I realized that anytime I proposed to use this life goal as the basis for a decision, I needed to pause and step back. That way, I would ensure I wasn’t using it to justify ignoring one of my other life goals.
◊◊◊
Today’s game, our last home baseball game before the playoffs, was senior day. As in football, all the seniors would be introduced along with their parents before the game.
We’d gotten the SUV repaired after the accident, so now that we had an extra car, it freed up the Demon for Manaia to drive me in. Cassidy had come over for breakfast but announced she had other plans today. I’d sent Brook a text to find out what our girl was up to. In a way, I was acting like Tami used to do to me. I justified my prying by telling myself I wanted to make sure Cassidy was okay.
The real reason for my spying was I suspected she’d met someone yesterday. After the water-balloon fight, we’d dried off by going to the beer tent and dancing. I couldn’t remember if I’d seen Cassidy or not.
Another excuse I could use was that she was my prom date. I had a history of having to find a partner for that dance at the last minute. I’d said ‘yes’ to Cassidy in part so I had it locked down.
After I reasoned all that out, I didn’t feel guilty about texting Brook. I gave myself a self-satisfied smile. Problem solved.
◊◊◊
We were playing Pekin today, and we had near-perfect spring baseball weather. A warm front had come through, and the forecast said it would be in the mid-70s at game time. I heard the birds chirping and saw teenage girls running around in shorts. All reasons to love playing baseball.
As we warmed up, I spotted Tami in the stands. She’d come home for the weekend. Lexi was still here, and she joined Tami. They’d gotten to know each other a little while planning Senior Skip Day. Funny how Lexi gravitated to people in my life who would do her the most good. If I looked at it in mercenary terms, that behavior might bother me.
“Quit checking out the girls and get ready,” Coach Haskins said, scaring the crap out of me.
I’d been distracted and hadn’t noticed him come up behind me. I jumped like Duke does when you grab his butt when he’s goofing around, and you wanted to get his attention.
“Got a minute?” I asked.
“For you? Never.”
I ignored my coach’s snide remark.
“Would you and Moose like to go to a Cubs game tomorrow? I got a message telling me I could have two tickets if I wanted them. If you do, they’re on me for all the help you’ve been.”
Both men had coached me during my time with Team USA. When I received the text from Bill Carl, I immediately thought of them. I’d planned to spend the day with my brother and his rug-rats at the lake, so I wasn’t going to use them. My backup plan would be to give them to either Tim and Wolf or Tami. The Cubs were playing Cincinnati, Tami’s favorite team.
“It’s a little last-minute …” Coach Haskins quibbled.
“Please. You and Moose have no life outside of baseball,” I teased.
“Keep it up, and you’ll be sitting on the bench next to me.”
We both knew that would never happen for my last home game. The fans would lynch him. I’d hate to see the horrible mistake at his next haircut. Those guys were not beyond exacting some revenge.
“The tickets will be waiting for you at the Will Call window.”
“Thanks, David. Are you going to give us some cash so we can buy a beer or three?”
“Cassidy hangs onto all my cash. Go ask her for it,” I shot back.
Everyone knew that Cassidy would never give up any money. The sad part was, if she did hold my cash, she wouldn’t give it to me, either. He shook his head and left me to get ready.
◊◊◊
They had a nice pregame presentation. All the parents of the seniors showed up wearing their sons’ baseball jerseys. We had all arranged to have orange and blue carnations to give to our mothers.
They introduced me last, and Moose said some kind words about me and all my accomplishments. He shared that I’d been named Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year for our state. I was the first to have ever won the award in two sports in the same year for our state. Then the unexpected happened: they announced that the school was retiring my number.
Lexi had arranged for a display box with my photo, jersey, and all my awards and achievements. Like my football display box, it would be hung next to the trophy case in the Field House.
It was finally time to play ball. Pekin came up to bat, and we had Phil on the mound. Moose was treating this as a warm-up for the state playoffs that would begin next week. He wanted to get everyone some playing time and give other teams something to think about.
To that end, he pulled me into shallow center field to, in effect, act as an extra infielder for their leadoff hitter. The report on their batter said he was a weak-hitting freshman who was fast on the base paths. We’d been warned to watch for the kid to bunt. Both Ty, at third, and Wolf, at first, crept forward in preparation to charge the plate if he did bunt.
