Chapter 33 - Raffle

Chapter 33: Raffle

Monday there was a lot of talk going on about the weekend games, the varsity had snuck a one run win, the JV had lost heavily, what most of the talk was about though, was the paper giving more space to the write up the freshman game than they did the varsity one.

Our lead pitcher and I had both been mentioned in glowing terms, both of us being highlighted as the reason why the team had won so well.

There was also a noticeable change in the students behavior towards me, no longer was I getting everyone looking down their nose at me, alright some still did, but it seemed to almost be back to the level of acceptance, prior to the whole age announcement getting out.

This being a jock was pretty cool, doubt it was as nice as being one of the football jocks, but still it was much better than being a classed as a nerd, even though I was.

Some didn’t like the article at all, being approached by Jeff Nobel and a couple of his cronies being the highlight of my day, “Think you’re all that now you have had your name in the paper don’t you Owens. It’s crazy them letting a kid like you play in our league, you will probably get hurt, cry about it and try to sue the school. They should just have let me play at shortstop, it’s where I have always played whatever league I was in, so I am bound to be better than you, I just reckon the coaches feel sorry for you.” His two friends backing him up laughed at me.

I didn’t back down, or get aggressive, as I stood there considering what he had just said. Once he started to fidget, not understanding why I wasn’t responding to his taunts, I replied. “You know Jeff, you really could be right, the only skills you need to play baseball, are to hit the ball with a bat, throw and catch a ball, so maybe I might not be the best person to play, but then, you haven’t shown even a hint of any of those abilities all year, so I am surprised you’re even on the field let alone thinking you could cope with the hardest infield position.” His mouth dropped open, I just stepped around him and walked between his two friends, who were struggling not to burst out laughing at Nobel after my dig back at him.

The sad thing was what I had said was true, he was not good at throwing the ball quickly to the right base, and he had dropped a couple which should have stuck in his mitt. As for his batting, his average was joint last on the team.

When Tuesday arrived, all talk of the weekend baseball was gone, there was a new scorching hot rumor doing the rounds, someone had started the rumor about a car being done up in shop being raffled to a student being actually true, not only that, the car was supposedly roadworthy now, so the raffle was meant to be imminent.

This was confirmed after my shop class, Mr. Carter held me back after class, “Jack, just how am I to do this raffle idea of yours?”

“Sorry Mr. Carter, what do you mean, just like all raffles, just drop all the names into a hat and pick one.”

“Oh right, I wondered if you had any specifications on who should be entered?” Mr. Carter explained.

“Oh, No Sir, I have no preferences, in reality I should have no say in it anyway, the only request I ask is that you don’t put my name into the hat, I wouldn’t want to win the Jeep anyway.”

“I sort of thought you might think that, so that’s fine, but apart from that you don’t want any other students omitted?”

“Nope, that wouldn’t be fair, I’m not saying that I hope someone who really needs some wheels wins, but then that would be classed as most of the students in our year taking shop, and I don’t know your students from the other years.” I explained.

“Alright Jack, I will put something together and talk to the principal in how to go about doing the draw.”

“Well I better go and get something to eat.”

“Off you go Jack, thanks for the chat” Mr. Carter called as I walked out, I waved in acknowledgement.

Classes went on, some were good, some still not so great.

As Friday drew closer, the buzz about the raffle grew, it was strange, there were only a small number of students actually involved in the raffle, but the whole school seemed excited about the event.

I could only knowingly smile, with this type of response then it boded well for some more students’ enrolling in next year’s shop class, which would really please Mr. Carter.

Nothing had been announced on what was happening yet, I hadn’t seen Mr. Carter so he hadn’t been able to update me on events.

It was Friday morning when we finally got the word, and it came via the school’s announcement system.

“All students, today’s final classes are cancelled, instead all students will attend a pep rally for this weekend’s baseball games. On a separate note, at the same time I will be drawing the student’s name who is to be the recipient of the jeep that had been rebuilt in Mr. Carter’s mechanical engineering class. Good luck to all who have entered”

There was a cheer that swept through the school at the announcement, it was for several reasons.

All students were happy to be dismissed from the last class of the day.

Pep rallies were always fun and uplifting events.

The student’s had confirmation of the raffle being drawn.

The teachers had a hard job doing any teaching the rest of the day, they tried hard to get the student’s to focus on the day’s lesson. They weren’t very successful, but they did try their best to beat some knowledge into us.

Instead of the last class, the whole school congregated outside the main building.

There was a podium with a microphone set up on the entrance to the school, which was at the top of a number of steps, so it was ideal to allow everyone to see the speakers.

There was already a good atmosphere going.

After all the students had exited all the buildings and no more were arriving, Mr. Abraham took to the podium.

“Welcome everyone, today we have a couple of things to talk about, first off is the upcoming baseball games this weekend, our head coach will give you the rundown on what is happening on that front. After that, I have the great pleasure to do a presentation of a renovated vehicle to be won by one lucky student. So without further ado, let’s give a warm welcome to our head baseball coach, Mr. Bryant.”