Anxious Gum

What a disappointment to find that the one television show I watch religiously was superseded by a baseball game that had run into extra innings.

I lost my interest in baseball many years ago. The game just moved too slowly for me. But I was reminded tonight of the excitement that can still be found in the game.

The reminder came in the form of a young boy's face filling the television screen. The boy was sitting in the stands and wearing the hat of his favorite team. Just beneath the lower edge of the hat, flexing jaw muscles suggested unbearable tension. The young man had one end of a generous wad of chewing gum clamped between his teeth. The other end of the sticky string was wrapped around the tip of his index finger.

This was a study in anxiety. The boy's team had the bases loaded with no outs and was surely poised for a win. And yet.... those jaw muscles clenched. And yet... the gum wrapped first one, two, then three times around the index finger.

As it turned out, the unthinkable happened. No runs were scored. The boy was long since lost in the crowd. I wondered what happened to the gum. Was the chewy wad released by a jaw that dropped in disbelief or did it snap in half when the boy pounded his hand on his knee in frustration?