It was late October, a glorious day in northeast Ohio. Half of the brightly plumed leaves remained on the trees, the rest covered the ground in a tapestry of color. Football season was in full swing, and my beloved Browns were in the hunt for a playoff spot in the AFC. Dan and I were playing football in the side yard by the plum tree. Normally we’d head out to the expanse of the much larger backyard, but we had raked a nice pile of leaves next to the driveway and were diving into them. Plus, we were on our way to some family excursion somewhere, just waiting for mom to join the rest of the clan. We had a football, and we were taking turns tossing passes and making circus catches into the leaves. No leaf plunge is complete without a good backstory. I was channeling my inner Wizard of Oz — Ozzie Newsome. I was also wearing my glasses.
I always had to wear my glasses. Somehow at the age of 8, my mom found a quack that prescribed trifocals. According to that backwoods optometrist, my eyes were so awful that the only cure was three inch lenses with three different sight zones wrapped in decadent plastic frames. I like to think now that I was just a trendsetter thirty years too soon. Hey, nerd glasses are cool enough for Jay-Z and JT now, right? The fact that I had to wear glasses at all was surprising to me, since the only thing wrong with my eyes was the fact that I couldn’t quite read the entire blackboard from the back of the room. It took me a while to adjust to my new bionic vision powers, but eventually the headaches went away and I managed to figure out which angle my head needed to be tilted at in order to bring the fuzzy shapes into focus. As you might imagine, contacts didn’t really come in trifocal configurations, and besides, mom would have argued I was too irresponsible and too disgusting a creature to take care of them anyway. So all through school, right through graduation, I had to wear my glasses. I even had a couple poses with my senior pictures wearing them. Thing is, the only time I ever actually wore them was at home. I’d sneak them off as soon as I got on the bus, and sneak them on right before getting off. There were a couple of times I didn’t make the Clark Kent transformation quickly enough, and mom was watching out the window waiting to catch me in my blatant disobedience. Funny enough, she didn’t mind when they flew of my face from her smacking me around. Eventually the frames were cockeyed and covered with tape in all the stereotypical places, the result of both her wicked forehand and my random acts of negligence.
That fall day while I was pretending to be the aforementioned hall of fame tight end, things went south in a hurry.
My brother drops back and fires a tight spiral. I’ve got a good running start, and it’s a perfect throw, just out of reach. I leap, arms outstretched, fully extended. The ball zips into my hands as I hover momentarily in the air, directly above the soft cushion of the leaf pile. Flash bulbs blink in rapid succession. Camera shutters snap a percussive rhythm. This moment, this catch, is captured forever as THE greatest catch in sports history. The championship is ours! I tuck my shoulder, nestle the pigskin in the crook of my arm, and drop the last few inches to the spongey turf. My right hand shoots into the air, football in hand, confirming without any doubt that I did, indeed, just make the most amazing catch of all time. Take that Odell Beckham — you haven’t even been born yet. I ascend like a deity out of the leaves, ready to greet the throngs of adoring fans that have rushed the field.
Shit. Where are my glasses?
I drop the football and started franticly searching through the leaf pile, hoping my fingers will stumble upon some still intact glass. Nothing. By now my brother is wondering what is going on, and soon he begins the search with me. He knows all too well the consequences of failing to locate the magic spectacles.
For crying out loud, these things are thicker than an encyclopedia (not that anyone knows what those are anymore) and weigh twice as much. They couldn’t have just disappeared.
Now dad is in on the hunt, though I’m still not sure if he was acting as friend or foe that day.
A cold shadow washes over me. Mom’s voice echoes sweetly on the breeze. “What’s going on here?” she lilts.
“Um, I can’t find my glasses.”
Ahh, there it is, the instant transformation. “You selfish little brat! You’ve been trying to lose those glasses since the day you go them! You want to go blind? Is that it? You know how much those cost? You can’t take care of anything. I don’t know why we even bother, you can’t be trusted with anything. You’re not coming in the house until you find them.”
She gives my dad and brother the look, and it’s clear that any assistance they might have provided has now ceased. They slink to the car. Mom stops to leave me with one last set of instructions. “You are going to stay here and look for those glasses. You are not allowed to go into the house until you find them. I don’t care if it takes all day and night.”
And off they went. Not the first or last time I was left behind as everyone else went to enjoy some family time. I watched them pull down the driveway, the pit in my stomach growing ever larger. I looked up at the house, imagining the invisible barrier that now forbade my crossing of the threshold. Suddenly, I was hungry, thirsty, and had to pee. Only one of those could be addressed given my current predicament.
I trudge back to the outhouse. Yes, we had an outhouse, which I used frequently. It must have been one of the fancy schmancy custom models back in the day, because it had two seats. You know, so you can do your business with a companion. You wipe my butt, I’ll wipe yours — or something like that. Thankfully, no one ever joined me in there, except the spiders. I don’t think my sister ever used the outhouse…
Now it was back to the task at hand. Mostly I remember that overwhelming feeling of desperation. I didn’t know what would happen if I failed to locate my glasses, but I knew it would be awful. So I searched, leaf by leaf, the pile where they might have ended up. When I reached the dormant green grass with nary a lens in sight, I knew I was in trouble. I became frantic, wondering if a strong wind had blown them into another part of the yard. Physics clearly didn’t apply in this scenario. Up and down the yard I went, poking and prodding on all fours. My hands and knees were soaked, but I was panic stricken.
The family Olds pulls down the driveway, and my stomach drops further. Mom comes over to check on my progress, and the rest of the family quickly hustles inside. It was a brief meeting. More chastising, more smacks upside the head, and a reiteration of the warning not to come in the house until I found my glasses.
The rest of the day was another exercise in torment and high anxiety. Wading through every inch of yard, back and forth and back again, carrying with me that enormous pit in my stomach. The sounds of the house would drift out to me from time to time. It was unseasonably warm and mom had the windows open — probably as much to torment me as to air out the stale air inside. I have a distinct memory of Steve Miller’s “Abracadabra”, wafting out to the yard — a song I still find undeniably catchy despite my not-so-fond memories associated with it.
Day turned to night. My stomach managed to work in some serious hunger pains amongst the flipping and flopping. Lunch came and went. So did dinner. Somehow I didn’t get a Stepford mom waltzing outside with a bologna sandwich and a tall glass of chocolate milk. Dad did manage to shuffle outside with a flashlight, looking sheepish. Right. Somehow I couldn’t locate them in eight hours of sunlight, but now, this dim yellow excuse for a searchlight will uncover them in the dark abyss? Cold started to seep through my pores. I am a walking zombie. Shivering, soaked, hungry, but continuing to pace relentlessly across the terrain. It’s hard to explain that feeling, when you are so completely consumed by anxiety and repetitive motion that you are on frantic autopilot. It’s a bizarre version of extended shock. Everything now is a blur of wet leaves and cold earth, step after step.
Finally, dad comes down the back steps once more and beckons me inside. I almost don’t want to go. Maybe I should just stay out here until morning, it’s probably better than whatever punishment awaits inside. It’s not a choice, so I follow him up the back steps and into the kitchen. She is waiting for me, of course. But instead of being greeted by the angry face I expected to find, I see her leaning against the kitchen counter with a wry smile. She asks if I’ve learned my lesson. Not knowing what else to do, I nod solemnly.
She steps forward, and I see my glasses on the windowsill. I am flooded with a sudden surge of relief. And then it hits me. How long have they been there? All day? I just spent the last 8-10 hours searching for glasses I had zero chance of finding? I say nothing. She tells me to put them on. She hopes I can take better care of them next time.
I never lose my glasses again.
I try not to think about it, but if I play it back in my memory, the rage boils up inside me. On so many levels. Who found those glasses? My dad? And then what? He slips them casually into mom’s hand as a co-conspirator? They knew, all day, and just let me wander around like a piece of cattle? Being abused is one thing, but being abused and treated like a dumb animal is something completely different.
I hate glasses to this day. Most guys find the whole bespectacled naughty secretary look beguiling. Not me. Hopefully in a few years when I’m forced to wear cheaters I won’t have flashbacks.
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