Monday March 31
MONDAY WAS FUN BECAUSE Tommy Cox and friends made the paper. Tommy was being charged with showing his wiener to little kids, and the DA was inclined to throw the book at the rest of them. I bet the ass-hat that refused to go with me regretted it. What was a different sort of fun was that the varsity baseball team lost six players, five of whom were starters. Moose had zero tolerance for anything related to alcohol or drugs.
I was surprised when Moose stuck with his guns and didn’t touch the JV because we were starting to come together as a team. We did notice that Moose started to spend more time with us.
THE OTHER BIG NEWS was that Beth took her home pregnancy test. I wasn’t a daddy.
Wednesday April 2
I MISSED AN AWAY GAME because of my suspension. We won 6–3. The varsity lost again.
Coach Herndon made me pitch another simulated game. I got Kevin to catch for me. I made it through the seventh inning and was feeling pretty good. My stamina was building. I would be ready to pitch a full game if they needed me.
BETH’S PERIOD STARTED. I said a little thank-you prayer and did a happy dance.
Chapter 27 – Having Family and Friends Together
Saturday April 19
SPRING BREAK WAS FINALLY here. Today we had a baseball tournament and then freedom for a week. Tomorrow was Easter Sunday. We were the host family because everyone wanted to see Mom, now that she was cancer-free. Grandma Dawson and Uncle John arrived last night. Today Uncle Jim—Mom’s brother—and his family were arriving. Mom had gone last night to pick up her parents, Grandma and Grandpa Felton.
Today’s tournament was being held at the park Dad used to supervise. They had four baseball and two softball diamonds. The tournament was being played on the four baseball fields. Dad had reserved two of the pavilions next to the baseball fields; one was for the family, and the other was for Lincoln’s baseball teams. Mrs. Sullivan and the boosters were going to be manning that venue.
The tournament had drawn sixteen teams. It was an open tournament, so they were mixing both JV and varsity in the same tournament. We got one of the early games that started at nine in the morning. Dad, Greg, and Uncle John were taking me to the park so they could clean the pavilion grills and wipe down the picnic tables. Angie had also cut up a bunch of oranges and mixed up a five-gallon drink cooler of Gatorade for the baseball teams.
When we got to the park, we saw Mrs. Sullivan was there with a big cargo van that had a grill attached to the back. She and her husband had a cookout at the dealership about once a month to attract customers. They also rented out the cooker at a great rate. Apparently it was good advertising.
Washington also had an early game, so it was no surprise when their bus pulled up. I got Ty and the guys to help unload the Sullivans’ van and set up. They ate all my oranges. With everyone’s help, we got everything set up in about ten minutes. I was sitting with the Washington team around the picnic tables when Eve arrived.
Eve and I had been getting closer over the last couple of weeks. After Harper had stayed at my apartment, Mom and Dad had lifted my ban on girls. Mom said she would rather know where I was instead of me sneaking around. Eve had been taking advantage of my freedom to the point that the other girls were bitching. She’d been on the road Saturday nights, so for the last two weeks Beth and Suzanne had been my dates. I was pretty sure Jim was going to need therapy before high school was over. Eve was going to be my date tonight because tomorrow was Easter and she wasn’t going to Nashville.
I knew something was up because the Washington players suddenly got quiet. I turned around to see Eve and Cassidy come sauntering up. They both had a little extra wiggle in their butts. I got up to say hello and Cassidy pulled me down and gave me a kiss. Eve repeated the ‘hello’ but with a little more heat.
“Well, hello, ladies,” I said with a grin.
“Hello, David,” they said in unison.
I introduced them to the Washington team. Eventually, the conversation turned to the trip to Kentucky.
“How many have you gotten commitments from?” I asked Ty.
“Right now, my dad and one of the assistant coaches are going to chaperone. We have sixteen guys that’ve signed up. I think I can get four or five more if they can come up with the money. How many do you have coming from Lincoln?”
“So far, I have fourteen guys, my dad and Coach Hope. I talked to Don Berta and he’s reserved forty slots for us.”
Don was the recruiting coordinator for Kentucky.
“Do we want to open it up to some other schools and see if we can fill them?” Ty asked.
Mrs. Sullivan had walked over and had been listening to us.
“Is money an issue for some of the boys?” Mrs. Sullivan asked.
“Washington has about four or five and we have about the same that don’t have the funds to go. If they did, we’d fill our slots with just our two schools,” I told her.
“How much is it?” she asked.
I told her.
“If they’d be willing to come to the dealership and work a couple of weekends, I’d pay for their trip and a little extra for spending money. We have to do our annual parts inventory and have several projects that we’ve been putting off. If they’re willing, we could use the help.”
“Some of us could use the extra spending money. Could you use more people?” Ty asked.
“I have enough work for all forty of you for two to three weekends, if you want.”
I pulled out my phone and looked at my calendar.
“The only weekend I can do it is May 24 and May 25. The next weekend is my brother’s wedding,” I said, then looked at Ty. “Could you be there over the next weekend to keep an eye on everything?”
“I can be there for both weekends,” Ty told me.
“That weekend’s Memorial Day weekend. Are you sure you want to do it then?” Mrs. Sullivan asked.
“Sure, why not? Don’t you have a big sale that weekend?” I asked, and she nodded. “Some of them could man the grill and free up your people. I’m sure there’s a lot we could do to help out if you get busy.”
We all had big smiles on our faces. We now had a full bus and Mrs. Sullivan had some extra help.
WE DREW ST. JOHN’S ‘A’ squad in the first round. They had three teams in the tournament. The week before, the tournament organizers had seeded the teams. We suspected that the organizers wanted to draw attention to the tournament, so they put us together. Surprising me not at all, I ran into my buddy from the local paper, Jeff Delahey.
“Hey, Jeff, it must be a slow news day if you’re covering our JV game.”
“I’m hoping you’ll tackle someone. Could you do that for me today?” he teased.
“Last time I got a three-game suspension. They might kick me off the team if I did it again.”
“Come on, I need you to do something I can write about.”
“How about I hit a couple of their batters and start a big brawl? I have terrible control of my fastball. I really don’t know why they let me pitch.”
“That’s the spirit. Any scoop?” he asked.
“You might go talk to Mrs. Sullivan over at the pavilion. The booster club is working on a plan to improve the facilities at Lincoln. She might even feed you if you say something nice about me.”
“Don’t push your luck. Anything else?”
“Hmmm, I get better looking every day?”
“Don’t say that around my granddaughter. She thinks you’re ‘the bomb.’”
“Go harass St. John’s. They’re rumored to have some D1 talent. You can ask them if they plan on losing to a JV team again. Maybe that’ll get them all riled up.”
“Can I quote you on that?”