They’d poured the foundation for the fence. The bottom part was going to be a reinforced concrete barrier, faced with brick. Fritz had made the change so it would prevent a car from driving through. I thought it was a little overboard, but he was doing his job. The top would be a stylish wrought iron. Mom would be happy the giant chain-link fence was going away.
◊◊◊
I walked in, and Mom didn’t look happy.
“They started it,” I said to head her off.
“You do realize that it’s all over the Internet. Frank called and wanted to know when you thought you might get around to telling him about it,” Mom chastised me.
“I talked to Moose to get the full story,” Dad said. “We both agree that your theme music has to stop. I realize you didn’t arrange it, but he thinks the novelty has worn off, and all it’s doing is causing problems like today.”
“It was fun, but I think they took it too far today when they played it while I ran the bases after my home run. It really made their pitcher mad. I tried to apologize, but it embarrassed him and caused him to throw at me to start the unpleasantness.”
Mom let out a long sigh.
“Unpleasantness?” she asked.
Dad chuckled and drew her attention away from me. God love him, but would he ever learn?
“How the heck did you get up after he hit you in the nuts like that?” Dad asked.
“Sandy Range sent me new equipment to try out, which had a cup in the shorts. It also has a gel layer that spreads the impact.”
“Still, that had to hurt.”
“I wouldn’t volunteer to do it again, but it was better than just a regular cup. I bet that pitcher wished he had one on,” I said and smirked.
“David Allen Dawson,” Mom warned.
I put on my puppy-dog face. Dad laughed again, and Mom made him take her to bed as I made myself a bowl of chili. Duke must have figured out I was home because he wandered down from the third floor. I let him out so he could do his business, and he followed me to my apartment.
I turned on SportsCenter to watch while eating my chili and half-concentrating on studying. Then something caught my eye, and I turned up the sound on the TV.
“Have you ever heard of instant karma? In a high school baseball game, David Dawson was up to bat and squared up to bunt. That had to hurt,” the announcer said as it showed me get hit square in the balls by the pitch. “If you watch the replay in slow motion, you can see it hit him where it hurts.”
Even I could see that it was a direct hit, and I can attest that it did indeed hurt.
“He shakes it off, and that’s when the catcher decides to grab him. This looks like a planned attack. Hit him with the baseball, then the catcher holds Dawson so the pitcher can punch him. This is what I call instant karma.”
I was amazed at the splits I did. If I’d thought about it, I would never have tried it, because I didn’t believe a guy’s legs should do that. The punch thrown by the pitcher hit the catcher right on the nose. It instantly began to bleed like crazy. The look on the pitcher’s face was priceless. It went through stages, from pure fury to ‘oh shit!’ to pain. As he sunk down, I just got up and trotted to first base.
Cassidy would be happy about how I dealt with it. I eliminated the threat and then walked away.
After they showed what had happened, they did a Top Ten instant karma segment. My favorite was an oldie. It showed Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, at age 46, throw a ball that hit Robin Ventura. The 26-year-old charged the mound to fight Ryan instead of taking first. The crafty veteran put him in a headlock and got in six good shots before all hell broke loose as both benches clashed in the middle of the diamond. Watching that suddenly made Ryan my all-time favorite pitcher.
◊◊◊
Chapter 37 – That Got a Reaction Friday April 29
“We have to stop meeting like this,” I told Tracy as I got out of my car.
“Two things. One: please thank Adrienne for the dresses. Tyler sent us pictures, and even Halle and Brook are excited. Number two: I have your date lined up for tonight.”
“This is the last one,” I warned her.
“Does that mean that you finally forgive me and want to make me your girlfriend?”
“Why would you want to ruin our friendship like that?” I asked half-seriously.
Tracy sighed.
“Tracy, you’re my best friend, and I care about you an awful lot, but I don’t feel that way about you anymore. I don’t say that to be mean because I would do anything for you. I hope you know that I love you like a sister.”
She began to tear up. I started to say something, but she stopped me.
“You don’t know how happy I am that I’m in your life. You stood by me when I didn’t deserve it. I hope you know that while I understand what you mean, I do love you. Even though I know we’ll probably never be more than friends, I’m okay with that. I guess I just get a little emotional knowing that my screw-ups didn’t completely destroy us. I’ll take you as my friend any day.”
We hugged it out, and she kissed my cheek.
“Tell me about my date?” I asked to change the subject.
