“I just need to be careful, stay out of the sun a little more, and get regular checkups,” Mom said.
“Please do; I don’t know what I’d do without you. And I don’t want to find out,” I said, suddenly getting emotional.
“I know. I love you too,” Mom said.
◊◊◊
Chapter 36 – Nut Shots Wednesday April 27
After our run, Peggy, Duke, and I walked into the kitchen to find Megan feeding Little David. I picked up Coby and kissed his forehead.
“Good morning, Daddy,” Megan said.
“How was he last night?” I asked.
“I could almost set my watch by him waking up and fussing. He’s a good baby, though,” Megan said.
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you being here. Getting a good night’s sleep is exactly what I need right now,” Peggy said.
“That reminds me. Megan, I want to get you a thank-you gift, something nice, for giving me the heads-up about Brandon and helping us out through finals. Think about what you want and let me know,” I said.
“Can I go to Japan with you?” she asked.
This was turning into an entourage. First Cassidy, then Brook, and now Megan.
“If that’s what you want, I have no objection. Cassidy and Brook also want to go. Let Caryn know to add the three of you to the list of who’s going,” I said and then remembered one other person. “Oh, and my interpreter, Hana Yamamura, needs to be added as well.”
“She’s the one working with Shiggy to teach you Japanese?” Megan asked.
“Yeah.”
“Okay. I put Hana on the payroll, so her contact information is already in my file. I’ll need the info for the other two.”
“No problem, I’ll text it to you. Brook and Cassidy already have their passports. Make sure Hana has hers. It takes longer than you might expect to get one,” I suggested.
“I have to get mine,” Megan admitted.
“Will this be your first time going out of the country?” I asked.
She nodded.
“I’ve always wanted to go to Japan,” she confessed.
Mom and Dad came down. I handed Coby to Dad and stepped into the kitchen to make breakfast for everyone. I think it was my turn.
◊◊◊
Tracy met me when I was dropped off at school.
“What’s the status on our dates?” she asked.
For about the hundredth time, I wondered why it was my responsibility to set up my high school friends with my friends in the business. Of course, Frank was excited about it. Kara must have told Adrienne because she had started to work on dressmakers to donate their creations for the night. Somehow, Adrienne would make money on this for us, I was sure. I was almost afraid to tell the girls what she’d planned. I knew better than to get in the middle of dress discussions.
When I talked to my celebrity friends, I’d gotten a positive response from everyone, but one: Aden Reich wasn’t willing to listen to me. He was pissed that his friend, Tilly Abbott, had spent the night with me. Both of them claimed they were just friends, but I could see how, if he’d bedded Tami a year ago, I would have had a problem.
“We need to find someone for Pam. Aden wasn’t interested in going to Prom.”
“What about Blake Seaver?” Tracy asked.
That douchebag singer wasn’t going to crash my Prom.
“How about I cancel all this?” I shot back.
“No, no. Just checking to see if he was available.”
“Well, don’t even suggest it in front of her.”
“You mean you’d make the call if she asked.”
I growled at her. Tracy took a tentative step back.
“It would mean the world to her,” Tracy said and then dodged me as I made a grab for her.
She shrieked, which got everyone’s attention, and I began to chase her around the front of the school. I scooped her up and threw her over my shoulder.
“Put me down, or I’ll pee!”
I smacked her butt.
“David!”
Suddenly Cassidy stood in front of me and gave me a curious look. I leaned down and kissed her cheek. Cassidy smiled and walked away. You’d better believe that got filed away for future reference.
“Cassidy! Help!” Tracy called as she saw she wasn’t getting any assistance.
“You ready to behave?” I asked.
“Never!”
Luckily for her, the bell rang.
◊◊◊
At lunch, Pam found me.
“I hear you won’t call Blake Seaver for me.”
“You do realize what a douchebag he is?” I asked.
“I do. We’re just giving you a hard time. What I’m concerned about is no one wants to go with me,” she said with a pout.
I sighed.
“Tell me who you want to go with.”
“I think Ridge Townsend is cute.”
“When did you meet him?” I asked.
“He was with Bill Callaway at the dance.”
I’d forgotten the two of them had come to the Homecoming Dance before their game with Notre Dame.
“Ridge has a girlfriend he’s been seeing since high school.”
“I’m not looking to date him, I just want to have some arm candy for Prom. Plus, I know he can dance,” Pam said.
“How about Bill? He’s planning on coming home for a little while,” I offered.
“I’m starting to get Seaver Fever.”
“Okay, I give up. I’ll call Ridge.”
“David?”
“Yes.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
◊◊◊
Moose introduced new drills for the outfielders. The younger guys were having trouble with their drop step. They were doing a little intermediate step before they did it. It was kind of a nervous shuffle as they figured out which way to go.
“I realize that it’s going to take some time to break you of this habit. But you need to get working on it so you don’t start over learning how to do this next year,” Moose said.
He put a baseball bat on the ground.
“David, put your feet behind the bat. I’m going to say ‘go’ and then point left, right, or straight back, and then toss the ball as if it was hit,” Moose explained.
I nodded my understanding.
Moose said ‘go,’ pointed left, then lofted the ball in that direction. I did my drop step and chased it down.
Milo was up next. On ‘go,’ it became obvious what Moose was talking about. The bat was knocked sideways as Milo made his little dance move before his drop step.
“Now I want to show you the second drill I want you to start doing,” Moose said. “It’s called ‘concentration.’ You’ll pair up and toss balls to each other. Instead of just catching them, you’ll catch it between your legs or around your back. Obviously, if you try this in a game, I’ll bench you.”
For some reason, he looked right at me. Then he continued.
“To up the ante, I want you to catch the ball with the glove behind your back.”
Moose showed that the glove couldn’t be seen looking straight on because it was resting on his back just above his butt. He had me toss him the ball, and he bent at the waist and caught it. This was going to be a fun drill.
“The final drill is the ‘fence drill.’ Again, you’ll partner up, and one of you will toss the ball over the other’s head and hit the fence with the ball. I want the one playing defense to play the baseball off the fence and get into a throwing position. This will help you learn to play deep balls that reach the fence and bounce back into play.”
Moose had the three drills going, and I partnered up with Milo. Of course, I wanted to do the concentration drill. He tossed me the ball, and I caught it around my back. I threw it back to him, and he tried to catch it between his legs. I say ‘tried’ because it hit him in the nuts. This was suddenly my all-time favorite drill.
Moose jogged over to find out why Milo was rolling around on the ground.
“What happened?” he asked, concerned.
“He forgot to wear his cup.”
“Oh. I bet you’ll concentrate harder next time,” Moose said to Milo and left to work with the infield.