here, DJ!" Angie said, taking his hand to lead him to the sofa.
DJ stopped at the armchair to give Grandma Ang a hug who in return gave him a knowing smile, then he sat down on the sofa with Michael and Angie on either side.
He opened the first envelope and took out the card with a cartoon boy playing baseball. He grinned. "It's a baseball player!"
"Read it to us, honey," Elizabeth said.
" 'Birthday boy,' "DJ read. " 'Wishing you a super cool brill …' " His brow furrowed as he sounded out the word in his head. " 'Brilliant …' " He opened the card, eyes briefly widening at the bills inside before moving them so he could finish reading the message. " ' Birthday! With lots of love, Angela, Sal, and Francesca." He beamed.
"Ohh, that's so sweet," Gabby said.
"Who's that?" Michael asked.
"My baby sister, who can be very sweet when she wants to be," Danny explained with a grin.
"They live all the way in New Jersey!" DJ told his friend.
"New Jersey!" Angie repeated. She pointed at the card. "You got money, DJ!"
"Here, Mommy," DJ said, handing over the twenty-five dollars for safekeeping. "Can I write a thank you card for them later?"
Catherine smiled. "Of course, honey."
He opened another card from Elizabeth's brother Greg and his wife Jean with a check inside, then got to the bottom of the small pile where a large sturdy cardboard envelope. DJ studied it a moment, then glanced over at his father.
"Daddy, this is like the special envelope we got when we went to the post office to mail …" He gasped suddenly as he spotted the small logo at the top of the return address. "The Cubs?!"
He picked it up, turning it this way and that to try and figure out how to open it.
"There's a little tab on the side, DJ," Joseph told him.
"There," Michael said, finding it first and pointing.
DJ grasped the tab and pulled across, opening the envelope. As everyone in the room waited excitedly, he pulled out a plastic protective cover, eyes widening at what was inside.
April 2nd, 2021
"You know what, baby girl," Catherine said as she tried to wipe the barbecue sauce off of Angie's face and hands. "Bath night was supposed to be tomorrow, but I think we may need to move that up a night."
Angie wriggled away from the dreaded cloth, her own attempts to rid herself of barbecue sauce having failed completely.
Catherine caught sight of more sauce as the three-and-a-half-year-old shifted. "How did you get barbecue sauce on your feet?!"
"I's so yummy," Angie told her matter-of-factly.
Catherine couldn't help but smile. "That does not explain barbecue sauce between your toes."
Steve chuckled, scooping Angie up out of her booster seat and holding her aloft and away from his body, causing the little girl to giggle. "Let's go, sauce girl, time for a bath." He winked at her. "Don't worry, I've heard stories about your mommy eating ribs when she was your age," he said, tossing a smirk back over his shoulder at Catherine before heading for the living room. "She definitely didn't learn to keep her clothes clean until she was at least eight."
"DJ's eight!" Angie said, pointing at her brother over Steve's shoulder who was watching the scene with a grin.
"Almost," he said excitedly. Once Steve and Angie had disappeared, he looked up at Catherine who had started clearing the table. "Can I work on my Rizzo picture while Angie is taking a bath?"
"Sure, honey. How about in the dining room? We don't want to get any stray barbecue sauce on it."
He nodded and after bringing his and Angie's plates to the sink and washing his own face and hands, went into the dining room to work on a drawing of Cubs' first baseman Anthony Rizzo he'd started earlier in the week at school.
Fifteen minutes later, Catherine joined him at the dining room table. "Oh, honey, it looks really great," she said sincerely, running a hand over his hair.
He looked up at her and smiled, his eyes bright with the compliment and something else that his mother spotted right away.
"What?" she asked with a smile. "You've got your idea face on."
He bit his lip momentarily, then said, "Do you think I could send my picture to Rizzo? I thought maybe he would like to have it so he knows a kid way far away in Hawaii likes to watch him play."
Catherine smiled and kissed his head. "I'm sure he'd love to get it. I'll find the address on the internet. I'm sure there's one for fan mail. Why don't you write him a letter to go along with it? You could tell him about your baseball team and why he's your favorite player."
DJ beamed, excited by the prospect. He jumped up to get some lined paper from the sideboard. "And I can tell him about Grandma Ang and everything!"
Catherine smiled to see his unbridled excitement and pulled out her phone to start looking for where to send the very special fan mail.
The next day, Steve and DJ went to the post office to mail his picture and letter.
"We're going to get a special kind of envelope that will keep your picture and letter from getting bent," Steve explained as they walked over the rack of envelopes and boxes. He selected a letter sized envelope made of thin cardboard. "Perfect."
DJ beamed, practically vibrating with excitement. "Do you have the address Mommy found on her phone?" he asked.
Steve smiled. "Yes, I do. Come over here so we can get everything ready. Do you want to write the address on the envelope?"
DJ bit his lip, thinking. "Maybe you should write it, to make sure the mail person can read it."
"I can," Steve said, "but your handwriting is really good, buddy. I think they'll be able to read it just fine if you do it."
DJ took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay."
Steve found a nearby stool so DJ could more easily reach the counter. He propped his phone up with the text from Catherine containing the address and watched as DJ put all his concentration on getting it exactly right.
"Told you you could do it," Steve said as DJ straightened.
The almost eight-year-old smiled proudly.
"Now you just have to put everything in the envelope."
"Lemme just read the letter one more time to make sure," DJ said, taking it out of the manila folder they'd used to keep it from getting creased.
Steve smiled as DJ quietly read the letter aloud to himself. While he'd had some help with the spelling here and there, the words were all his own.
Dear Mr. Rizzo,
My name is DJ and I'm almost 8 years old and I live in Hawaii with my mommy and daddy and my sister Angie and our kitten Pumpkin and our dog Cammie. I saw a picture of your dog Kevin! Cammie is lots bigger but I bet Kevin is nice too. I love baseball and I love the Chicago Cubs because my great grandma Ang loves the Chicago Cubs. She lives in Hawaii too with my grandma and grandpa but she used to live in Chicago.
Guess what I play baseball too! Our team is called the Cubbies! Like little Cubs! My best friend Michael is on my team and so are my friends Kai and Matty. My daddy is my coach and so is my grandpa and my uncle Danny. They are the best coaches. My glove was my daddy's when he was a kid so it's extra special. My daddy taught me how to throw and catch and hit because I wanted to play like you. You are my favorite baseball player because you always try your best and you smile a lot so I know you are having fun when you play like I have fun. I played almost every position on my team but my favorite one is first base because that's where you play! I used to be kinda nervous in games when I'm at bat because everyone was looking at me but now I'm not so nervous anymore. Do you ever get nervous when everyone is looking at you?
I started drawing this picture of you in art class at my school when we had free time so the other kids could finish their clay pots and my teacher said it was really good so I should take it home and keep working on it. When I finished it I decided I wanted you to have it so you would know you're my favorite player. I watch lots of Cubs games on TV when I'm not at school or playing baseball or something else. I like watching with grandma Ang the best. My sister Angie likes watching too but sometimes she doesn't watch the whole game because she's three. One time we made grandma and grandpa's house look like Wrigley field! Grandpa brought benches in for us to sit on right in the living room! And we hung up all grandma Ang's Cubs stuff on the walls and everything. It was so fun. Sometimes grandma Ang calls you bums when you don't get a hit but I know it's hard to get a hit every time. And don't worry, she still likes you even when she says that. Mommy says it's just because she likes the Cubs so much and always wants you to win.
I hope someday I can go to Wrigley field and see a Cubs game with my family and specially my grandma Ang. And I hope when I go there I can meet you. Grandpa told me when you're not playing baseball you and your family give money to help people who have cancer and to help the doctors who are trying to cure cancer because you had cancer before and are a survivor. I think that is a really really really good thing to do. And grandpa showed me a video of when you visited kids in the hospital who have cancer and I think that is a really good thing to do too so I wanted to say thank you for doing that too. Mommy helped me make some of my piggy bank money into a check for your foundation so you can help more kids. Grandma told me that word foundation cause I didn't know it before.
I hope the money helps and I hope you like the picture I drew. Thank you for being my favorite player.
From DJ McGarrett
"Well?" Steve asked, when he'd finished.
DJ looked up at him and smiled. "I think it's ready."
Steve smiled, tousling his hair affectionately. "I think it's more than ready, it's perfect. Let's get it into the envelope with your picture and your check and on its way to Chicago."
Back in present, DJ stared at the picture in the clear protective sleeve. It was the picture he'd drawn, now with a message in black ink in the lower corner.
To my friend DJ,
Keep up the great work on the field and in art class!
Anthony Rizzo #44
"Holy cow," Grandma Ang was the first to speak after Catherine had helped DJ read the handwritten message.
"You said it," Danny agreed.
"Wow," said Elizabeth. "What a wonderful message."
"He called you his friend!" Michael exclaimed.
"Isn't that exciting, honey?" Catherine asked, having shifted Angie into her lap so she could sit by DJ. "Rizzo wrote you back!"
"But … I sent him the picture so he could have it," DJ said, confused. "Didn't he like it?"
"Ohh, honey, of course he did," Catherine said, hugging him to her side.
"He liked it so much he sent it back as an autograph," Danny said. "Something you can keep forever."
"That's right," Steve agreed, smiling at his son. "And he definitely read your note because you told him about your team and about drawing the picture in art class."
"That's really special, DJ," Joseph said. "Ballplayers are really busy this time of year."
DJ started to smile the longer he looked at the picture.
"What's dis, DJ?" Angie asked, spotting something else sticking out of the top of the envelope.
DJ removed the notecard with the Cubs logo on top and gasped.
"It's from Rizzo!" he exclaimed.
"Read it!" Grandma Ang insisted.
Dear DJ,
Thank you so much for the picture you drew. It's really cool! You are a very good artist. I hope you don't mind that I signed it and sent it back, but I thought you might like to have an autograph. Don't worry, I took a picture of it first so it's kind of like I have a copy of it, too.
I also wanted to say thank you very much for the donation to my family's foundation. It will really help families who are fighting cancer. It was very generous of you to make a donation at such a young age.
And thank you for your letter. Kevin says hi! I loved reading about how much you love the Cubs and how you watch games with your grandma. I also loved reading about how you play baseball too and how much fun you have! I think it's really awesome that your dad taught you how to play and now he coaches your team. Family is the most important thing and it sounds like you have a great one.
Thanks for being a fan!
Your friend,
Anthony Rizzo
The room was silent for a moment until Angie threw her hands into the air. "Yay Rizzo!"
"That is the coolest thing EVER!" Michael said.
Joseph laughed. "When he's right, he's right."
"That's really amazing," Elizabeth said.
Grandma Ang nodded matter-of-factly. "I've said for years he's good on the field and off."
"Paesan," Danny said with a nod of approval, as if that covered it all.
"What do you think, buddy?" Steve asked, smiling at him from the other side of the coffee table.
"I can't believe he wrote me back," DJ said, eyes still wide. He looked up at Steve and then at Catherine. "Can we hang the picture and note up in my room?"
"Of course, honey," Catherine said, kissing his head. "We'll get them framed together and hang them up."
Danny grinned. "I bet I know what your favorite birthday present was this year, DJ."
DJ smiled, looking at the note and signed drawing again. After a moment, he looked back up at the smiling faces of his immediate family and best friend, knowing they were smiling because they were so happy for him.
"This is really awesome," he said, indicating the note and drawing, "but … I think Rizzo is right. Family is the most important thing and I have a great one … so getting to have parties with my family and my friends for my birthday … I think those are really the best presents."
"Ohh, honey," Catherine said, hugging him to her side.
Steve smiled. "Couldn't have said it better myself."
Joseph nodded and repeated his words from a few minutes ago. "When he's right, he's right."
Hope you enjoyed!
Notes: This story is loosely inspired by my brother who drew a picture of Mark Grace (former Cubs' first baseman) in the 90s and sent it to him. Grace sent it back signed :-)
Hopefully Anthony Rizzo doesn't mind me putting words in his mouth. You can find more information about the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation on their website.
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