Once the evaluations were done, Dad and I met with Dr. Hollings. He didn’t waste any time in getting to what they’d found.
“We’ve identified some areas of concern. It looks like David’s been injured in several areas. The one which concerns us the most is his upper neck. It looks like he has some damage in the C1 and C2 area.”
"David had someone try to rip his head off in a football game,” Dad explained to the doctor.
“Our test also shows problems with flexibility in your torso and glutes. I would suspect you’ve been hit several times and been injured in these areas.”
I just nodded.
“I’d like to have David see our chiropractor and have him look at David’s neck and hips. I would then like one of our therapists start him on fascial stretch therapy. Think of the skin of a sausage. The fascia is the tissue which surrounds your muscles. When you’re injured, this tissue becomes constricted and prevents you from performing at your best.
“The stretch therapy will help you in a number of ways,” Dr. Hollings said and started ticking off the benefits. “Improve your posture, reduce the risk of injury, improve your strength, improve performance, reduce muscle soreness, decrease stress, and even improve sexual performance.”
Dad rolled his eyes at me when I sat up straighter as Dr. Hollings finished saying the last one. It was arranged for me to stay and get the chiropractic treatment and the stretching taken care of. Tomorrow I would meet with two coaches to help me with both baseball and football.
I WAS DONE WITH THE chiropractor and therapist by one that afternoon. I was scheduled to do a shoot for Jade starting at three o’clock. I took Dad to a Chicago hot dog stand and we both got combo Italian beef and sausage sandwiches. We thought we’d died and gone to heaven. Over lunch, I told Dad about the Ridgemoor Country Club. He wanted to see it, so I called Jack and let Dad talk to him. He agreed to call them so Dad could get a tour of their facilities. Dad said that if he did the tour, he could write off his trip as a business expense.
I sent text messages to Sarah and Kendal to let them know when I’d be at the studio Ford had arranged for the shoot. They let me know Kendal would drive Sarah over. Jade had used Sarah in several shoots last summer. I think she was hoping they’d want her again today.
It didn’t take me long to figure out that parking was a pain in the you-know-what in Chicago. If I hadn’t just come from the suburbs, I would have just taken a cab. I hoped Kendal was smart enough not to try to drive over. I finally double-parked in front of the studio and ran in to find out where I could leave my Jeep. They directed me to a garage six blocks away. It doesn’t sound like much, but city blocks are much longer than regular blocks.
Sarah and Kendal were smarter than I was. I saw them get out of their cab when I was still half a block away. Sarah saw me, and they waited for me to catch up. We were early, which surprised the photographer. They sent me in the back to start getting ready. There was a second chair for the female model, who wasn’t here yet, so Sarah sat down to talk to me.
“I had a long talk with Harper this morning. I think we misread what happened.”
“I talked to my Uncle last night and he told me the same thing. Let me guess: the guy was a good friend and the girl was a bitch and Harper was trying to protect us,” I offered.
“That’s everything, except Alex ended up hitting on her. She said she was glad you weren’t there to kick his butt. She let him down gently, but he now knows she’s with you. She was a little pissed you didn’t sit with them last night, but she understands.
“On another topic, she’s working to find somewhere where the two of you can spend some time together,” Sarah said and then laughed when she saw me blush.
“I would never have guessed I could get that reaction out of you.”
The photographer and Tiffany, my Ford agent, both came back to find us goofing off.
“The other model is running late,” Tiffany told us, being Captain Obvious.
I just smiled. Sarah nudged me.
“Last summer Sarah worked with me for Jade in New York. She could fill in until the other model shows up,” I suggested.
Tiffany gave me a dirty look. The photographer was okay with it, once he looked Sarah over. I could tell Tiffany wasn’t happy, but her model had put her in a bind. I guessed they thought I wouldn’t show up on time, so it wouldn’t be a big deal. I didn’t want to be doing this shoot into the late night, and so wanted to get things moving.
We had been shooting for over an hour when the other model arrived. I think her seeing Sarah working with me was a wake-up call. To the girl’s credit, she didn’t get mad, she just went and got ready. She came out and Sarah stepped off set to allow her to take over. The photographer liked Sarah’s look for certain shots and Linda’s for others. He got permission to use them both, and Jade agreed to pay them both for a full day’s work. We even did some shots with just the two of them, and a few with all three of us.
Tiffany was all smiles when we finished at eight that evening. She wanted to reward us by taking us out to dinner. I called Harper and we all went to a converted fire station close to the Loop. They had mashed potatoes done fifty different ways. I tried their blue cheese variety and really liked them. Harper went with chipotle. Neither one of us was a big fan of that. I think she ate most of mine.
Harper and I were back on a strong footing. Once we talked about it, we were both glad we hadn’t said anything stupid to the other. We vowed in the future to talk if we had any concerns. It was almost mature. I still had an issue with Harper taking me to something and then leaving me, but I’d get over it.
Tuesday April 21
I ARRANGED TO BE AT STIC at seven in the morning so I could get my chiropractor and therapy stretching sessions out of the way.
I met with my baseball trainer first. We were going to work on my pitching today. He had a catcher who turned out to be on the White Sox roster as a backup. He was also here today to get worked on. He’d volunteered to help me this morning. They had me warm up and then they started videoing me. I will give Donnie, the trainer, credit. He didn’t comment on my new pitching style.
My volunteer catcher John’s only comment was I would be hard to hit. Donnie wanted to see me after I worked out with my football coach so we could go over what he found on the video.
The football coach had me throw all my passes as he videotaped me. Connor then took me into the weight room and had me lift. They wanted me to increase the strength of my back and lats. My assessment had shown my stomach was stronger than my sides and back. They wanted to balance my core, to help prevent injury. They also felt that if I gained muscle, I could better take the hits.
I then went to see Donnie. He showed me all my tells, which were signs of what I was throwing before I threw my pitches. Once I saw them, it became clear to me how it would be easy to hit me if my opponents ever figured them out. I wasn’t happy when I saw how bad it was. He then had a long talk with me about my style of pitching. He told me that with my height, I wasn’t suited to pitch the way Shiggy had me doing it. I was missing out on power by not using my length to whip the ball. He felt that if we could convert me back to a normal pitching style, I would pick up as much as five miles per hour on my fastball.
Donnie also wanted me to play summer ball. He suggested American Legion baseball. He felt I could be a top prospect if I worked at it. I needed to just play. I think I remember some football coaches telling me the same thing. I wondered when I would have time to do both.