Wounded: Our Journey Home

Wounded- Chapter Nine

"I'll live, but come on. Let's show you how to hit a ball."

"You may want to pause the machine first."

Jafar nodded and went for the pause switch, dodging another ball during his journey a few feet away. As he jogged back inside to me, he grabbed the bat and held it in his stance.

"Now, when you're batting, you need to bend your knees like this," He told me, showing me how his legs are bent. "Next, you choke up on the bat with your hands, watch me," He moved his hands up on the bat. He kept watching my reaction as it reigned in me what 'choking up on the bat' meant.

"Now you try."

I took the bat from him, mimicked his stance and swung the bat to get a feel for it.

"You're doing great, Masha Allah. Now I'm going to turn the machine on medium. If I go back to low, we will be waiting all night for the ball to get across the plate."

"Okay," I nodded and took a deep breath.

"It's on. Remember, concentrate and swing level."

After waiting a minute for the machine to warm up, the ball came towards the plate, and I swung with all I had and...missed.

"I can't do this," I stepped back from the plate and started to take off the helmet and batting gloves. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea. Nothing seems to be going right. When Jafar came in earlier, he hit every ball that came his way. All I did was stand there and make a fool out of myself.

"What if I helped you?"

Pausing from ripping the little equipment I had off, I turned to stare at Jafar who happened to be standing right in front of me.

"It's a waste of time. You already tried to help but I couldn't hit it. I just can't do it."

"Yes you can, and you know why?"

I played along. "Why?"

"Because you have the best teacher there is, so come on."

Jafar stretched out his hand to me, and surprisingly I took it which put a smile on his face. Pulling me along with him, he grabbed the bat and moved me in front of the plate and handed me the bat. Thinking he was going to guide me in the position he did earlier, I froze when he wrapped his arms around my waist and whispered instructions in my ear.

"Now, choke up like this," He placed his hands over mine, moving them up a notch on the bat. "Great. Now look over to the machine and wait for your pitch."

Jafar then let go and moved to turn on the machine I didn't even knew he turned off back on. I then hid my face from anyone's view. If they saw me, they would think I swallowed a lemon.

Seconds later, the ball came. Eyeing it up, I swung the bat as hard as I could, dropping it when I felt a vibration in my hands.

"See?" Jafar smirked, "You hit it."

-*-

After a couple of hours of non-stop ball murdering, we stopped by the Dairy Queen for a snack.

"I never asked. How is your career?"

Jafar was taken aback by my question, but smiled nonetheless.

"It's going really well, Alhamdulillah. When I first started, I barely had a gig, but as I continued my journey, Allen booked me to open for big time names. I'm not really famous, just known in the music industry."