Coach Way screamed for me to go. Their left fielder had done his job and backed up the throw, and this kid had an arm. Their catcher was down, blocking the plate when the ball sailed a little high, causing their catcher to have to go up to get it. I aimed for between his feet, and suddenly he was on top of me.
“Safe!” the umpire called.
From that point on, it was all us. Our bats came alive, and we scored in every inning to win 14–6.
Coach Kingwood brought us all together after the game.
“Good job! Go take a shower and be back here by five-thirty. We’ll play our second game starting at seven,” he said.
“Who wants ice cream?” I asked Bob and M.E.
“We do!” Luke Cash, one of our pitchers, called out.
I turned around, and the whole team was looking at me expectantly. Hell, I wasn’t beyond buying my way into their hearts if it meant I made the final 40. Even Caryn would understand. She might not even chew me out!
“Fine,” I said, acting put out, and then I looked at the coaches. “You, too.”
“I’m not turning down ice cream,” Coach Way said.
The one who ended up really put out was Paul since I didn’t have my wallet handy. Of course, it would be expensed, so I didn’t take his scowl seriously.
While we were eating ice cream, one of the USA Baseball directors took Coach Kingwood aside. He came back with an announcement.
“Due to crowd concerns, we will play our game in the stadium tonight.”
Everyone turned to look at me.
“Hey, look at it this way: scouts are lazy and would much rather sit and watch you play than stand,” I reasoned.
“I knew having you on our team would pay off,” Allard said. “I bet we get to play in the stadium for the rest of our games.”
“What’s this about you being ‘Redneck Crazy’?” Coach Mallei, our pitching coach, asked him.
Allard blushed and shook his head.
“Ah, hell … I didn’t expect anyone would hear about that here,” he started, which now had all our attention. “I guess I’m not getting out of telling the story.”
“No, this sounds too good,” Austin agreed.
“Okay. I’d been dating this girl, Kelly-Ann, for about two years. She was a pretty little thing who stole my heart. Almost no one understood it. She was on the Dean’s List, and I was a jock. Kelly-Ann asked me to one of those Sadie Hawkins dances where the girl gets to ask the boy. I’d just broken up with a long-time girlfriend, and no one wanted to ask me for fear she’d be mad.
“Tiffany was sort of the girl everyone expected me to date. She was the mayor’s daughter and one of the rich kids. I, on the other hand, well, my family never had an extra dime between us. But because I was a baseball star, it was okay for Tiffany to date me.
“Anyway, Kelly-Ann asked me to the dance. From that point on, I was smitten. She just had a way about her and was easy to be around. With Tiffany, it had all been about how it made her look, and she worried about what people thought. Kelly-Ann wasn’t like that.
“I was sure I was in love with Kelly-Ann. We both planned to go to the University of Arkansas. She’d get a business degree, and I’d play baseball. But Buddy Daniels happened.
“Buddy was the star quarterback at my school and was dating Tiffany after we broke up. He asked Kelly-Ann to help tutor him in math. I didn’t think nothing of it until my best friend Matt told me that Buddy had been sniffing around where he shouldn’t. I thought Matt was full of shit, but he’s a good guy.
“A couple of Fridays ago, Matt took me out, and we had a few beers. He told me that Buddy had taken Kelly-Ann up to his farm. He’d been bragging that he was going to nail her that night. Matt drove me to the farm, and sure enough, Buddy’s pickup was parked in the driveway.
“I had Matt pull up to the front of the house where I could see the lights on. He turned on his floodlights we sometimes use when night fishing. It’s supposed to attract the catfish. I don’t think it works, but it does make it easier to find your beer.
“We could see the curtains pull back. Matt and I decided to drink the rest of the beer and wait them out. Buddy would have to take Kelly-Ann home at some point. I did toss my empties at the window every now and then to get their attention.
“I guess Buddy wasn’t as dumb as I thought because he called the county sheriff on us. Then again, Buddy was dumb enough to come out of the house before their car even stopped. It was enough time for me to get in a few good licks.
“When the sheriff got us separated, he stuffed me into the back of his car because I wasn’t quite done with Buddy’s backstabbing ass. When he talked to me, I told him what had happened and that I’d gone a little redneck crazy. Unfortunately, the sheriff had a big mouth, and what I said was reported in the papers. I’m thinking that’s where you found out,” Allard said, looking at our pitching coach.
“I did a search on you and the other pitchers,” Coach Mallei confessed.
“What happened after that?” Trent asked.
“It came out that Tiffany had put Buddy up to it. When the mayor found out, I was suddenly a free man with all charges dropped. Little Kelly-Ann got all kinds of pissed. She about jerked all the hair out of Tiffany’s head right there in the middle of the produce section of the Piggly Wiggly,” Allard said.
As he related this part of his story, a grin crept onto his face.
“Did you and Kelly-Ann get back together?” Dave asked.
“Nope. I’m not dating some girl who can have her head turned by the likes of Buddy Daniels.”
◊◊◊
Paul dropped us off at the Rivers’ house. I put my gear into the washing machine, and Bob talked me into going swimming with him. Their subdivision had a clubhouse with a pool. Bob wasn’t allowed to go by himself, but Melissa thought it would be okay if he went with me.
Bob and I had a lot of fun roughhousing. He was fearless when I would toss him high into the air. I had visions of Little David and Coby at Bob’s age. I finally wore him out, and we grabbed two of the recliners to catch some rays.
“Coach Kingwood’s not happy with M.E.’s brother. He doesn’t think Dave’s a team player,” Bob told me unexpectedly.
I had an inner smile as I thought that you had to be careful talking around little ears. It was easy to forget that they heard everything and many times would share it when you least wanted them to.
“What else did you hear?” I asked.
Bob gave me a rundown of what the coaches were thinking about each player. It was useful information, and I could see where I could help a few of them. From what Bob told me, if I continued to show leadership and the same level of play on the field, I’d be invited to the final 40.
Melissa had invited Paul and my coaches to eat dinner with them. We ate early because we had to get to the field. I was starving.
“I heard you christened the baseball field today,” Moose said.
“It was either nerves or that terrible lunch they served us. I need to either pack a lunch or have someone go out and get us food, because I don’t think I can handle what they serve us. It wasn’t what I would suggest for a training table. They fed us mostly carbs with a salad that looked to be past its expiration date,” I said.
“Speaking of food, if you expect me to buy ice cream, I need more money,” Paul said.
I pulled out my wallet and gave him cash for the week. Melissa’s eyebrows rose when she saw how much money I had on me. I turned to Bob.
“If you want anything, find Paul.”
“Within reason,” Melissa added.
Good call. My phone rang, so I excused myself. Bob was busy telling them what he’d heard today.
“This is David.”