There are numerous kinds of important items that evoke one’s memories. The material item that brought back memories of my brother was his baseball glove.
My brother, Edward and I were going to a supermarket when we saw a small store that sold old discounted items. We were interested and went into the store. Edward stopped next to a box and kept staring at it. Then he turned around and told me that he wanted the baseball glove that looked very old. He took my hand and directed me to a pile of boxes and books that were laying one on top of each other. The baseball glove was inside a box with a pile of papers and old news paper clips. He begged me to buy the glove for him but I rejected his request the first time because mum gave us money to buy milk and eggs to make dough and if we bought the glove we wouldn’t have enough money. The second time he asked me, I said “Let’s see how much it costs.” As I looked at the price tag, it was $5 dollars. As I peeped deeper into the box, it looked like a time machine with items from long ago. The glove was dark gunmetal gray, it had all the white stitches in place and they glowed as if they were new in contrast to the glove leather material. Edward kept staring at it but he did not take it out, as if he expected me to confirm we could take the item home. As I stared into my brother’s red hair I realized that I had extra money with me. I took both my hands into my right pocked and pulled a gum wrap, 2 coins and 2 one dollar bills I had won from a school friend at a marble game earlier.
When Edward saw the money in my hand he placed both of his hands on to the box, but still did not touch it, and then I extended my hand and picked it out. He started to jump and took it from my hand, ran straight into the cashier and asked for it.
The cashier was an old chubby white man that had been staring at us with a compassionate smile and perhaps if I had not taken out the money, he would have given it to my brother for free. There was no way we could have bought the glove but then the store owner told us we could buy it for 2 dollars. Therefore, we bought the glove and took off to the supermarket. The cashier tried to take the glove and place it in a plastic bag but I carried the bag empty all the way, as Edward played and tossed and punched the glove with his other fist. It did not shine against the sun, but it looked as if it had been cleaned really well, it did not smell old or as if it had been in storage for too long, the inside lining that was completely new and the brand could be read clearly: WILSON.
After we bought everything my mum told us to buy, we went home. It was supper time, I called Edward down to eat but he didn’t answer. So, I went upstairs to see what he was doing. I opened the door and as I approached him I found my brother writing poems on back hand section of his glove. Soon, it was filled with green ink writings. I read silently two lines,
“I shall gather myself into myself again;
I shall take my scattered selves and make them one.”
I was confused what it meant and I asked my brother. He said that he will decide during the boring periods of his Baseball match. Edward didn’t even look up at me because he was too busy writing poems off his book. After getting ignored for 20 seconds I interrupted him.
“Anyway, Edward what are the poems for?” I asked.
He said he wrote the poems in order to look at them when he is bored in a baseball match. My brother is a great athlete, he is in the A team for baseball. I knew this because I went to his games quite often. I took my brother downstairs and had pizza and we got on the table and had a family talk. We were talking about how funny some of the teachers in our school are. Then suddenly, Edward started to laugh his heart out. Soon he fell off the chair like a frozen bird touching his tummy. It was a great conversation.
On Monday there were no classes because it was a holiday for the entire school, so our family went to play golf near out house but Edward didn’t play because he wasn’t in the mood. When it was time to tee up for the first tee, I could see Edward from about 150 yards because of his red hair. You know many people with red hair have bad temper but my brother was the nicest boy you could ever find in the world. Anyway, I had a good time playing golf with my family, it would have been better with my brother but still it I felt good because I won.
The next day, Edward and I went to school. That day every teacher came up to me and kept telling me how diligent my brother was. Edward was probably the cleverest kid I ever knew. He was 50 time more intelligent than I was, he always got an average of 100 percent and every day the teacher called my parents to tell them how everyone should follow Edward’s example and all kinds of positive things about him. This was how smart he was. I was a little bit annoyed but I loved my brother. These days kept repeating again and again until…
One day I was sleeping in the garage, and when I woke up the ambulance was carrying my brother to the hospital and my parents were crying. I asked them what had happened but they didn’t answer. I knew that something was wrong with my brother. I went to the hospital with my parents and the doctor told us the Edward died of Leukemia. I ran outside and headed to the places Edward and I used to go.
“Edward!” I yelled.
The scream echoed thought the town. There was no answer. Then I ran home and crushed all the windows in the garage. I fainted because of the blood lose.
The next day I woke up in the hospital, my hand was covered with bandages and my parents were crying. I asked them: were Edward was, they didn’t answer, just cried.
They stayed in the hospital room until the doctor finished checking my bandages and my hand. Then he stepped outside the hospital room to talk to my parents. I could hear my parents cry and cry through the rectangular window on the door of my room. The doctor tried to comfort my mother but she just kept blowing her nose and my father kept his face down and his hands around my mother’s shoulders.
When they walked inside the room they explained to me how Edward had been sick for some time but they had kept hopes that he would get better so they did not tell me. It had been about 3 or 4 months since Edward started to miss school and games. Mum told me that Edward had been during the regular week days at exhausting practices in order to “live better” but my brother was so tired when he came back that he just went straight to bed. Then I went to summer camp and did not see him for 3 months. During those months it was odd to see he never wrote or called and when my parent visited he was always too busy or too tired to make the trip.
After a few days in the hospital, we went home. I went up to Edward’s room and saw the glove I bought him on the way to the supermarket that day. There I stayed until the next day, when my mother got me to dress in black and white 3 piece vest to go to say goodbye to Edward.
At Edward’s funeral, there were not many relatives. Since my parents had had a hard time contacting anyone to come. Still it would have felt the same: empty and lonely. My brother, what was left of him all had been reduce to a pound of ashes that fitted inside a small gold and silver box that my mom put inside a whole in the wall of the town church. Outside, the sun was shining and it was a regular day, my mum told me to go home instead of school, but I choose to attend. I did not wanted to be home without my brother there. It felt weird enough to have all my relatives tell me how sorry they were and how now I had to be a good boy and take care of my parents when I grew up.
I spent the rest of the day in school, were most glanced at me because of my clothing, the vest and tie, than for being the brother of a dead boy. Some rumors even said Edward died in an accident or that he had a contagious disease and that most likely I would die soon as well. It was all unimportant to me. I walked through the day and did not even hear much of what was said around me in class or the school bus back home.
At the end, I again went straight to my brother’s room and saw the glove lying in the bed where I had left it this morning. I approached the bed and then I collapsed in it. I hugged the glove as hard as I could and cried. I could remember every little detail about my brother. I have kept that glove since then.
