I'm gonna hit you Tug!

We were all gathered in papaw's cow pasture. It was the top of the 3rd inning. My sister, her best friend, Lynette, and my best friend, Kevin, (whom are brother and sister) were losing. I was on the pitchers mound and my cousin, Danny, was up to bat. His friends, Bruce and Gary, were on first and second. Danny swung a few warm-up bats, pumping his arms like he was in the big leagues. He looked straight at me and with the most devilish grin said, "I'm gonna hit you Tug!" I gripped the ball in my hand, looked back at 2nd base, spit on the ground, reared back with all of my might, and let it fly. The next thing I remember was hearing the crack of the bat and watching the ball as it hit a small hoof print dip in the ground directly in front of me. The ball bounced out of the dip shooting like a missile straight into my left eye. I was hit so hard that it knocked me backwards and off my feet.

The next few moments were just like in the movies. Everything was in slow motion. I was seeing stars, birds, and pink elephants dancing. I vaguely remember somebody slapping me in the face and yelling, "WAKE UP, WAKE UP!!!" In the distance I heard someone say, "Oh no, he's killed Tug!"

I don't remember a lot about the next few minutes. It all starts coming back to me around the time my dad was saying, "We're probably gonna have to cut it open and let some of the blood out." My mind was spinning. "Cut what open? Why does blood need to come out?" "Hello! You ain't cutting my eye out!" My mom and dad started trying to comfort me. "No, it's gonna be alright, we'll get you to the doctor." I don't know how much time had lapsed during all of this, but when mom held a mirror in front of me, I didn't quite recognize the one-eyed monster that was staring back at me. The whole left side of my face was swollen up as big as a cantaloupe. I nearly passed out again just from seeing my own ugly mug.

Well, dad was right. The doctor had to make a cut and let some blood out. By the time I was able to open my eye, all you could see was a black pupil in the middle of a something that kind of resembled a large bloody grape. My eye pretty much stayed that way for several weeks. I haven't been able to see out of it very well since then. Soon after that, I had to have eyeglasses.

Moral of the story? If somebody says their gonna hit ya, you better run or get out of the daggum way!