A parent asked me to give a baseball I caught to their child. Is there a kind way to keep it?
SportsI had barely looked at the baseball in my glove when the man beside me said, "Go on, give it to him. He's only eight." His son hadn't asked. A few nearby people started chanting for me to hand it over.
I'd bought a ticket on my own, brought the glove, and hoped to catch a ball for years. I wasn't celebrating in the child's face or reaching across him. Now I felt that keeping it would make me the villain of the section.
I said, "I'd really like to keep this one," and the father called me selfish. The boy looked embarrassed, which made me feel worse than the chanting did.
What would you say in that moment? I'd happily enjoy the child's excitement without promising him the ball, but I don't know how to do that once a parent has made the choice public.