Chapter 4

Monday was the opening of the first round of the playoffs, a best of five. The four teams played two games every night at the stadium, with the two winners of the round advancing to meet each other in the finals the next week.

We played the early game that first day. While I was shagging flies during batting practice I saw Dave, Hannah and Donna walk in and take a seat a couple rows behind our dugout. The crowd was looking to be larger than for a regular season game, but still sparse for a stadium of that size.

When we came off the field right before the game was to start, Hannah was still in the same spot, alone, waving to me. I reckoned the other two had found their own friends to hang with during the game. I stopped as I got to the dugout and silently mouthed, ‘Later’ as I pointed my thumb down the left field line. Then I called into the dugout, “Hey coach, I’m going down to the bullpen” to which he waved in acknowledgment.

There was a long wooden bench in the dusty gravel along the concrete wall topped with a metal railing that formed the face of the stands. It wasn’t more than fifteen feet from the chalk line in the grass which marked fair territory. That strip in front of the bench was were the pitchers would take their practice throws before entering the game.

I waited as our starter Jim Webb finished his prep work. Once ready, he walked out to the mound at the center of the infield.

As I headed for a spot on the end of the bullpen bench, I called out, “Hey guys, great day for baseball!” to Randy and Wayne, who were already seated.

Randy looked up to say, “What’s got you so chipper, just get blown?”

“Nah, went to go see the Pirates yesterday - swept the Phils, first place, baby!”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Joe, I love baseball, but - get things in perspective - there’s nothing better than sex!”

“Oh, there’s more to life than just sex.”

“Not saying it’s the only thing, but certainly the best.”

Allowing a walk and a hit, it took Jim ten minutes or so to get out of the inning, but there was no score.

As our players came in to take their turn at bat, I saw Hannah walking towards us on the concourse. She waved and said, “Hey Joe, how’s it going?” and once she arrived I stood next to the end of the bench while she knelt down to my level.

I could see the two other guys checking her out as I smiled and replied, “Good, only eight more innings to go.”

“Oh, that’s right, they don’t play seven in the playoffs.” She paused and reached across the railing to put her hand on my shoulder. “I really want to thank you for yesterday, I had so much fun.”

The tingles bounced around the inside of my body as I felt her touch. “Yeah, no problem, we need to do it again sometime.”

Our manager had made his way out to the third base coach’s box, and when he glanced over at us, I saw him shaking his head, ‘No.’

Frowning, I turned back to Hannah to inform her, “Hey, I think he wants you to go, like - no fraternizing during the game.”

She bit her lip, then sounded quite disappointed as she said, “Yeah, okay - don’t forget, you’re taking us home tonight.”

“Sure, be down here later.”

She said “I will - I’m going to look for Dave” and as she was walking away she waved back and smiled. I lingered a moment to admire her backside before I sat back on the bench.

Wayne slapped his glove on my thigh. “Whoa, Joey - you been holding out on us?”

“I told’ja, don’t call me Joey!”

From Wayne’s far side, Randy leaned in to ask, “Yeah, who was that little hottie? I’ve seen her around.”

“That’s Hannah. She’s Dave Carter’s sister” When he still looked puzzled I added, “New guy, big lefty for Coke?”

I nodded when he replied, “Oh yeah, I know him, just came mid-season.”

Wayne asked, “I thought you said you went to Three Rivers yesterday, so what’s this chick talking about - thanking you ‘n shit?”

“Oh, she went to the game with us.”

He cocked his head in a disbelieving stare. “Uh-huh. You banging her?”

“Me? And she’s still in ... high school.”

Randy added, “Nothing wrong with that.”

I chuckled, then explained, “We’re hanging out - give me time.”

They each, in turn, extended their fist for me to bump.

Hannah returned two innings later with a basket of chicken and fries and sat right behind us, three rows up. I pointed at her food and made a motion of putting it in my mouth. She had the gall to shake her head ‘No’, so I stuck my tongue out at her.

Jim didn’t have one of his better games, allowing four runs in six innings, but Randy finished with three scoreless, as we took the opener, seven to four.

By the time I got back to the dugout area for the post-game meeting, all three of my cousins had gathered near the steps. Once the coach dismissed us, the four of us walked together to my car.

As I was driving up the highway to their house, I asked, “Yunz guys want to do something together this week - besides watching me play?”

Dave said, “Maybe, what do ya have in mind?”

“How’s about hanging out at the mall? We could go see a movie or something.”

“Just me or the girls too?”

“All a’yunz!”

“You making me hang out with my sisters?“

“I’ll treat.”

In a flash, Hannah reached forward and grabbed Dave’s ear. As she twisted it, she yelled, “Don’t be a jerk - you love your sisters, remember?”

“Shit!”

She twisted again as she scolded him, “No swearing!”

“Okay, okay - It sounds fine. I love my sisters.”

From behind me, Donna snickered, “Yeah, cool. Thanks, Joe.”

I glanced over and asked, “So, Wednesday good?”

Dave was holding his ear as Hannah said, “No problem, we’d just be sitting around the house anyways.

“Okay, I’ll be out at your place around noon.”

After parking in their driveway, I was helping the girls out of the back seat, and the way Hannah said, “See you Wednesday” gave me a stir down below.

I checked my wallet before heading out of the house. I had a ten, but that wouldn’t be enough if I was treating everyone. I pulled the envelope out from under my mattress and grabbed a twenty, hoping that I’d have change.

Traffic was light, my foot was heavy, and fifteen minutes later I was in their driveway. From the look Hannah gave me, I reckoned she’d rather be in the front seat instead of the back, but there was no way Dave was squeezing into anything but the front of my Pinto.

Once out of their neighborhood, it was only a few red lights to our destination. I asked, “You guys been to the mall yet?”

Puzzled, Dave asked, “The mall? I thought it was Pineland Mall?”

“Hey, the day we get a second mall in town, I’ll call it Pineland.”

The theaters were right at one of the entrances, but I deliberately parked on the opposite side to give us more time to walk. We entered by Hill’s, and got to pass the other anchor stores, Sears and K-Mart, on our trek down the length of the long main hallway.

We were checking out the various store along the way when Dave excitedly pointed out, “Hey, Spencer’s Gifts - we gotta check it out.” As he was ready to enter, he turned back to his youngest sister and said, “Hey Donna, maybe you should wait in the hall - I don’t think Mom would like you in a place like this” to which she scrunched up her face in response.

Donna did wait, and Dave went on ahead while Hannah and I check out the risqué selection of t-shirts. Some simply had depictions of marijuana leaves, while Hannah shook her head at the one that said, “I’m Not a Slut, I’m Just Really Popular.”

Right on cue, Dave called out, “Hey Hannah” and when she looked over he held up a vibrator. “How about this for your birthday?”

The short time I had known her, I hadn’t seen her as angry as when she stared back at her older brother. He seemed surprised and asked, “What? Ya know, it’s almost as big as mine!“

“As big as your dildo? You may be my brother and all, but sometimes you can be disgusting.” She turned to me and sighed, “Can we get out of here?”

As she turned towards the exit, me in tow, Dave said, “Hey, don’t be PMS’ing, I was just joking.”

When we met Donna in the hallway she asked, “What’s the matter?”

I replied, “Dave trying to be funny.”

Hannah tacked on, “Dave being an idiot.”

A few seconds later when he exited the store, I looked back and shook my head ‘No’. He appeared to get the message and kept his lips zipped the rest of the way.

When we approached the area of the theaters I asked, “Yunz guys want to eat first? It’ll be cheaper than movie food.”

“Says the guy paying the bill” Hannah quipped.

“How’s about pizza?” I asked. “Pepperoni okay?”

After everyone nodded I stepped up to the counter. “Eight slices of Sicilian, all with pepperoni.”

The teenage girl behind the counter asked, “Drinks?”

I looked back at the others, and they called out, “Coke”, “Coke”, and “Sprite” and I added “ice water” for myself.

I grimaced when she said, “Four dollars and eighty-eight cents.” I handed her the ten and then pocketed the change. A minute later Dave and Hannah took the two trays over to an empty table.

Hannah muttered, “This is pretty good – lots’a cheese” over a mouthful of pizza, but otherwise little was said as we scarfed down our lunch.

Dave asked, “Can I have that?” when Donna pushed away her half eaten second piece.

He finished a minute later, and after sliding our garbage into the can and leaving our trays on top, we headed next door to the theaters.

I looked over the placard. The Frisco Kid, More American Graffiti, and The Amityville Horror.

Dave’s eyes lit up. “I’ve been wanting to see Amityville Horror - they say it’s a true story.”

Hannah frowned. “I don’t think so, I’m not in the mood for ghosts.”

Donna begged, “C’mon, it’ll be cool!”

“Really, I’d rather not - how ‘bout American Graffiti?”

Dave had his hand on his hip, staring at his sister when I intervened. “How’s this? I take Hannah to her movie, and yunz guys can go see the ghosts?”

Dave looked at Donna and asked, “So I have to go to the movies with the little pip-squeak?”

She stuck out her tongue at Dave. “I’m bigger than Hannah - I’ll just tell everyone I’m your date.”

“Yeah, okay - let’s go, honey.”

Stepping up to the window, I said, “Two for American Graffiti, two for Amityville Horror.”

“And how old are the young ladies?”

“They’re both fifteen.”

“Yeah, okay. Eight dollars.” I handed Dave their two tickets and then escorted Hannah in the opposite direction.

We walked into a half full theater. I pointed to a section in the center, about a third of the way back, and Hannah nodded her confirmation.

I let her into the row first. She went in about five seats before settling in. Once I took my place beside her, she turned and said, “Thank you.”

“No problem, but ... are you okay? I know Dave was being a jerk, but you seem a little bit ... crabby today.”

She let out a deep breath and bit her lip. “Yeaaah ... there is something bothering me.” She frowned, looked away, and put her chin in her hand. “I’m not sure how to say this. If I tell you - you gotta swear - you won’t tell anybody.”

“Yeah, sure, what’s up?”

“You promise?”

“Absolutely, what’s the matter?”

It looked like she was about to cry. Finally she looked up at me and started. “It’s Mickey - I’ve caught him ... staring at me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like when I’m getting out of the pool, or leaving the bathroom, and he’s like over in the corner, or down the hallway, catching a glance my way.”

“Are you sure?”

I froze a little inside when she replied, “Joe, I know when guys are looking at me.”

I looked at the screen as the previews started, then turned back to Hannah. “What are you gonna do?”

“I don’t know. They just got married, and Mom loves the guy - but I won’t be living with some pedophile.”

“Do you think he’ll do more than just look?”

“Maybe not - if he tries anything I’ll rip his balls off, but still - I don’t need the aggravation.”

I put my hand around her shoulder and lightly stroked her back. “Oh jeez - well, keep me informed. I’ll do anything I can.”

She gazed up at me and whispered a barely audible, “Thank you.”

A minute later I was jolted to attention by the theme to Star Trek. There was the starship Enterprise, on the big screen. Nimoy, Shatner - the whole crew, plus a few new comers. I tapped Hannah. “Tol’ja - I want to see that!”

“Is that your man Spock - with the pointy ears and the bad haircut?”

“Yep, that’s the one.”

“Well, sexy he ain’t. No wonder he never got laid. Now that Kirk, mmm-hmm.”

“Cut it out!”

Disintegrating Klingon battle cruisers faded to black, overlayed with ‘12.7.79’

Hannah whispered back, “Doesn’t look too bad - I hope they bothered to write a story around all the cool explosions.”

Our movie began with combat scenes in Vietnam. I was confused, and said to Hannah, “I thought the original was a comedy.”

“Yeah, I know.”

After a few minutes in the jungle, the scene switched back to suburban California, with Ron Howard and Cindy Williams playing bickering spouses. It took more than twenty minutes to figure out that there were four separate stories, at four different times, of characters from the original, and for the rest of the movie the scenes cut back and forth between them. So I was sitting there thinking ‘What the hell am I watching?’

I always liked looking at Cindy Williams. For me, seeing her with Ron Howard, and set in the early 60’s, had made the first movie seem more like a continuation of Happy Days. At the beginning of their scene they were having a hell of a fight as she’s insisting to be allowed to get a job and send the kids to child care. Hannah leaned in to whisper to me, “You tell him, girl!”

As Ron Howard kept demanding that his wife do exactly as he says, to stay at home and raise the children, I had to agree “He really is being an asshole. I wouldn’t do that.”

Hannah squeezed my arm and replied, “I agree, you’re too easily whipped!”

Then as the kids ran around the house, totally out of control, I told her “God, I will never let my kids be like that!”

“Tough talk now. Your little monsters ain’t coming in my house!

Later the hippie couple smoking weed in their car get pulled over by a motorcycle cop. “Han Solo!” I whispered to Hannah, as Harrison Ford reprised his character in the briefest of cameos.

After bailing her boyfriend out of jail, Candy asks him “I love you, when are we going to get married?” and the stoner responded, “I don’t know man, it’s just a piece of paper!”

That bothered me. I leaned over to Hannah and said, “It’s not just a piece of paper - it’s a commitment, a promise that you’ll always be there!” And sure enough, by the end of the movie, the dick head was kissing some other girl.

A few minutes later, Hannah shifted towards me and gently leaned her head on my shoulder. I was nervous, afraid to move and thus disturb her, while at the same time excited by her raising the level of intimacy.

No longer concentrating on the movie, after a little while I nudged her to let her know I wanted to move my arm. She sat up and glanced at me as I stretched out to wrap my arm around her shoulders. She responded by leaning back and cradling herself between my arm and my chest

The fourth story was about the drag racer John Milner.

‘Seriously, John Fuckin’ Milner? Two days in a row? Of all the characters, in all the movies... ‘

So anyways, about halfway through the movie Milner meets this hot foreign chick Eva, who couldn’t speak a word of English, and convinced her to go to his trailer at the drag strip. He wanted to make some moves but they couldn’t communicate verbally.

I simply wanted to hold Hannah, to bask in the closeness she was offering, but anxiety hit - my insides were twitching as I took shallow, rapid breaths.

We watched as Milner awkwardly put his arm around Eva, and after a brief pause he went in for a kiss, his right hand on Eva’s waist.

I glanced down at Hannah and she was staring up at me. I looked away, then quickly back again, but she hadn’t budged.

My God, she was so beautiful. With my arm still around her shoulders, I could feel the warmth of her body and how her chest expanded with every breath she took. I was mesmerized, just staring deep into her eyes...

Suddenly I felt a tug on the front of my shirt, pulling my face closer to hers, as Hannah whispered forcefully, “Are you going to kiss me, or what?”

‘Ohmygod. Oh. My. God.’

“Uh ... yeah?”, I stuttered.

I slowly dropped my face towards hers. She closed her eyes and a moment later I felt my lips touch her lips. They were warm, soft, almost puffy, and very wet. I could feel my manhood stirring as I lingered for a second and pulled back.

I opened my eyes but hers were still closed, her head unmoved, as she sucked on her lips. Invigorated, I went back for the second time, pressing harder on her mouth until her lips opened and I felt her tongue slip inside my mouth.

On the movie screen, out of the corner of my eye I could see Milner move his hand to grope Eva’s breast, but she jumped up and ran out of the trailer, leaving Milner to whine, “Please come back!”

When my tongue met Hannah’s they began to wrestle inside my mouth, bringing my dick to one hundred and ten percent almost instantly.

With an aching erection and a confidence I had never known before, I slid my right hand from Hannah’s waist, upwards along her body until it grasped the mound of her breast. Less than a handful, it was soft, and I gave a gentle squeeze...

Her hand clamped around my wrist and I froze in panic.

‘Fuckshit! Shitfuck!’

Fearing the worst, I stared back at her, our faces still mere inches apart. She whispered, “Not here.”

‘Not here!‘‘

I was able to breathe again. My tension melted quickly and I managed a weak smile as I whispered back, “Sorry.”

“That’s okay, we just don’t need to be putting on a show for anyone.”

We turned towards the screen and I went back to holding her. A couple more times during the rest of the movie I found her staring up at me, but then I knew how to respond, even if I did keep my hands to myself.

Milner was killed by a drunk driver and never got to his date with Eva, but Cindy Williams and Ron Howard kissed and made up and presumably lived happily ever after. One more time I kissed my cousin and our tongues did their dance.

I lingered in my seat to read the credits, which I hoped would give time for my hard-on to not be quite so obvious. It didn’t work so well, as I still had to adjust my pants when I finally stood, to which Hannah responded with a downward glance and a grin.

She took my hand as we went to the exit, our fingers intertwined walking down the dark ramp to the main concourse of the mall.

Once out into the bright public area, she broke our grip to run over to her siblings who were waiting by the arcade. Donna started gushing as Hannah arrived “Oh. My. God. That was so scary – they bought this house where a whole family had been murdered, and then the demons chased them out!”

Hannah said, “Now I’m even more glad I didn’t see it!”

By that time I joined them and broke into the conversation, “Yeah, our movie kinda sucked”, immediately followed by “OW!” as I caught Hannah’s elbow in my rib.

“You trying to say George Lucas can’t do a good sequel?” She turned back to them and continued, “Don’t listen to him, it was good, even if it was sad at the end.”

The girls kept going, back and forth. Dave rolled his eyes and I grabbed my keys out of my pocket and said, “C’mon let’s go!” as I motioned to the outside door.

As I walked out of the mall, I knew my life had changed forever. I was trying to figure out the next step, how to keep it going, when an idea popped into my head. I asked all of them, “The County Fair is this week – how about we all go up Saturday night?”

Hannah was a little hesitant, asking “Okay - but what do they have there?”

“Oh, all the farm stuff like best cows and hogs, but other than that it’s mostly a carnival – rides, games, food. Ever had any fried twinkies?”

I looked back to see her closed eyes and scrunched up face. “Aw, don’t worry – they’re good.”

Dave asked excitedly, “Do they have monster trucks?”

“Demolition derby, I think.”

“Good enough for me!”

I stopped walking and looked at them very seriously. “One thing though - you gotta bring some of your own money, I don’t want to go broke.”

As I folded the driver’s seat forward to allow the girls to climb in the back, Hannah leaned close and whispered, “Sounds like a date!”

As we spilled out of the car into their driveway, I asked, “Yunz comin’ to the game tonight?”

Dave frowned. “Some guys invited me to a party down the street.”

“What, better than me?”

“We’ll be looking to hook up, not chaperone.”

Donna snapped, “Bite me” before heading in the kitchen door.

Hannah put her hand on my arm and said, “I’ll come.”

“Are you sure?”

She turned her head back towards the house and yelled, “Hey mom, can you take me to Joe’s game tonight?”

Through the screen in the window of the kitchen we heard, “Yeah, but he might have to bring you home.”

Hannah smiled and arched her eye brows.

I called back, “No problem!” Turning again to Hannah I told her, “We have the late game, try to come early” and then mouthed, “We have to talk.”

I was already in uniform, lounging in the bleachers abut twenty rows behind home plate. When I saw Hannah walking down the concourse, I glanced up at the scoreboard to see it was the ninth inning, a bit after eight-thirty. I waved and then called out to my cousin, and when I got her attention she waved back and started climbing the steps to get to my row.

As she plopped down on the wooden bench beside me, she asked, “What are you doing all the way up here?”

“Eh, it has a good view of the field – and there’s a little bit of privacy.”

She glanced around at the lack of others sitting nearby. “Yeah - you said you wanted to talk.”

Turning from the game, I looked in her eyes and exhaled. “Soooo ... about the movies.”

She broke into a big smile. “I had fun.”

I was still struggling to find the right words. “I was just, you know, a little... surprised.”

She cocked her head and stared straight at me. “You can’t say you didn’t want to.”

I felt like I was blushing. “Oh, I wanted to - I didn’t know that you wanted to.”

Hannah glanced down, then put her hand on my arm. “Joe, I do - I like you - a lot, and ... it just felt right - even if you did get a little grabby.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to...”

She squeezed my arm. “No, no, it’s okay, I understand...”

I let out another deep breath. “So ... what do we do now?”

Again she beamed a smile. “I’ll let you kiss me again.”

‘She isn’t getting it.’

I looked down and frowned. “No, that’s not what...”

Her smiled disappeared and she bit her lip. “You think I’m too young?”

I snapped my head back up and look her in the eyes. “No! I mean, you’re smart, and funny ... and sexy. I don’t know anyone I’d rather be with.”

She leaned in even closer and taunted, “Even Mandy?”

“Yes, even Mandy! You know I haven’t laid eyes on her since we started hanging out?”

Hannah backed off, propping her elbow on the empty bleacher behind us. “Well, she’s more than a year older than me and she’s still too young for you.”

“According to her parents.“

“So we’re skipping that by not talking to our parents?“

It was getting hard to not show my frustration. “You know what I mean - how do we handle this? We can’t exactly go ‘Hey Mom! Guess what?’”

“Well, I don’t want to stop.”

“And neither do I - so we need to work out how to call on the phone, and when we can get together - stuff like that, and without it looking suspicious.”

She paused and looked away before continuing. “Yeah, I guess we can keep doing group things - then see what we can do when school starts in a few weeks.”

“Okay, sounds good for now.” Paul’s voice over the P.A. announced the final score. “Game’s over - I have to head down to the field, but yeah, let’s do that.” When she nodded in approval I continued, “You comin’ down to the bullpen?”

“Yeah, see you in a little bit.”

The game went to crap early, as Mickey Pavlick gave up three runs in the first, and went even further down hill from there. In the seventh inning, trailing eight to one, the manager stepped out of the dugout and yelled down, “Joe, get ready!”

I was on the mound for the top of the eighth. As the first batter was stepping in I saw Hannah had moved to a spot right behind home plate. Two cutters and a change-up later and that batter was walking back to his dugout.

When Hannah met me after the game, she was literally bouncing up and down. “Joe, great game! Three strike outs!”

Somberly I replied, “Need I remind you that we lost?”

She poked me in the side and chided, “Oh, you guys are up two games to one, don’t be so bummed out.”

When we reached the car, I went to the back and opened the trunk. Standing in front of her, I unsnapped the waist of my uniform and said, “Excuse me, while I whip this out!” as I slid the pants down my legs.

Her eyes went wide in shock, but then she said, “Oh, you have shorts on! I’m gonna kill you!”

Once I finished switching to my street clothes, we got in the car so that I could ride her home. I looked over at the passenger seat and saw my cousin gazing back at me with the biggest eyes and smile. That time I knew what to do.

After glancing out the car windows, I leaned over, closed my eyes and pressed my lips to hers. So soft, so warm, and again I felt her tongue pushing it’s way into my mouth. I couldn’t believe how stimulating it was to suck on her tongue, to rub mine against hers, but after a minute I broke it off as we in the middle of a public parking lot and I didn’t have much time to get her home.

The expressway that headed up to her hill was only one stop light away. Speeding up through the valley, I glanced over and asked, “Where did you learn to do that?”

“What?”

“That tongue thing ... curdles my toes.”

“Give away my secrets?” she grinned. She thought for a second, then asked, “Does that mean I’m the best you’ve ever had?”

When I simply squirmed and didn’t answer right away, she squealed, “You’ve never French kissed before?”

“Uh ... not really.”

“Well, how many girls have you kissed - you know, total?”

“Well...”

“Oh my God, Joe! You never kissed a girl before? And you’re how old?

“Not true! I’ve kissed ... a girl.”

“One? And your mother doesn’t count.”

“No, not my mother – a real girl. Don’t tell anyone, please?“

“No wonder you weren’t very good...”

“Hey! Now wait a minute!” I barked.

“Oh, take a chill pill, can’t a girl tease?”

“I’m gonna get you!” I shook my head and was waving my index finger in her face when she grabbed and kissed it, then continued to hold my hand in the space between the seats.

I was then driving with only my left one on the wheel, occasionally looking over and grinning, as Hannah softly stroked the back of my other hand. As I visualized her hands caressing other parts of my body, I quickly got another hard-on.

I took her exit and was waiting for the light to turn green when she looked over and asked, “Is it like that all the time?”

Confused, I glanced back at her. “Is what?”

She looked down and pointed to my crotch. “Uh... there!”

“God, Hannah!“ I shrieked. As I pulled away from the light I regained my composure and chuckled, “Well, not all the time, mainly just ... when I’m around you.”

She tilted her head and stared at me while grinning widely. “So how long does it take to go back down?”

‘Oh my God. I’m talking to a girl - about my dick.’

“I don’t know. Ten or twenty minutes? It helps if I think about something that has nothing to do with girls.”

She studied the situation for a few seconds. “Do you, sometimes, um... do something about it? You know, touch it yourself?”

My face felt very flushed as I pulled into her driveway. “Yeah, sometimes ... but not here.”

Indignant, she said, “Well, you won’t be able to walk in my house like that!”