At practice, Moose made it clear he wasn’t happy with the game last Saturday. I’d accounted for half the hits and all the scoring. We’d played defense well enough, and Justin had had a good outing. Moose had both pitching machines and two pitchers doing a mass batting practice. Moose, Coach Haskins, and Coach Herndon took three of the groups of guys hitting, and I was put in charge of coaching the fourth.
Jim was facing the pitching machine. I set it up to just throw slow fastballs to help him work on his timing and build his confidence. Of course, we talked about other things than baseball.
“I received a call from Alabama about you on Sunday. They wanted to know if you planned to play both baseball and football in college. I told them you did. I hope that’s okay,” Jim said.
“Yeah, it’s okay. I thought I might do that. Why were they interested?” I asked.
“Word is out about our game last Saturday and the crowd you pulled. I was told you’re their number-one target and if you wanted to play baseball too, they’d make it happen.”
“This thing about the crowds is getting out of hand. Everyone keeps saying I’m responsible for them,” I said.
“Dumbass, who else is?” Jim asked.
“Home opener, fundraisers, the governor, Eve,” I said as I counted off the reasons we had a crowd.
“Movie star, model,
“You can’t be serious.”
“Think about it. What would happen if Shawn Mendes showed up? This place would be swarmed.”
“I’m not Shawn Mendes,” I complained.
“You might as well be. You’re our Shawn Mendes. People around here are proud of you and want to meet you,” Jim said.
“I’m not buying it,” I said.
“Just saying, Dude. It’s all on you,” Jim said.
I decided to change the subject.
“Mike plays baseball for Wesleyan. What should we do to welcome him back?” I asked.
We played them this weekend as the second half of the doubleheader.
“Maybe we could have our pitcher stick one in his ear.”
It sounded like Jim still held a grudge.
“I’m usually all for that, but I don’t want to piss his dad off. Mr. Herndon is volunteering his time to coach us, after all.”
“I’d like to give Mike a taste of his own medicine. I wish I knew who his girlfriend was,” Jim said.
“Tami told me the jerk hit on her and a few of my friends at Wesleyan. He may, in fact, be dating Harper.”
Jim and the rest of the guys had met Harper when she and I were going out last year.
“What happened between you two, anyway? I thought you made a good couple,” Jim said.
“We went to a party, and she picked an old crush over me,” I admitted.
“That sucks.”
“Tell me about it,” I said, and then looked Jim in the eyes. “If you decide to hit on her, do me a favor and don’t hurt her. I still consider her a friend.”
“You’ve always been more forgiving of exes than I ever would be, but I hear you. Maybe we could plan an after-game party and invite the Wesleyan girls,” Jim suggested.
“Keep me out of it. I don’t really want to deal with Mike and his drama. I don’t even really think about the jerk anymore since he transferred,” I said and then thought about it. “Tell Tami your plan.”
“You think she might get Harper to our party?” he asked.
“You better tell her all of it. If you don’t, she’ll call Cassidy, and Alabama will be down one recruit,” I warned.
“I’m not scared of that little girl,” he boasted.
“Bullshit,” I said, and we both laughed.
◊◊◊
At the dojo, Shiggy pulled me aside.
“I’m ordering some equipment and thought you might want to get some things, like your own Bo staff and batons.”
I’d borrowed the one I ran with from Shiggy, and I’d had it for nearly six months. He showed me the catalog and had a couple of pages marked. Cassidy came over and saw what I was looking at.
“What’re you doing?”
“Shiggy said I had to buy my own Bo staff and batons. Did you want something?” I asked.
I owed her for teaching me, so I was willing to buy her almost anything she wanted.
For myself, I found a practice heavy Bo staff that weighed twice as much as the one I currently used. It also came with a hard-side travel case. It was like a pool cue in that you could unscrew it in the center to break it down to make it easier to pack and carry. Cassidy picked out a few things, and I gave Shiggy our order.
I worked with her dad and Fritz again, boxing. This time I was more willing to listen to Fritz about slipping punches. Coach Hope and Fritz were good teachers. They spent time showing me how I could switch back and forth between martial arts and boxing to be a more effective fighter.
◊◊◊
When I finally got home, Dad wanted to talk to me.
“Mr. Morris wants us to call him.”
We stepped into the office, and Dad dialed his number. When we finally got him on the line, he got to the point.
