Chapter 48

... and woke up to the rooster’s crow the next morning. Willie and I raced down the stairs. One of these days he might beat me down the stairs, but today was not that day. I decided to handle the egg burgling this morning, as Willie had been doing it most of the time lately. When I finished, I went to the kitchen.

“‘Mornin’, Youngster,” smiled my Grandma with her usual greeting for me. Of course she then added. “Nice to see you’re not slacking on the egg duty this morning.”

“Willie earned a break today.”

“Yeah, that boy is a good ‘un. Your grandpa is really happy to have another young man to help out and Willie seems to eat farm work right up.”

“Yeah. Willie’s been great and I think he enjoys working with me and Grandpa, but I think that he just loves us all, too.”

Grandma smiled. I hadn’t known Grandma that well before she got cancer (I was only about nine up to that point. We were living in Pittsburgh at the time and only came to the farm several times a year). From what Mom told me, Grandma used to have a really sweet nature, but really toughened up once she had cancer, because she didn’t want to show the pain she was in. Despite her being in remission, she still could be tough. To me, that didn’t matter. I loved Grandma’s tough and somewhat wise cracking sense of humor. I never doubted her love for me and made sure she always knew how much I loved her too. I could see the love she was feeling for Willie, too.

“He’s something special,” beamed Grandma. “Now, enough slacking. Go and help him.”

“Yes, Grandma,” I grinned, as I headed outside and headed into the barn.

As I pulled up a stool across from Amber’s stall, I grinned at Willie. “Apparently Grandma thinks I’m a slacker.”

Willie laughed. “Well, she’d know better than me.”

“Oh, so that’s how you’re going to play it?”

“Well, you’ll never hear me disagree with Grandma. She’s forgotten more than I’ll ever know.”

I laughed and had to agree. Grandma’s wisdom was legendary.

By the time Willie and I had handed our jugs to Grandpa and washed up, Grandma was calling us to breakfast.

“Here come the real slackers,” Grandma stated looking at my arriving parents and then winking towards me and Willie.

“Hey, we work hard,” complained Mom.

“That’s right, Ingrid. Frieda is an angel of mercy,” added Dad, while Mom looked on at him lovingly.

I saw Grandma mist up and remembered that Mom had been very much involved in Grandma’s cancer treatments. She had battled with her doctors, the hospital and insurance companies to make sure that Grandma got everything she needed to get better. It wasn’t a surprise that Grandma’s next words were of gratitude.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better daughter.”

“I’m sure Heidi would love to hear you say that,” laughed Mom, as she mentioned her sister.

My Aunt Heidi was more than year a younger than Uncle Steve, but almost a year older than Uncle Bo. She and my grandparents had a falling out when she turned eighteen. She had then eloped with her boyfriend and moved to Los Angeles. She had since gotten divorced from her husband, but was living comfortably out there working as a hair and makeup artist in the motion picture industry. I had only met her once, when she came out to visit a few years ago when she learned that Grandma was sick and they had patched up their relationship, but due to her previous estrangement and her busy career, she had never been at any of the family events. Aside from the occasional call or Christmas card, she was a relative stranger. That was sad, considering our Matthews family motto (‘family first’).

Grandma snorted. “Frieda, if Heidi were around more, she might move up the rankings.”

Everybody laughed except Willie, who had never met Aunt Heidi. The rest of us knew that it was kind of a cross between a running joke and a bit of frustration on Grandma’s part. Grandma knew that Aunt Heidi had a busy career and couldn’t afford to take time off to visit. The cost of living in California was much higher than here and even though she worked in a glamorous industry, she wasn’t really being paid a lot.

Later on while we filled the seed drill, I explained the family’s concerns about Aunt Heidi.

“I know Aunt Heidi is really busy, but can’t Grandma visit her?” asked Willie.

“Over recent years, it’s been hard for Grandma to travel.”

“Couldn’t Mom go with her?”

I thought about it, Maybe that was the solution. We men folk could survive without the women for a week if we had to. I thought that maybe getting Aunt Heidi more involved in our lives was worth it. “Willie, that’s brilliant! Why don’t you mention it to Mom first to see what she thinks?”

After we helped Grandpa sow some hayseed, Willie approached Mom and she was all for setting up a visit with Aunt Heidi. When she spoke to Grandma, her reaction was “Well, if she can fit us into her busy life, I guess I can go to that emporium of sin.”

We all laughed, but Grandpa had the best possible response, “Come off it, Ingrid. You watch more of the boob tube than anybody in the house.”

Not to be out done, Grandma’s response was classic. “I only watch the sinners. I don’t live among ‘em.”

That elicited another laugh.

After lunch, I got into my uniform and grabbed my glove. Then Mom, Dad and I climbed into his Audi and drove to my game. I was kind of surprised that Willie didn’t join us as he normally would. Since this was my last game and Monique would be meeting us there, I wanted Willie to be there.

“Willie will be coming with Grandma and Grandpa,” said Dad.

“We just wanted some time to talk to you alone,” added Mom, quizzically.

“What do you want to talk about?” I asked.

“Son, your Mom and I just wanted you to know how proud we are of you. You have been a great son, grandson, brother to Willie and a loyal friend.”

Mom smiled back at me from her ‘shotgun’ position. “We’re also proud of you for being the exceptional student you are.”

“Even your baseball success is being talked about all over town,” stated Dad.

“No way!” I complained.

“Yes, Tommy. It’s true. Almost every time Grandma and I go to the A&P, somebody who knows us talks about how well you played in your last game.”

Dad shrugged. “I get the same response from folks almost every Friday morning when I eat at the diner.”

Friday morning was Dad’s time to ‘hang out his shingle’ at the diner, so that if people in town needed legal representation, he would be at the diner from eight to eleven AM every Friday. Then he would drive in to Pittsburgh and work a half day there.

I was surprised. “Really?”

Dad continued. “Yes, really, Son. The point is that today is your last game of the year. Win or lose we are proud of you both on and off the field.”

“I know we don’t tell you nearly often enough, but you are really turning out to be fine young man. We wanted you to know that and how much we love you,” added Mom

I didn’t have words, because I was fighting back tears. I had made my parents proud and they loved me. At that moment, all was right in the world.

When we arrived at Morris Park, I quickly ran to the field. And took a quick glance at our lineup card and it was pretty much what I expected to see.