Chapter 2

The temporary housing in Pittsfield wasn't the greatest. It was obviously a unit that the factory sublet out to new employees or folks who were visiting. The greatest argument came when we realized it was a two-bedroom apartment. Our parents immediately let us know that for the few weeks that we'd be in there, they would partition the room between us, and hang a bed sheet in between the beds so we would have at least SOME privacy.

But it would definitely take some adjusting to the fact that both of us would have to knock before entering what was theoretically OUR room. They assigned her the inner half, and they assigned me the half closest to the door. This of course made for fun moments when Kaitlin forgot to knock and caught me in the middle of changing. But it didn't happen more then once or twice, and after a complaint to mom, she got the point.

She even turned it back on me slightly. Every time she wanted to go into our room, she would patiently knock at the doorframe and ask if it was ok for her to come in. She'd do this even if she saw that I was in the living room watching TV. Just a bit of brattiness that I accepted with as much good grace as I possibly could muster. Kaitlin was human after all, every bit of her life had been spent in Holliston, and she was unsure about this new world that she had been plunged into.

Since Dad started working almost immediately at the J.B. Williams and Co. steel plant, it was up to Mom, and to a certain extent Kait and I, to start the house hunt. We were the first wave, so to speak. We would visit all the different houses in the area that fit our needs, and then we decided as a group which ones to pass on, and which ones to bring Dad to on a weekend day. We had all decided that we wanted a new home as quickly as possible.

Fortunately, the old home in Holliston had sold within two weeks, at the price we had listed it for. Anna kept me up to date on all the daily doings in the neighborhood, and we talked a lot. We mostly talked about books and other such light things, but there were a couple "I Miss you" comments thrown in for spice. She told us to hurry up and find a new place, she wanted to come down and help us unpack!

That was the one good thing about the move. We weren't far enough way that one couldn't drive there and back for a day visit, and one of the side effects of being so frugal over the past summer was that I had a pretty good nest egg for a car of my own. I still had to get my license, but I was well on the way to that, as I had earned my learner's permit while still at Holliston High School, and would just need to attend the Driver's Ed classes at Pittsfield High to get that piece of teenage freedom.

I spent a lot of time walking around the area finding the landmarks and seeing where everything was. I took my cane with me, despite the fact that I could by then, walk normally with only a slight limp. It was only when I got tired did the pain return. I noticed a couple basketball courts around town, with folks usually playing three on three or five on five. Apparently basketball was taken fairly seriously in town.

We must have visited seventeen or eighteen houses within three weeks. Sometimes we visited two houses a day, and one day we toured three houses. We saw every style of house, in every neighborhood in and around Pittsfield. The real estate agent bandied words like "Colonial" and "split-level" and "located close to necessities". Mom just nodded sagely at what they said, while Kaitlin and I just looked at each other in total confusion. We had our own criteria. How big the closets were, or if there was room for a bookcase or two. Another big thing was where the window was in each room, it got bonus points if you could see the street, minus points if it overlooked a neighbor's yard. It was a childish kind of thing, but it was important to US.

I wanted a place big enough to put a hoop up, but none of them really fit. Space was at a premium, with a seemingly unending building boom going on in the area. The good news was there were several public courts in Pittsfield, so I could at least get my hoops fix not too far from wherever we ended up. Finally, after a couple weeks of finding places, the three of us narrowed it down to four finalists. Mom and Dad then visited all four in one day, a Saturday.

I managed to spend the day relaxing on the couch, with a couple of the books I had kept when we put the rest of our stuff into storage. Kaitlin however, was a pint-sized superball, bouncing off the walls, constantly asking me which one I thought they would choose. She kept up a constant chatter about which room she wanted if they selected the various houses we had selected for Dad to look at. The best part of listening to her go on and on was when she realized she had mixed up two houses, and the rooms they had, and had to go back to "her" room to try to remember which one had the cool room at the end of the hallway.

Mom and Dad came home that night, and although both of us were pretty much bursting to know which one they had chosen, but both of them declined to tell us right then. Mom claimed that the suspense was good for us. They took us out to dinner at a local Italian place (both Kaitlin and I love pasta), and kept us burning in suspense throughout the whole meal. But they knew what they were doing. The tension that I felt actually made the meal better. This was an official MOMENT between us. They knew the answer, but were waiting for the right time to tell us.

After the dinner was complete, Dad called the server over and quietly whispered something to him. There was a little back and forth conversation, too quiet to hear, but the server nodded and disappeared into the back. Dad turned back to the table, and met our expectant stares with a shrug of his shoulders and a casual "What?" He knew what he was doing, and he enjoyed EVERY single moment of it.

Kaitlin was nearly BOUNCING in her chair by this point. "Daaaaaaadddddd... Are you going to tell us or not? You've teased us enough!" Her red hair (a trait she got from our mom) was bobbing and weaving with her head as she tried to contain her excitement. I could understand where she was coming from. It was the classic game. They knew the secret. They knew we wanted to know what the secret was, but they wanted to know how MUCH we wanted to know what the secret was.

I felt obligated to join in. "You know Dad, I think what you guys are doing is called cruel and unusual punishment. Waiting this long to tell us what's going on is just not FAIR! I mean, we have a lot invested in this decision too!"

Dad was saved by the fact that the server finally returned, with a bottle of wine and four wine glasses. He poured about half a glass for both Mom and Dad, and then to our shock, a splash of wine for both Kaitlin and I. As the server finished pouring and after waiting a couple seconds, to make sure that we didn't need anything else, disappeared into the back. Dad raised his glass to about eye level, and quietly said... "I'd like to propose a toast." We all raised our glasses to the same level, and waited for him to speak the toast, "To Patricia, Joseph, Matthew and Kaitlin Thomas, the new residents of 11 McKenzie Lane".

Kaitlin managed to remember we were in a restaurant, so the war whoop that WOULD have come from her mouth only came out as an excited squeak. "That's the one I was hoping for! That is SO COOL!"

Indeed, that was the one I liked best out of the four, so I was very happy. We each drank the wine to salute the toast. As she drank, Kaitlin made a face, having never tasted wine before. Truth be told, it did taste kind of weird, but I managed to drink the small amount in my glass. Kaitlin set down her glass, even though it had a bit of wine left in it, in favor of asking more questions. "When can we move in? Who gets what room? Can we start packing tonight?" Her excitement infected me, and I started to ask questions of my own, but Mom held up her hand.

"Right now, we have an accepted offer, contingent on the bank granting us the mortgage, and that will take about a week to settle. Hopefully by the end of August we'll be able to close, and you guys will be in your new home before the school year starts." I noticed that Mom and Dad were smiling at our enthusiasm, and I noticed that they were smiling as well. This was a new life for them as well.

That night started up the vicious cycle again. Everything that was hurriedly packed, and then hurriedly unpacked, had to be... you guessed it, hurriedly REPACKED as we prepared to leave our temporary residence (we didn't live long enough in this place to really call it a home. Since I was very frugal in what I took out of storage, I was done in three days. I left myself just enough clothing for the days we had left. Since Kaitlin had been... less than frugal with her choices, Mom and Dad had to spend some time helping her pack, which allowed me a day off from all the moving hysteria.

Even though it was about 93 degrees that day, I decided to head out for a walk, with a reading book and my basketball in a bag, slung over my shoulder. I didn't need the cane to walk where I was going, but if my leg acted up, it would be good to have. So I decided to bring it along, folded up in the bag as well. Besides, the place I had in mind had a basketball court, so if I decided to get some shots in, it might be useful!

It was about a 15-minute walk to the courts, and a game was just breaking up. For a while, I had half of one of the courts all to myself, and grabbing the ball, I spent some time just warming up, testing the leg to see how far I could flex it without pain. It felt good... so I tried a couple of two-step dribbles, followed by a jumper. I started to find a comfortable zone.If I pushed TOO hard, my leg and hip would twinge. Lost in the familiar rhythms of my own private game, I didn't really notice the group of kids who were arriving at the other side of the court. That is, until they got my attention.

One of the kids came down to half court. He watched me take a couple shots, and waited until I was in between shots before interrupting me. "Hey, we're a guy short. Want to jump in?" Quite frankly, that shocked me. I almost chickened out, scared that my leg wouldn't let me compete, but that old familiar twinge of wanting to PLAY got to me.

"Sure. Haven't played for a while and my skill's a bit rusty, but I'll fill in" I countered, bending my knees to almost a squat, in an attempt to loosen them up. Instead, my bad leg nearly gave out with a HARD twinge of pain, but I did my best to ignore it. Instead, I rolled my ball over to my bag and trotted up court.

"Ok. We already chose captains, so come down here and we'll pick teams." He grinned, and shook my hand as I headed towards the group of kids. They all looked about my age, and had the bearing of serious basketball players. I had a feeling they were some kind of a team. I didn't know what level, but they had every indication of being a traveling or high school team. The way they joked around with each other bespoke of an easy familiarity that only came from playing competitive basketball.

The two captains introduced themselves as Jason and Chris, and the rest of us lined up on the end line, while they shot free throws to decide who'd have first pick. I took the opportunity to make sure I could identify who was who.

Jason was a classic small forward type. A couple inches taller than I was, which made him about 6 feet.His sandy brown hair was short in front but hung down slightly on his neck in back. His free throw attempt bounced off the rim a couple times and then rolled around the rim twice before centrifugal force and gravity pulled it down through the hoop.

Chris shrugged his shoulders. His black hair was cut short on top, almost a flat top. He was maybe 6'4" or 6"5, and was built like a truck. Barrel-chested, and possessing huge shoulder and upper arm muscles, he was built more like a power forward or a center. He obviously was familiar at crowding out opposing players. His free throw was a clanger. Hard off the rim, to the left and out. He shrugged again, and grabbed the ball and tossed it to Jason, to indicate he had first pick.

Jason immediately picked out a kid about my height, standing on the left side of our little line up. "Sammy B!" The two traded a knuckle touch, as Sammy stood next to Jason. It was apparent these two had worked together, as Sammy (Sam Benson, as I later found out) looked like your prototypical point guard. Long limbed, and moving with a classic grace I envied, he stood next to Jason, and waited for Chris to pick.

There was a grimace on Chris's face; apparently Sammy was one of the best players around. "Eh, it's ok... you guys won't be able to take it inside on me and Tom." He said, making his selection. Tom was a BIG guy, 6'7, maybe 6'8". Why he wasn't sweating out two a days for football was beyond me, as he was a good 250 pounds, but I had to admit I wouldn't want to drive on either of those guys.

The selection went on and on. Jose and Todd joined Jason and Sammy, while Mike and John joined Chris and Tom. Soon it was just me and one other kid, who grinned sheepishly. "Scott's the name, and I would say the bench is my usual game, but then, I don't have much of a game to start with", he said, making a light joke out of it. I grinned back at him, and introduced myself while Jason decided which of us to pick.

"Hey Scott, you're our #5. Come over." Jason finally said. Scott gave me another sheepish grin, which I responded to with a friendly thumbs up before wandering over to join Chris's team. Even though Chris was the captain, it was Mike who filled me in after I introduced myself to my new teammates. "Sammy's the playmaker over there. He likes to run folks off the screen for an open jumper, or a give and go. They don't have anyone inside who can stop Chris or Tom, so they'll likely collapse the middle unless you guys can draw 'em out. Think you can shoot ok?"

I thought of all the shots I had taken over the past couple of years, and grinned to myself. If I could do ANYTHING on the basketball court, I could shoot. Maybe not much of anything else, but shooting was my thing. "Yeah... I can do that." I replied, a grin evident on my face.