I cannot count the hours, days, weeks, or even the months that we
kids at the orphanage sat on the swings with absolutely nothing to
do.  Whatever toys were donated by the various organizations were
generally placed in a locked closet over at the dining-hall, next to
the head matron's bedroom.

There was a basketball court, but no basketball.  There was a tether
pole, but no ball or rope.  There was a vacant field for baseball,
but no baseballs, baseball gloves, or bats.  There was a double
driveway sidewalk running up the back of the boys' dormitory, but no
roller skates.  There was nothing except the old swing set and the
monkey bars which had most of the bars missing.

We kids would sit for hours on the swing set just slowly rocking back
and forth as though we were all mentally challenged.  Sometimes we
would take sticks from the bamboo piles, and we would draw pictures
in the dirt or play tic-tac-toe.  Once in a while we would play sword-
fighting with the sticks until we were caught, slapped across the
face, and made to go to bed for the remainder of the day without
supper.

One day while we were sitting on the swing set, we heard the crack of
a baseball bat.  The loud sound had come from the baseball diamond
located in the Spring Park Elementary School yard on the other side
of the orphanage fence.

All of a sudden came a smashing sound as the baseball landed in the
tall bamboo clumps beside our swing set.  Not one boy moved.  We knew
what had happened, and though we were very excited, we still moved
not one hair on our heads.  We had waited everyday, for almost a
year, for this wonderful event to take place.

We could hear the commotion on the other side of the fence as the
baseball team looked for the lost baseball.  Still we moved not a
muscle.

After about thirty minutes, the team called off the hunt for the ball
and ended their game.

We hunted for hours in the clumps of bamboo until one of the boys
located the lost baseball.

"HERE IT IS!" yelled one of the boys.

The precious item was carefully removed from the brown, dried bamboo
clumps.  All fifteen of us boys gathered into a tight circle, and we
passed the ball from one boy to another.  Some boys would caress,
others would hold, and one even kissed the wonderful prize.

There was not one dry eye in the circle as the ball continued to be
passed around.  It was worth more to us than gold was to the King of
Egypt.  It was the one magic thing that would fill our lives with
something that we needed.  Something that was even more precious to
us orphans than love itself.  A wonderful, wonderful thing that would
allow us to fill that void in our lives by giving us something to do.

We had that baseball for more than a year.  I will never forget the
day the cover came off the baseball.  It had hit a pine tree when one
of the boys had thrown it.  It hit the tree and it flew into a
hundred million small pieces.

I have been asked many times if there was ever one happy day in my
life as a child while living in the orphanage.  Yes, there was one
day when I truly felt happiness as a child.  It was the day we found
that wonderful precious baseball.


Roger Dean Kiser, Sr.
[email protected]
Copyright © 2002 by Roger Dean Kiser, Sr. All rights reserved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About the author: Roger Kiser is the author of the book "ORPHAN, A
true story of Abandonment, Abuse and Redemption." Roger writes short
stories for Heartwarmers4u.com, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Reader's
Digest, ToTheHeart.com, and several other magazines around the world.

He is also one of the co-authors of "Heartwarmers," "Heartwarmers of
Love," and the Petwarmers CD Collection.

He is honored to have had his story "Elvis Died at the Florida Barber
College" published in "A Cool Collection," a school workbook for
teenage school children in the country of Israel. That same story is
also being made into a short film at Surrey University in England, by
Freddie Francis, the Cinematographer of the movie "The Elephant Man."

You can purchase Roger's book, "ORPHAN" in major book stores or order
from Amazon.com at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1580624480/o/qid=975333679/sr=8
-1/straighfromthe0a/107-5931457-7011735
_________________________________________________________
Find out how Roger Dean Kiser, Sr., is using his life to spell
success for orphans coast to coast!  He's started the Sad Orphan
Foundation in hopes that other orphans may experience kindness.  As
Roger said, it was acts of kindness, however small, that saved him.
For more information, please visit Roger's web site at
http://www.geocities.com/thesadorphanfoundation.  You may send your
check or money order to:

THE SAD ORPHAN FOUNDATION
c/o Author, Roger Dean Kiser, Sr.
100 Northridge Drive
Brunswick, Georgia 31525

Or click on his website and donate using your credit card using
PayPal!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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with someone who does, sign up for the Entrepreneurial Couples
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_________________________________________________________
FAMILY LOVE MOMENT

The other day four-year-old Matthew wriggled underneath his covers
for his nap.  His little sister, 21-month-old Madison, toddled up to
his race-car bed, crawled in, and laid her head down on the pillow.

"Daddy!  Look at Madison!" Matthew shouted.  "Doesn't she look cute?"

Sharing a pillow, they "talked" to each other until they both fell
asleep.
________________________________________________________
QUOTE FROM LESSER KNOWN PEOPLE

After being mired in a noisy whirlwind of boys (mine, that is) over
the weekend, their seven-year-old cousin, Becca, strode up to me and
said, "Aunt Jennifer?  Your boys gave me a headache!  I had to go to
the bathroom and meditate for a while."
_________________________________________________________
LOVE,
JENNIFER I. OLIVER AND FAMILY
[email protected]
"To live that in thy last long sleep, Smiles my be thine wile all
around thee weep." - Nellie L. Wallace, June 24, 1873
_________________________________________________________

This E-mail may be forwarded in its entirety, but first ask the
writer for permission before forwarding. Thank you for doing the
decent thing! Ü
________________________________________________________

SUBMIT STORY, QUOTE, OR FAMILY LOVE MOMENT:
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FEEDBACK: [email protected]
________________________________________________________