Chapter 39

David
Lexi left to do laundry at her condo, so David grabbed a quick bite and then went to the baseball stadium. He found Coach Deneau in his office.

“You have a minute?” David asked.

“Sure. I wanted to talk to you anyway.”

“Yeah? What about?”

“I talked to Coach Conde yesterday,” Coach Deneau said.

“Really? How is Mario doing?”

Coach Conde coached the baseball team David had worked out with in Cuba while shooting his movie. He was also an assistant coach for the Cuban Pan Am team David faced.

“We had a long talk about you,” Coach Deneau said with a smile. “You made quite the impression.”

“Did he have any players we could recruit?”

“He did, but said that most kids good enough to play college ball want to play professionally. I didn’t realize how poor they were there.”

“It’s a whole different culture. The government provides basic handouts, and salaries are low. Most Cubans have to have some form of side income to make ends meet. I ran into a one who had been a doctor who was bartending so he could earn American dollars.

“I can see them being focused on the money. Even the lowest minor league contract would make them kings back home. It doesn’t take much each month to make a real difference in their family’s lives,” David shared.

“Do you think these kids are worth pursuing?”

“I do because you can sell them on both an education and exposure to scouts. You would have to give them a full ride or help them with some other form of financial aid, but these kids will work their butts off. My impression was that many of them would benefit from a good training program. The majority of them don’t have access to anything like what we have in our weight room, the specialized conditioning, or the other training aids we have,” David said.

“That’s what Coach Conde told me. He also said he would be interested in coming to America.”

“I only worked with him for a few weeks, so I don’t really know if he’s a great coach or not. I would guess he is since he was on the coaching staff for the Cuban team at the Pan Am games. He did impress me in our interactions in Cuba. I do know that he has contacts all over Cuba. I’m sure you can figure it out from here,” David said.

“Why are you early?”

“I wanted to talk to you. I need advice on how to handle a situation,” David said.

He then spent thirty minutes talking about what was going on with him and football. David shared his decision that he wanted to play quarterback.

“I guess I’m asking what you think would be the best way to approach Coach Clayton and not have him shut me down,” David said to finish.

“I have a bit of inside information that might help you out. Word in the athletic department is that Matt Long may be held out from practice because of his ribs. He’s getting a CT scan today so they can see the extent of the damage. For now, Travis Barry will be taking Matt’s snaps in practice,” Coach Deneau shared.

Travis was a senior, and David was sure he was excited to get his shot.

“How should I play it?” David asked.

“If you came in on Monday morning, and I were Coach Clayton, I would kick you out of my office. Now, if you came in on Wednesday, and Matt isn’t back, and Travis isn’t doing the job, I would begin to look down the depth chart. Not so much as a replacement for Matt, but because I would worry about the season if he gets hurt.

“If I were you, I would approach him with a ‘for the good of the team’ pitch. Tell him that you would like to get some reps at quarterback in case of an emergency. If you don’t come across as trying to change what Coach Clayton has planned, he would be more likely to let you on the offensive side of the ball,” Coach Deneau said.

“That sounds a bit thin, if you ask me,” David complained.

“Well, anything short of a coaching change is going to leave you behind the eight ball. You said you planned to redshirt this fall. Show him what you can do in practice and, while you’re at it, show the fans who come out to watch practices; they’re open to public viewing. I’ve come to recognize that when you have David Dawson on your team, the alumni and fans know about it.

“Coach Clayton knows that if he gets on the wrong side of certain alumni, his days at USC are numbered. And the fans always think the guy on the bench is the answer. Especially if your team starts losing this coming season. You just need to be the guy they’re all looking at as the savior,” Coach Deneau advised.

“Is that why you play me?” David asked with a little smile.

“I won’t be if you go oh-for-four like you did yesterday,” Coach Deneau shot back.

“They walked me,” David said to defend himself, then added, “You need to either move me down in the lineup or once I’m on the base path, cut me loose so I can make them pay for walking me.”

“You trying to tell me how to do my job?” Coach Deneau asked, giving David a disapproving look.

“Of course I am. Have you ever met a teenager that didn’t know what was best? If you old folks would just get out of the way and let us run things...” David teased.

Coach Deneau kicked David out of his office with the instructions to go learn how to hit. David was starting to really like him.

Coach Deneau moved David into the third spot in the lineup. It worked like a charm. With players in front of him that got on base, Washington was hesitant to walk him. They also didn’t want to have multiple base runners when the Trojans’ cleanup hitter, Andres, was up right after David.

Later in the game, David led off an inning at bat, so the Huskies walked him. He promptly stole second base to get himself into scoring position. Andres hit a solid shot to right field that allowed David to score from second. That put them up 3–2, which ended up the final score.

After the game, he went straight to Malibu. David saw the Mustang, which meant that Cassidy, Pam, and Tracy had come to join his family for the afternoon. He walked into the downstairs and went to the kids’ playroom, where Cassidy was teaching them some basic tai chi.

David spotted Dave and Duke in the corner. Dave was in time out, and it looked like David’s hound had taken a time out with him to show support. Dave had his hand on the Labrador’s head. Duke peeked around and saw David, which caused his tail to wag.

David walked over and got down so he could love up his hound and put his arm around his son.

“What did you two do?” he asked.

Dave wrapped his arms around David’s neck.

“He’s been a grumpy butt all morning and decided not to mind,” Scarlet said, coming up behind them. “I was about to come to get him.”

“Why don’t you and I go out back and I throw the ball for Duke?” he asked Dave.

They went into the backyard, and David sat in the grass with Dave. While David tossed the ball for his dog, he tried to interact with his adopted son. Dave was nearly two and a half. He remembered his brother’s kids when they were that age. They called it ‘the terrible twos’ for a reason. Greg’s kids were, at times, confused, emotional, and temperamental, to put it mildly. Nothing seemed to come easy; then, six months later, it was as if they got it all together.

David cringed at the thought that the other four would soon follow in Dave’s footsteps. What he’d learned from his brother was to be patient and spend one-on-one time with the munchkins. They were acting out because they were frustrated.

Cassidy must have been done with the rest of the horde because they soon joined their dad in the backyard. Carol sat down with him and began to tell her dad some fascinating story while the boys went in four different directions.

David knew that Duke took baby-watching seriously. If the kids got into anything, his dog would tell him. When Duke appeared and looked agitated, David scanned the backyard.

“Jacob Jeffrey Dawson!”

There was a fence around the pool for a reason. Coby was teetering on the top. He looked up at his dad and lost his balance. Before David could get to him, he’d landed flat on his back.

’Frick!’ David thought as he ran to see if his son had killed himself this time. When he got there, Coby was giggling. The little dork had to be made of rubber.

No sooner had he checked his son out when Duke was back. Dawson was digging up his mom’s tomato plants. Thankfully, Pam and Tracy came out and helped him.

“Your mom had us all make bets as to when you either got one of them killed or gave up,” Pam shared.

David looked up and saw all the women watching from the roof. He could hear them laughing at his attempt to supervise all the little monsters on his own. David reflected that he only got to see them a couple of hours each week. The women did yeoman’s work the other six days a week to make it possible for him to go to college. He couldn’t and wouldn’t begrudge the girls having a bit of fun at his expense.