Journal entry 1: December 1st
.
I think I might have died and gone to Heaven. I'll start from the beginning. My name is Jamal Sanchez. I'm 16 years old, turning 17 on April 2nd. My earliest memory was of playing catch with my father. My mother made us lemonade, I asked for a second glass. I must have been three at the time. I've loved baseball for as long as I can remember, my father used to take us to Detroit Tiger's games. My parents came to all of my little league games, cheered me on, and I was pretty good as both a pitcher and a batter. I was seven when my father, an army reservist and medic, was called up and sent to the war. I was eight when they told us he wasn't coming home. He was helping a wounded soldier to a helicopter, when he stepped on a landmine. Before he left, a hurricane hit our neighborhood. The house was trashed, and my father didn't have the time to fix it properly, so he and my mother used a contractor. This guy did lousy work, kept charging more, and when my other finally refused to stop paying, they took our home from us in the courts. Fortunately my grandmother, my late father's mother, took us in. When I was twelve my mother was diagnosed with cancer, she survived but had a lot of medical bills to pay after. While she was dying and fighting fo her life, con artists stole everything from my grandmother. They used the IRS scam. My grandmother realy did owe the IRS money but was paying it off a little at a time. Somehow these grifters knew this, and claimed the enitre amount was due immediately. In desperation she gave them her car and her credit cards. By the time she realized it was a scam it was too late. Those bastards were eventually caught and sent to prison, but the money was gone. Things were bad even before the water crises began. Our water was found to be unsafe to drink, causing illness, birth defects, all because of corporate greed and pollution. Through all of this I played baseball with my school, I really hoped I could one day play major league baseball, take care of my mother and grandmother the way they deserved. This previous may my highschool team won the semi-finals, we had a good chance of winning the championship. But after we won the semi-finals our coach took us out for pizza to celebrate. One of the other star players brought his girlfriend. I saw him put something in her soda. A pat of me wishes I'd never seen this, but I did, and I warned this girl. She slapped him, called the police. But by the time they arrived he had destroyed the evidence. And his father was the coach, a man of some power in this town. I was kicked off the team, and they lost the championship. He also made it clear I would not be eligible to play this year or next, likely ending my chance to ever play professional baseball. I got two part time jobs this summer to help pay our massive bills, at a movie theatre and a grocery store. When school started I only worked at the movie theatre. I've seen others in the neighborhood who give up, join gangs. One gang leader owns a video arcade, he pays off his foot soldiers with free pizza and game tokens. Most assume that they'll be in and out of prison their whole life whether they do anything wrong or not, so free pizzan and video games are as good as it gets. If I hadn't had such a strong mother and grnadmother helping me out, I likely would have gotten involved in gang life. My life hasn't been all bad. That girl I saved, Mary, she was really proud of me, and we've been dating for a few months now. And one friend, Benny, he left the team in protest after they kicked me off, we've been best friends ever since. Something like that, you find out who your real friends are. I was ofcourse upset about losing my chance of playing baseball, until two days ago. Monday November 29th was the day of the baseball draft. At school one kid said "congragulations Jamal, you'll be playing in the majors soon." I had no idea what he was talking about. Then later another kid said "Have you been drafted?" I responded "We're not at war." I had no idea what they were talking about. Then after school, I was working at the movie theatre, when one of my coworkers asked if I had been drafted to play major league baseball. He said that someone named Jamal Sanchez had been drafted to play for the new expansion team, the Trenton Mud Puppies. Now I understood what had happenned, it seemed like someone with my name would be playing for this team. At least I assumed it was someone else. I'm 16, and I was a pretty good player for my highschool team. But I wasn't the best player and I certainy wasn't good enough to play in the majors. But then yesterday, I got home from school, and Wallace Brady himself was in my house, talking to my mother and grandmother. Wallace Brady is a former player, businessman, movie producer, he was in Congress and the former governor of Texas, at one point he was a serious contender for the presidency. Brady is also the main owner of the Trenton Mud Puppies, who begin their first season next April. He explained why I was drafted, why he wants me. Wallace Brady is not a perfect human, if adultery were a crime he'd be on Death Row. But he never forced any woman to have sex with him, he knows what I did and he wants to make me a hero, a role model for young men all over this country. Towards that end, he is willing to pay me one million dollars for one season, with substantial bonuses if we make the playoffs. This brings me back to my theory that I've died and gone to Heaven. If I see my father suddenly appear it will confirm this theory. One million dollars to play baseball. Not to mention that spring training would be in Disney World, and see the country. We'd have enought to pay off all of our debts, put some aside, and definitely I could have a little fun. My mother is hesitant to grant me permission, she'll give her final answer on Monday. I've decided to keep this journal, hopefully of the greatest adventure of my life.