The night was fast approaching and Steve was sitting in his study looking at the huge book that lay in the corner of his study table. He longingly looked at his baseball bat that his father had presented him last year. He still remembered the occasion. It was his fifteenth birthday and his team had won the local match, and as always he was the hero. How overjoyed he was at the success and how happy he was to see his parents rejoicing with him!

He will become a great player. I am sure, said his mother. His father only nodded and said with a frown How can a local player in this small village become a great player? You better start studying for your terms Steve, studies are more important than games. However, Steve was delighted when his mother persuaded his father to buy him a baseball bat: a wish that he had been harboring for a long long time. Now he no longer needed to borrow the bat from his friend Riley. He would become the hero the next season too when he would play with his own bat and win the challenge for his team.

All those images seemed so far away for Steve because he had been forbade to take part in the games by his father this year. All his pleas and his mother`s recommendations fell into deaf ears and his father was unmoved. The decision was final and abiding. Steve would not play this season because he had to concentrate on his coming exams.Studies are more important than games Steve, only knowledge counts when you grow up and be a man. His father`s voice still resounded in his ears.

"But he will manage his studies too George" said his mother prompted by him from behind.

No, he can`t. I have been a boy too, and I understand that once he gets involved in the game, he is not going to study anything, no games. That is final said his father.

Steve wanted to revolt. He wanted to shout at his father that baseball had given him his identity as the local hero. He compared studies as a waste of time. Why study history, when no one would ever use it in this world? Why learn science when I intent to become a sportsman? Why learn higher math when all the counting that I ever will do is lying on my back on the green grass and counting the stars? He would think. He was a romantic although he was good at sports. He would spent much of his time on the green meadow near his home simply watching the cows graze or hearing the sparrows sing. The cows and the sparrows do not learn and yet they are never hungry. That was enough matter for him to ridicule his father who always maintained that studies were necessary to earn a decent living.

The next day Steve left for the exams. His mind was blank because he had not learnt a word from the huge book, the sight of which intimidated him. Maybe I can do some magic and get some passing grades at the exam he thought. The exams proved otherwise. Steve could not answer most of the questions while most of his friends were busy writing their exams. His friend Sally smiled at him when he saw him sitting idle in the exam hall and his teacher looked at him sternly when Steve was busy watching kids flying a kite in the adjacent fields. He was relieved when the exam got over. He could now return home and practice his dear hobbies. The question of him playing this season did not arise because they had taken Sue in his place for the games. He passed through the fields where a match was going on and he felt as though something had been ripped apart from his heart. He could have managed the exams and the games. Now he could not play nor did he do well in the exams: all because of his father.

How was the exam Steve? asked his father when he returned home. His father had returned early from work that day.

Not good he replied sheepishly.I could not answer most of the questions.

I am shamed of you Steve, when will you learn? I am not going to be around to provide you for the rest of your life. What have you planned to live decently after I die? said his father

Baseball players do live decently he reacted

Yes they do said his father. They do when they get acclaimed as a player, and you play so worse that you will never be a good one even if you try the rest of your life.

That was the last straw. Not only did his father prevent him from playing, he was now humiliating his game and his reputation. He would show him how good a player he was and how he could make a name for himself in this world.

After much shouting, Steve left his parents in a huff. His father thought that he would come back the same day and consoled his mother

He will be back soon. It is his age, he will come back when he cools off Even his father was sorry that he had humiliated his growing son. Steve was almost a man and he should have controlled his speech. I will make amends when he gets back he promised his wife.

Steve did not return. On the contrary, the next noon he was many miles away from home and had found work as a cleaner at a local bar.

What can a dropout like you get more than a cleaner`s job? asked his boss, a fat man with a stern face. Steve did not say anything. He hoped he would meet someone in the bar who was interested in baseball and provide him with a much needed break: the one he had been longing for these years.

Three months in the bar did not turn Steve`s fortunes for the better. On the contrary, his boss often chided him for watching TV when he should have been cleaning the bar. What the heck do you think you are young man? Go play baseball if you don`t want to clean up the place. But you must learn to eat baseball stew for dinner. Steve put up with the humiliation for a few more months before he decided that enough was enough. He could not stay with a person who would never allow him some peace of mind. He would run away and find work elsewhere.

He was lucky to find a second job. This time with a jovial man who was running his own transport firm. Steve would talk about his dreams to Alfred, the owner, and tell him about his grand plans. You need a job sunny Alfred would say. ` Your father was right, only the lucky ones get a break in games, but studies make you lucky in life. They provide you with a job. Don`t lose the chance that God gave you, go home and learn. Baseball can always be your hobby. Knowledge makes you lucky; don’t lose the chance that you have got to learn”

Even though Steve did not accept it at first, the word of Arthur had a profound influence on him. A few weeks and after much hip hoping for a break, he found that after all he was just a local hero: one who had to go a long way to become a national hero. His father was right; studies could have given him much more in this one year, which he had wasted in pursuit of his dream. He remembered Alfred`s words: baseball could always be a hobby and he would keep it so. He would never hate the game. Nor would he ever be satisfied with the little time that he could spend on the meadows listening to the birds sing. But before that, he had to learn and graduate and get a job: a job that would secure these simple pleasures in his life. He felt indebted to Alfred and thanked him profusely when he left for home that evening. Alfred thrust a small present in his arms: a pen holder with his company`s logo. "Remember my words when you feel distracted. God willing, you will succeed".

Steve`s eyes were moist when he ran back into his mothers arms. He could feel the warmth of his father when he hugged him tight. This was his world, a world that he had left in a huff. He would work and ensure that his father`s dreams for him would become real. He would join school and restart from where he left a year ago. In the evening when he retired to his room after dinner, he saw his baseball bat standing beside the wall. His parents had taken good care of his things and knew that he would come back one day. He touched his bat and then kept the penholder that Alfred had given him on the table. Alfred`s words ringed in his ears when he slept peacefully in his bed. Knowledge makes you lucky; don`t lose the chance that you have got to learn.