Sunday, was baseball day in my family. My father was the manager of a mens baseball team which played for the a Mexican Men's League, and every Sunday Mexican families came together to watch their men compete on the baseball diamond. Things on this particular made for a very unusual day with many unexpected twists and turns.
First of all the game ended early due to a disagreement that ended in the whole game being forfeited. This was a good excuse for all the families to take the party to the local watering hole. There we all had a huge picnic. All the players and their wives, and kids were there. It was an awesome time, everyone having a good time as we all got a jump start on the holiday.
My brother Jose was there, he was my favorite of all 4 of my brothers. Jose was gentle, caring, and always took the time to talk to me and listen to me. He and I had a very special bond. He was 21 and I thought he was the coolest person in the whole entire world. My father however, did not hold the same opinion of him. It seems my father had it out for him. Always picking fights with him and humiliating him every chance he got. That day was no different. Before the game had been called my father had become very angry with Jose during the game. Yelling obsecenities at him and hurling insults in front of everyone there. It hurt my brother, but it hurt me even more to witness it.
After the rocky start to the day between the argument that caused the game to be canceled to the public display of humiliation that my brother had to endure, and we all had to witness, it was good to see everyone relaxed finally. Even Jose, I was happy to see him enjoying himself. The day had started out rocky for him and now he seemed to have put all that behind him. Which came as no surprise, for that was his nature. Quick to overcome negativity, always ready to laugh or make someone laugh. It was one of the things I loved most about him.
When he got ready to leave he said goodbye to me and I waved absent mindedly to him from the river where I was wading with the other kids looking for crawdads. I had no idea that that would be the last time I saw him alive.
When we left approximately an hour later, my 13 year old brother and I rode home with our oldest brother and his wife. On our way to our house we realized that neither of us had a house key so if the house was locked we would have no way of getting in. We arrived at our house and Tomas told me to get out and check to see if the house was unlocked. I went to the porch and turned the knob, the door opened. Tomas called me back to the car and told me that we were going to go get some Dairy Queen. I got back in the car and off we went.
On our way home after getting the ice cream we were passed by a speeding ambulance. As we pulled into our street, my heart was in my throat and my stomach fell to my feet as I realized that the ambulance was at my house, along with several police cars.
My parents had returned home while we were at Dairy Queen and my mother had entered the house to find my brother hanging from the door that led from our kitchen to our dining room. He had used a stereo. Placing it on one side of the door and using the cord to form a noose. He closed the door and hung himself.
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