10 Seconds of Relief

Here's something interesting that came as a result of the controversy started by my inaccurate posting from the other day: I got to speak with Felipe Castro yesterday. As you know, Felipe's mother was kidnapped in Venezuela last December. He hasn't shown up at camp here in Fort Pierce yet. When I wrongly stated on Wednesday that he had been named team captain, Felipe got wind of my blog, found it, and started to read. He called me Friday morning.

With his permission, I'm posting parts of our conversation.

Me: Sorry for making you look the way you did.
Felipe: You looked a lot worse than me.
Me: Because I'm losing my hair, right? I look really bad, don't I?
Felipe: Yes.

I moped for a moment here. Then I sucked it up and tried to steer the conversation back to him.

Me: How did your mother get kidnapped?
Felipe: On December 16th, I was in Puerto Rico for a special softball game to raise money for Willie Cordero's charity. Around 3:00, I got a call from someone saying I should look out for my mother better than I was doing. That was not right, in my mind. So I called her house and she wasn't there. She's always home on Sundays. I left the game and called the police.
Me: What happened?
Felipe: I arrived home that night. The police were already at my mother's house. Her front door was on the street, partially burned. They'd blown it up. Part of the front room had been on fire too. The police said they could tell she had struggled hard because of broken glass and a cross broken into pieces near the kitchen. A slipper was also found. They think she was taken with a bare foot.
Me: When did the kidnappers contact you?
Felipe: Two weeks later. For two weeks, there was nothing. No word from the police. No ransom demand, no nothing, from the group that had her. Then on New Year's Eve, I got an email that showed my mother, wearing only one slipper, being held somewhere. She was alive. I was so happy! Then she spoke and said some terrible things.
Me: What'd she say?
Felipe: How I've been a terrible son... I have so much money and never use it for the people of my country. How I'm a disgrace to Venezuela.
Me: That's not how she feels.
Felipe: I know that now. Then, just to hear her voice was incredible, but to hear what she's saying, after nothing for two weeks... My heart was breaking.
Me: Then what?
Felipe: A man with a black drape over his head told me to give a ransom, uh, pay a ransom and I'd get her back.
Me: How much?
Felipe: I can't say.
Me: Did you do it?
Felipe: I can't say.
Me: Well, she's still being held so I'll pretend you didn't.
Felipe: Good. I talked to her on the phone on January 20. We had about 10 seconds to speak. She sounded very good, if 10 seconds means anything. She called me her Poppy. Which meant a lot to me. That proved she didn't mean the things she'd said on that video.
Me: Did you feel relief talking to her?
Felipe: Yes, for 10 seconds.

I was at a loss here. I felt like a tourist, or a gossip columnist. That wasn't my intention, even though Felipe had called me. Was this how real reporters felt? If it was, I felt a need never to become one.

Felipe: I haven't spoken or heard from my mother since. The people who have her reached out two weeks ago and asked for money again. Less than the first time. I was just about to fly to Florida for spring training and they do that, so I don't come up.
Me: Are you actively involved in the search?
Felipe: I try. I go to the police every day and ask for a report. Sometimes they have something. Most times they don't. I sit in my mother's house quite a bit and look at her door. I'm going to turn it into a table. When she comes back, we'll have our first meal at that table.
Me: Are you working out or in baseball shape?
Felipe: Ehh. I'd be lying if I said my body was ready. My mind is nowhere near ready.
Me: So coming up right now isn't an option?
Felipe: Not for me.

I can't imagine what he's going through. He thought it was interesting that my father, "Red" Scott, had offered to switch places with Felipe's mother during the winter since he hates the cold weather up north. Felipe said it wouldn't work. "I already asked if I could take her place and they said no."

I thanked him for his call and told him we all hoped for the best. He asked me to make a point of thanking the guys on the team for their phone calls and emails. He also said that, even if what I wrote the other day was true, that he'd been appointed captain, he wouldn't have accepted. "I'm not captain material," he said.

He's not. He's better than that. Pray for his mother and pray for that family. Let's hope this ends peacefully.