He just nodded, afraid someone might change the deal. I paid the man, and Zoe and I got back to our date.
“Are you really going to make him work for free?” Zoe asked.
“Wolf will keep track of his hours. Once he’s worked to pay me back for his date, I’ll pay him the difference.”
“How much do you pay?” she asked.
I told her.
“Can I work for you?” she asked.
“Talk to my grandma. She’s busy getting the farm ready. Just don’t shirk your duties at home. I don’t need your mom or dad looking for me.”
◊◊◊
I think most of Lincoln High showed up at the Thunderbird. They let us stay and dance until eleven and then kicked us out. There was a good band, and some college kids bought beer. Plus, they had a line around the block to get in.
Zoe and I never left the table. Usually, I would have been on the dance floor all night, but that wasn’t the purpose of our date. I learned a lot about her. She wanted to become a veterinarian and specialize in large animals. Zoe loved horses, and unfortunately, they sometimes got sick or injured. A career as a large-animal vet sounded perfect for her. It was hard work, but she wasn’t afraid of that. She was also quite smart. I knew she could handle the science.
Zoe admitted that she wanted to live on a farm and raise a large family, both things that had a lot of appeal to me. She seemed to have a knack for grounding me and making me feel at peace. Add all that together with our physical attraction and compatibility … she had everything I wanted in a woman.
I was glad we went on our date.
◊◊◊ Saturday February 27
Now that Moose could officially coach us, he had me come in for more batting practice. Today I was in early because I’d told Moose I had to attend a Town Hall meeting with Governor Higgins. Moose grudgingly agreed to my compromise, but I knew he wasn’t overly happy about it.
“I like what you’ve done to improve your batting. I want to make a few tweaks and add to your skills to make you a more well-rounded batter.”
Moose had been doing this for more than a quarter century, so I would listen to what he had to say.
“Yes, sir.”
I think he secretly hated it when I called him ‘sir.’ Moose was more of a shot-and-beer kind of guy, so he just tolerated my ingrained upbringing.
“What I’m going to suggest is minor stance change. You’re a tall guy. Umpires are used to calling balls and strikes a certain way. If I were an opposing coach, I’d direct my pitchers to feed you a steady diet of low pitches out of the zone. That way I might pick up some calls they would make on shorter boys. What I suggest is that you bend your knees a little more so you can get to the lower pitches better.
“This will also help you with higher pitches. One of the best ways to get a hitter to pop up is to throw above his hands,” Moose said.
“I don’t understand.”
Moose had me make a few practice swings.
“Now stop over the plate,” he ordered.
I swung the bat until it was over the center of the plate and held it there.
“This is your natural swing,” Moose pointed out.
Moose stepped in front of the plate with a baseball and held it an inch over my bat.
“What are you going to do to hit this ball?” he asked.
“I’ll have to adjust my swing,” I said.
“Show me.”
I swung the bat to hit the higher ball.
“Notice how your swing changed?”
“Yeah.”
It had changed from a flat swing to more of an uppercut. I could see how the trajectory of the ball would change, or I would undercut the ball and pop it up.
“What would happen if you originally had your knees bent? Could you stand a little straighter and still have your natural swing?”
“Yes, but I’ll have to make adjustments on almost every ball thrown. Not all of them will be perfect.”
“You’re right,” Moose said, and then smiled. “What I’m trying to show you is a way to expand the zone where you can swing naturally. You’re a coordinated kid. I wouldn’t try this with all my players, because I first want them to find their swing. This adds some complexity to your hitting approach in that your body isn’t just striding and hitting. There may be some movement up or down to get the bat head where you need it.
“Look, I have no worries that you can hit almost any pitch. Your eye-hand coordination is exceptional. You know as well as I do that if you can get a pitch in your sweet spot, you can hit it harder without any extra effort. If you could expand that zone by just a couple of inches, it would make a difference in your long-term power numbers.”
“I’ll try it,” I said.
“Good. Now I want you to learn to bunt.”
I blinked a couple of times. I fancied myself a power hitter. Why would Moose ever want to take the bat out of my hand?
“Why?”
I would never have asked that if there were other players around because it would look like I was challenging Moose. I expect he knew what I was thinking.
