Chapter 34: Payback

Saturday April 29
It was finally drying out after a week of daily rain. The effect of the semi-deluge was that spring had sprung, so to speak. One of our neighbors had a huge flower bed. On my morning run, I noticed that it seemed to have bloomed all at once. I pulled out my phone to take some pictures.

Dominating everything were the clusters of hyacinths with their sweet, lingering scent. In other clumps, they’d planted irises and tulips. Behind the flower bed was the lush foliage of peonies that looked like they would bloom soon. Seeing Mother Nature coming to life put me in a good mood.

I was almost home when I saw the hairs on Duke’s back go up.

“Easy,” I chastised.

As we turned the corner for our street, I saw what had riled him. We’d gotten a new neighbor. It was a guy in his early thirties who owned Duke’s new archnemesis, Max, a German shepherd that was too aggressive, in my opinion. To top it off, Max was taking a dump on the sidewalk in front of our house.

One of the reasons I made sure Duke had time to do his business before we went on our morning runs was that I absolutely hated having to pick that up. I carried bags just in case, but it wasn’t something I enjoyed.

Backyard cleanup was much easier. I used a hoe and a five-gallon bucket. We put it all into the compost pile we used for the garden. Turning over yard work to Wolf and company had happily removed that from my chore list.

Being a responsible dog owner meant you had to deal with stuff like this. That was why I was irritated when the new neighbor began to walk away after Max had left a substantial steaming pile behind.

“Hey!” I barked. “Leave something?”

Calling him out startled both Max and his master. Max decided he wanted to end Duke’s life and lunged toward us as we got closer. I had firm control of Duke, who basically said, ‘bring it on.’ I made him sit while our neighbor struggled to gain control of Max.

The man ignored me and dragged his dog home. Duke was disappointed in me when I had to pick up Max’s leaving. I agreed with him. I knew where the guy lived.

“That was the worst horror movie I’ve ever seen,” Tim announced as we warmed up.

We were preparing to play Washington, who’d worked their way into the regional finals.

“What did you see?” I asked.

“The Hill Folk,” Yuri supplied.

It was the latest scary film in theaters. Wolf and Tim had taken Phil, Roc, and Yuri to the movies last night. I’d wanted to go, but Cassidy had insisted that I take her to dinner again. She had zero interest in hanging out with the guys when she could get me to take her on a faux date to Our House.

Cassidy knew I had connections, as one of the owners, and Mary usually booked the area’s hottest bands. The only way to get in last night had been with reservations, or in my case, knowing someone. I had to admit that I had more fun there than I would’ve watching a movie—especially that one, based on Tim’s comment.

Tonight, all my baby mamas, along with my current crush, Joey, were going out on the town. I offered to man the grill and feed them before they had their night out. My parents had volunteered to take the kids to my farm, where Grandma Dawson and Yuri’s grandmother, Yelena, would naturally spoil them rotten.

“You would have loved it,” Wolf said. “It had girls hiking in the woods with rapey possessed hill folk after them.”

“I swear people in those situations are idiots. They run through the woods in the dark from some guys who never go any faster than a determined walk,” Phil said.

“Of course they trip over something. In this case, it was their dead guy friend who’d lasted a whole fifteen minutes. I mean, seriously, run straight ahead, and don’t constantly look back. That way, you won’t twist your ankle so they can catch you,” Roc said.

“I do appreciate that they somehow get their shirts ripped, so you get glimpses of the goods,” Phil added.

Funny how the creators of these kinds of movies know their audience—horny teenage boys.

“I still contend they were witches,” Yuri said, which made everyone groan.

It sounded like no one agreed with him. I was embarrassed to admit, I wanted to hear more about his reasoning.

“David will back me up on this. He was a warlock in that secret circle-jerk movie,” Yuri proclaimed.

Wolf shook his head to let me know that I wasn’t to kill Yuri just yet. He wanted to hear where this was going as well.

“Tell him your theory,” Wolf said to distract me from doing what I wanted.

“There’s this one part where one of the girls gets caught under a falling tree. Her friend lifts it off her like she’s the Hulk. I mean, you hear stories about a mother lifting a car off their child and stuff, but I think that’s all bullshit. The only way they could do it is with magic,” Yuri said.

“You’re a dumbass. Everyone knows that under extreme emotions, like fear and desperation, you can gain superhuman strength. It’s the adrenaline rush,” Phil said.

“I might have to side with Yuri on this one,” I weighed in. “Think about it. If adrenaline was the solution to that kind of strength, don’t you think there would be something on the market where you could shoot up and lift small buildings when the need arose?”

“That’s an excellent point,” Wolf said. “If it were true, Moose would be handing out epi-pens to us before we went up to bat.”

“See! It had to be magic,” Yuri concluded.

I just shook my head when they all agreed with him. Maybe, just maybe, girls had it right: teenage boys were stupid.

Of all the teams we played, Washington was the one we knew the best and had the most interaction with. Freshman year, I’d gone head-to-head with Ty. He and I had stayed in contact after that game. When we’d needed to fill a bus to go to Kentucky for football camp, they were the ones we asked to join us. Our offensive coordinator had gone to Washington to be their head coach. We’d even had our alternate prom with them, and I’d helped with their fundraiser last year. Finally, Ty had transferred to Lincoln High to help us win state in football.

All of that made this game more personal. The guys from Washington would love to knock our dicks into the dirt, and we knew it. It wasn’t like we were playing Eastside, who I hated, but it was a rivalry game.

That also meant that Washington traveled well. Unlike our past two games, they had nearly as many fans in the stands as we did. This was their last shot at taking us down, and their fans wanted to be here so they could say they saw it in person. It would be the talk of the old guys’ coffee klatches and barbershop waiting areas for years to come.

Moose sent Justin out to start the game. His use of multiple pitchers was paying dividends because Washington had played their two best for the full games to get here. This was where a lack of pitching depth could jump up and bite you in the butt if you weren’t careful.

I couldn’t really argue with their approach, though, because they’d had to battle to make it to the finals. When you were playing playoff-style baseball, you put your best foot forward because this format was one-and-done. If you didn’t, you might not be playing the next game.

I was worried about this game because I didn’t see it coming down to pitching. All of Washington’s games so far had been high scoring. The front of their batting order started with a speedy center fielder who had consistently gotten on base. He was followed by big strong farm boys in the two through five slots. They were one of the few teams we faced that might actually match us in power-hitting ability.

The top of the first was a dream come true for them. Washington’s leadoff hitter battled Justin until he finally drew a walk. Next up, their left fielder hit a sharp grounder to third that all but ate up Ty. He was forced to throw to first for the out, allowing the runner to advance. That was followed by a line shot that skipped in front of me in center. They wisely held up the lead runner because I charged in and would have gunned him down if he’d tried to take home.

With runners at the corners, their cleanup man hit a beautiful ball into the gap between Don and me. Most days, it would have made it to the fence, but I was keyed up and broke well to cut it off. Their runner at first rounded second, thinking he would make it easily. I hit the cutoff man, who gunned him down. That allowed the hitter to end up at second with two outs.

The fifth batter hit a home run to make the score 3–0.

Justin quickly got the next batter out to get us off the field.

In our half of the inning, the difference between our two teams became obvious. Our big guys could all move and play defense. Our one liability, defensively, was Milo. All of their big boys were similar to him, fielding-wise.

Ty led off and hit a drive to left field that ended up rolling to the wall for a double. Bryan got fooled on a pitch and hit a sky-high pop-up to the second baseman for our first out. Wolf had a good eye and walked to put runners at first and second for me to drive home.

I was hyperaware of the stakes and the need to get us back into this game when I stepped into the batter’s box. Washington’s pitcher was, too. That was why he sent a message pitch on the first ball that had me diving out of the way.

I knew he’d done it to get under my skin. With that in mind, I simply brushed myself off without comment and got back in the box. I let myself drop into the zone so that it was just the two of us facing off. I saw Washington’s pitcher psych himself up and toe the rubber. In my head, I was chanting for him to try to throw it by me.

When the pitch left his hand, I could see he’d thrown a curve to try to trick me. I held my hands back for a split second and then ripped them through the hitting zone. The crowd erupted when they heard the crack of the bat. I’d gotten under the ball a little too much, and I could see it going higher and higher as it made its way to right field.

Both Ty and Wolf tagged up, expecting my ball to be caught. Washington’s outfielder camped out close to the fence as it started its descent. Then disaster struck for them: the outfielder stepped onto the warning track and tripped over his own feet.

“Go!” I screamed.

Both Ty and Wolf took off as the ball bounced off Washington’s player and rolled towards the foul line. Their center fielder hadn’t run over to back up the play, so he was caught flat-footed. The kid who had fallen down jumped up and lumbered over to get the ball. Ty scored easily. I held my breath as Wolf rounded third. We were lucky that their fielder panicked and didn’t hit the cutoff man. Instead, his throw was off line, and the catcher had to chase it down to keep it from skipping to the backstop.

He fired it to third because I’d been aggressive, trying to steal an extra base. This time, I just made it.

Brock drove me in on the next pitch to tie the game 3–3.

From there, it all went downhill for Washington. We batted around in the first inning to take a 5–3 lead. Washington had to go to their bullpen at that point. By the end, it felt like batting practice as I hit three home runs and had eight RBIs for the game. Justin settled down and handled his end. The game was called in the fifth when we had a 17–5 lead.

The rest of the state had just been put on notice that we were hitting our stride at the right time. Five more games and we would reach our goal of winning state.

I’d marinated a tenderloin in an oil, herb, and garlic mixture before I put it on the grill. Our garden had asparagus coming up, so I harvested enough for our meal. Peggy helped me by preparing mushrooms and baked potatoes to round out our feast.

Other spring garden items were rhubarb and strawberries. Mom had baked a couple of rhubarb and strawberry crumbles. She’d taken one with her to my farm to share and left the other for our dessert.

All the girls were inside, getting into my mom’s wine. I was happy to see Ashley join me as I manned the grill.

“Are you getting ready for the move?” she asked.

“I found boxes in my room today. It feels strange to have to pack up everything I own. Mom wants me to label what needs to go to college, to my room in the new house in Malibu, and to storage.”

“Which bedroom set are you taking to California?” Ashley asked.

I had two, the one in my apartment, and one my grandmother had the Mennonites make me from the walnut trees we cut down at the farm.

“I hadn’t really thought about it,” I admitted.

“Can I have the one you don’t pick?” Ashley asked.

“Which would you rather have?”

“I like them both, but I would prefer the one in your apartment. It’s more to my taste.”

“Okay,” I agreed.

“Okay?”

“Yes. You can have the bed in my room, and I’ll take the one at the farm.”

“What about the rest of your furniture?”

“I’m starting to see through your cunning plan for coming out here. Don’t you think that the rest of the girls should get a shot at the stuff I’m not going to use?” I asked.

“They weren’t smart enough to ask first,” she shot back.

“If you’re willing to take the heat when they find out, then fine. Take what you want,” I conceded.

“Even the refrigerator?”

“That, you might want to talk to my mom about. Melanie is moving into the apartment to be live-in help for Greg. If Mom says it’s okay, then you can have it for the pool house. You might want to talk to her about how she plans to decorate and what she and Cindy have come up with,” I suggested.

“We’re all well aware of the design plan, and we do have fun spending your money,” Ashley said to clue me in.

That I thought only my mom and Cindy were involved showed how clueless I was. Of course, they would all want to be a part of the decorating, if for no other reason than to design their own personal areas. I’d only been consulted on the general overall design, which was the look and feel of a Tuscan villa.

“Thanks,” she said as she kissed my cheek and started to go back inside.

“Hang on. I need to share with you what I learned about our boys when I went to see the psychic in LA.”

That brought her back.

“Did you know my mom’s side of the family had some gifts?” Ashley asked.

“That’s what I was told. He said that Allen has them as well. The guy I went to, his family wasn’t very supportive of him growing up. He wanted to make sure we were open and accepting to Allen if he started to show abilities.”

“I’ll talk to my mom and get some advice,” Ashley assured me.

“He also said...” I began.

“Hold that thought. I think all the girls will want to hear this. I’ll be right back,” Ashley said as she went to get everyone.

When they joined me, I told them about Allen being artistic and Dawson’s athletic ability, and how we had to keep him on the straight and narrow scholastically. Then I talked about Dave being the mediator/problem solver; Carol, the leader; and Coby, the protector.

“Coby clocked another kid who was picking on someone at daycare yesterday,” Peggy shared.

“As long as no one gets hurt, I’m okay with that,” I admitted.

“David!” Scarlet said.

“I know. Everyone says, ‘Hitting never solves anything,’” I said, spouting the party line before deciding to tell them what I really thought. “In my opinion, kids need to learn that if you bully someone, there are consequences.”

I knew it wasn’t politically correct, but I felt that if people got smacked for saying or doing something hurtful, they wouldn’t do it again. If you knew you could be a bully without repercussions, it just got worse. That was why people got brave when they hid on the Internet and said mean stuff on social media.

With that in mind, I decided I would add to the Dawson rules of conduct. If you wouldn’t say something to someone’s face, you shouldn’t say it at all.

After we ate, the girls went to watch the band. I had something to puzzle out. Miss Cassidy was missing again today, so I went to her house to investigate.

“David?” Coach Hope asked, confused when he opened the door to my knock.

“I’m looking for your daughter.”

“I thought she was with you.”

“Cassidy’s gone missing in action the last two weekends,” I shared.

“Come in. I’ll call her and see what’s going on.”

I took a seat in the living room while he went to get his phone. Old people killed me by not having it on them at all times. I think it was a generational thing.

While I waited, I saw that Coach was about to watch a movie on streaming video.

I heard a muffled conversation. Coach sounded irritated with his daughter, which made me a little worried about what Cassidy was up to. But I didn’t get too concerned; I couldn’t think of anything that she would do that would cross any lines. Cassidy was a good kid, mostly.

Coach came back to the living room and took a seat in his recliner.

“She’s been volunteering at the large animal clinic at State.”

I remembered that over Christmas, she’d gone to Florida to see her tigers. She’d said at the time she wanted to become a veterinarian. That was on top of being my trainer and joining the Marines.

“Why is she sneaking around?” I asked.

“Good question,” Coach Hope said with a shrug. “Want to watch a movie?”

“Sure.”

I heard a little meow from Cassidy’s kitten. Coach Hope reached down and picked it up so he could hold it in his lap.

“Don’t say it,” he warned.

It looked like the little fur ball had already gotten Coach trained. Funny how that happened.

Sunday April 30
Duke and I came back from our morning run to find my parents already up. When I let him in, I followed Duke inside because I smelled cinnamon rolls heating up in the oven.

“What’s the special occasion?” I asked.

Mom wrinkled her nose at me.

“Go take your shower. If you don’t hurry, your dad will eat your share,” she warned.

Dad looked around his paper and nodded that he would. There had to be some law against this. But what was I going to do about it? I could just see complaining to the cops that my dad ate my cinnamon roll. Then again, if I brought them some to try, they would understand.

Not wanting to risk it, I hurried upstairs and took my shower in record time. When I came back downstairs, Mom was taking them out of the oven, and Peggy had entered the kitchen with Coby and Dave. I went over and kissed my boys on top of the head. I picked up Coby when he reached for me and sat down with him in my lap.

Mom served everyone and brought me tea. Something was up, and I could see by the twinkle in her eye that she was waiting for me to ask. She could just wait until I’d eaten the two rolls in front of me.

I was taking my first bite of the yummy goodness when my son reached up to try to grab it away from me.

“Do you want a bite?” I asked Coby.

“Uh, uh,” he grunted as he tried to reach it.

“He’s his father’s son,” Mom commented.

I tore off a small piece and handed it to him. It went into his mouth in a flash. Yep, he was my son. He liked it and wanted more.

Dave began to babble to his mother that he wanted what his brother was having.

“I guess he doesn’t want cereal this morning,” Peggy said as she cut up small pieces of cinnamon roll and put them on his high-chair tray.

“I’ll have to tell Granny that she has two new fans,” I said.

We all watched the boys polish off almost a full roll. They would be bouncing off the walls soon from all the sugar.

“We should take the boys to church today,” I suggested.

“After they ate that? I don’t think so. I want to be able to go back,” Mom said.

“So, what’s up?” I asked.

“I have some interesting news,” Dad said.

I was taken a little by surprise because I assumed my mom was the one with the news.

“That is?” I asked when he just stared at me.

I hated it when he pulled a Dawson on me and went quiet. He grinned to let me know that I’d lost the battle of wills this time. He’d always told me that in a negotiation, he who talked first, lost. I rolled my eyes in response.

“Ms. Dixon called me and said that Dixon and Dixon had bought out Rigby and Thompson and that Tom will be moving back to run the office.”

“Seriously?” I asked.

“Word got out about how Rigby Thompson treated you as a client, somehow, and their business began to dry up,” Dad said.

Everyone thought my mom was the one they should never cross. That announcement gave me the sudden insight that my dad might be more of a force. My dad knew just about everyone and never had anything bad to say about anyone. He was someone people liked as soon as they met him. I had a feeling that he’d quietly put the word out, and this was the end result.

My first instinct was to ask him, but I knew he wouldn’t tell me. He’d dealt with it, and it was over with.

“Thanks, Dad. That really is good news. It will also give Mary a reason to stay and run the restaurants after Tracy goes off to LA for college,” I said.

“We never considered that,” Mom said to tweak me.

I just raised my eyebrows. It sounded like my parents had planned this out. If they’d taken down Mr. Rigby and Mr. Thompson for their role in what happened with Cal and me, I was sure that Mr. Fox, the scumbag, wasn’t far behind. He would look good flipping burgers.

When I got back from church, I was about to leave to do another yard cleanup for my grandmother when my phone rang. It was from a number I didn’t recognize. I don’t know why I didn’t just reject it since almost half of them were robocalls, anyway.

“This is David.”

“David, Alex.”

Alex was my new friend I’d met in Greece. The last I’d heard, his dad had almost been abducted with the help of some of their security. I’d asked Pia, ‘Little Tony’ Giovanni’s sister and his go-between, to help them. When I left New York, she’d assured me they were safe.

“How’s everything going?”

“It’s starting to calm down. I don’t know if you know or not, but my grandfather was in the drug trade. While I’m pretty sure my uncles still are, my dad never was,” Alex explained.

“I might have heard a rumor to that effect. Was your dad’s attempted kidnapping part of that?”

“We’re pretty sure it was. Dad was considered a soft target because he isn’t in the business. We think the plan was to take him to have leverage on my uncles.”

“Why did they plan to take me?” I asked.

“Money. Kidnapping is big business in Colombia. We surmise that they thought they could take both you and my dad and get a payday.”

“I’m glad it’s not such a big thing here in the states.”

“It happens more than you think,” Alex warned me.

He was probably right.

“Are you back home?”

“Not yet. The Giovannis have been putting us up. Dad plans to move us to California soon. My sister and I start college in the fall, and Dad says that might have to be put on hold if he isn’t sure of our safety. We’ve been accepted to UCLA, but I’m not sure that will work out.”

“Why?” I asked.

“They want freshmen to live in the dorms, and Dad isn’t satisfied they have any secure enough. If it doesn’t work out, we may have to get a place off-campus.”

“With your dad’s money, he could make a dorm secure,” I joked.

“Better yet, he could build one,” Alex shot back.

“I bet they’d put his name on it. It would be a huge tax write-off.”

“He’ll get a kick out of us spending his money like that,” Alex said.

“I’m glad to hear you’re all safe.”

“Thanks. And David...” Alex said.

“Yeah?”

“I want to be your friend. I had a great time in Greece, and what you did for us makes me want to get to know you better. I don’t want to lose touch.”

This was one of those moments when my life goals kicked in. If I said ‘yes,’ I would be obligated to follow through and be Alex’s friend. If I said ‘no,’ I would be off the hook, and we would just be acquaintances.

“I’d like that,” I decided.

We arranged to keep in touch and rang off.

Monday May 1
You could just feel that the stress level had ratcheted up as I walked down the hall to my locker. The school year was coming to an end with finals next week. Prom was Friday, and we had our first sectional game tonight against Rockford Christian.

I found Dare and Chrissy at my locker, waiting for me.

“Did you know that you and Gina have better scores in math than I do?” Dare asked.

I wasn’t sure how he knew that, but I would guess he was right. Dare had a bad habit of being too smart for his own good. Both Brook and I had tried to set him straight on how to take tests. If you had a multiple-choice question in math, you picked the closest solution and called it a day. He’d missed a few because he considered none of the answers to be correct due to rounding. By being such a perfectionist, he had allowed Gina and me to keep up with him, grade-wise. The fact we were ahead of him was about to make his head explode.

“What?” I asked as I raised my eyebrows. “A dumb jock and a girl can’t be smarter than you?”

Chrissy threw her hands up in defeat. I assumed she had been trying to talk him off the ledge, and I’d just closed the window behind him.

“You know that’s not true. I’m way smarter than the both of you.”

I gave him a sad look as I shook my head.

“Sorry, buddy, I don’t know how to break it to you, but numbers don’t lie.”

“Are you trying to kill him?” Chrissy asked me.

“What he needs is a distraction. If there was just something you could do to relieve his stress and take his focus off Gina and me being smarter...” I pondered.

“I think that because you broke him, you should have to fix him,” Chrissy shot back.

I really did like Chrissy. She didn’t take any shit from me, and she liked my awkward genius friend enough to give him hickeys.

“What are you two talking about?” Dare asked.

“I was suggesting...” I began.

“Nothing!” Chrissy said as she grabbed Dare’s arm and began to drag him away.

“But David and Gina have to tank the final to set everything right,” Dare complained.

If the little dumbass only realized that had he not said anything ... Now he’d poked my competitive side. I tracked down Gina before class and arranged for us to study after my baseball game tonight. We were both going to ace that final, I’d decided.

I sent a text to Suzanne, my former tutor, with an offer to hire her to help us get ready. Dare was going down.

They’d reseeded everyone for sectional play, and we weren’t the top seed; we’d ended up second. Lemont had garnered the top spot. Since we were the second seed, we would have all our games at home until the finals. If Lemont fell, we would be the highest seed and play at home for that one too.

This day’s opponent was the Rockford Christian Royal Lions. We usually played our baseball games right after school, but they’d decided to treat this more like they did football with a six o’clock start time. That gave everyone who worked till five a chance to make it to the game.

The Booster Club was serving the good all-beef hot dogs. We went as a team to grab a quick bite before the game. Jeff, my favorite reporter, was waiting for us. The guys bailed on me, not wanting to deal with the press. After I bought a couple of dogs with all the trimmings, I joined Jeff.

“I hear there are going to be several scouts here tonight to see you go up against the kid from Rockford Christian,” Jeff said to kick off his interview.

They had a pitcher who currently was undefeated and sported a gaudy 1.02 ERA. The ERA, or earned run average, was the standard measure used to compare pitchers, and the lower, the better. It was a calculation of earned runs given up by a pitcher over nine innings. As a comparison, Justin, our ace, had an ERA of 2.45.

“We should be okay,” I predicted.

Jeff couldn’t help scoffing at my bold pronouncement.

“What makes you think that?”

“Our hitting has come together at the right time. I know we’re facing one of the better pitchers in the state, but I’m confident we can score against him.”

“If you say so,” Jeff said, not believing me.

“Take it to the bank,” I assured him.

Jeff stopped and looked at me intently.

“You’re not just saying that?”

“No, I’m dead serious. The only way Rockford Christian beats us tonight is if they score a lot of runs. If I were their pitcher, I’d get sick before the game to protect my ERA. Once we’re done today, it won’t look near as good,” I said sincerely.

I know it sounded like I was being a typical jock who was puffing us up before a big game. But I honestly felt that way because we were ready to make a run. If we didn’t get unlucky, I thought we had a serious chance at winning state this year.

“Predictions?” Jeff asked.

“I’m not sure about the final score, but we’ll put up at least ten runs.”

Jeff shook his head at me.

“If I hadn’t been around you for the last four years, I would call you on this one. I have no doubt you’ll pull it off. Good luck tonight.”