I'm playing baseball with my nephews. I've never managed to hit the ball; I remember noting that I have a zero batting average. I pick among the children's bats; there's a really small thick one, but I choose one that's more average and walk up a grassy hill in the yard, across a small field of grass, to the plate.

The kid who is pitching can't throw at all; he just walks kid after kid, and that's how the whole game goes. But somehow he throws the ball right where I can hit it, and I give it a knock. The ground ball goes right up the alley, right between everybody who is crowded around trying to help the pitcher.

The bases, with a few kids on them, are down in the open field, but the batting is going on up the hill in this alley formed with a fence, which I hit the ball right through, into an enclosed area. The kids up there are scrambling to get the ball. "Run!" I shout to the kids on the bases, and I just have to run down to first base, which I should be able to do, but my body just won't move, my mind is commanding it but I just can't get it to go.