The Hector Quesadilla Story

The story opens with a vivid description of Hector Quesadilla, an ex-star in the MLB that is now so old that his body has trouble playing the game. His mother, Asuncion, wants hector to finally "hang up his spikes," using evidence that he is already a grandfather. Hector, on the other hand, convinces himself that he still serves an important purpose to the Los Angeles Dodgers as a reliable and versatile baseball player. On Hector's birthday, he wakes up with the weird feeling that he will play in his game that day. He IS called in to bat for a player in the game, but the coaches decide to let Dave Tool bat instead, leaving Hector in dismay. He is enraged with the team manager and blurts out that it is his birthday--Dave Tool makes a great play and keeps the game going. The game goes on and on; during the twentieth inning, Hector begs the manager to let him hit but he still refuses. Hector consolidates confidence that his time is soon coming. The game comes to a point where the whole entire roster except Hector have participated in the game in some way. All of Hector's teammates go insane, per se, except him, remaining alert and figuratively hungry. The game is now at thirty-one innings, and Hector is finally called up to bat. As he heads to the plate, he has a spring in his step and feels young again. Hector strikes out and his confidence is diminished, if not for the manager begging him to pitch the next inning, reminding him that he used to pitch when he was a teenager. Hector stands on the mound, wondering if the game will ever end.

The ending of this story is quite the cliffhanger. We never find out if the game ends or if Hector does a good job as a pitcher. But it is circular, and in a weird way, does provide a sense of closure. The story opens by mentioning Hector's success as a pitcher when he was younger, and the story ends with Hector back on the mound, just like in the old days. The story is complete in the aspect that we see no end to the never-ending game, but it is complete in the light that Hector is back in the habitat he grew up in, a loquatious pitcher on the mound.