Chapter 19

Saturday morning, I did sleep in. Franklin had something that morning and was going to call me after lunch. It was ten o’clock when I woke up. That’s really late for me, even in the summer. I looked out the window and it seemed like summer. It was another very hot day, especially for so early in the year. I went to the kitchen to get something to drink and felt something out of place. I looked around but didn’t see anything weird but I knew something wasn’t right. I washed my face at the kitchen sink and thought about going for a swim. When I looked out at the pool, I discovered what was out of place.

Miss Veronica was laying out by the pool, soaking in some sun. I looked out at the thermometer on the greenhouse door. Eighty-one already. She was kind of far away to get a good look at but I could tell she was wearing a bikini and I could tell there wasn’t much of it. Definitely not a mom bikini. What was she doing at our house? I was going to walk outside to talk to her and realized I just had on boxers.

I went back to my room and put on some swim shorts and grabbed a towel as if I was going swimming. I washed my face again and combed my hair, then wondered why I had done that. I checked the mirror and my mustache was coming in nicely. In another few years, I’d be able to see it. That didn’t make sense. How could I be senior sized and still have a freshman’s face?

I walked out back and slowed down. Miss Veronica was pretty hot. Too hot for forty something. She lay on her back with a book on one side and a drink and baby oil on the other.

“Hi, Miss Veronica,” I said, cleverly not asking the question, what the hell are you doing?

“Hi, Jack,” she said holding her book up to shield her eyes from the sun and look at me. “Where’s Christie?”

“Savannah. Kim, Karen, Mrs. McTighe and her went down to Savannah for the day.”

“Hmmm. We were going to the beach today. I guess she forgot. I decided to get some sun here rather than go to the beach by myself since she’s not around. If that’s okay with you.”

“Yes ma’am. I’m sure she forgot and I know she wouldn’t mind.” Veronica was fit. That’s a nice way to say she had a smokin’ hot body. She had no stomach at all and it made her boobs look better. Plus, her bikini didn’t hide too much.

“Well, I guess it’s just you and me then.” She said that much too slowly. “I hear you did well swimming this season. Is that over? Tell me about it.” I gave her the short version. “Congratulations. And you have one more event next weekend. Come around here so I can get a good look at you without the sun blinding me.”

I walked around to her side and then further when she motioned. She looked me up one side and down the other. It felt awkward.

“You look good, Jack,” she said and actually licked her lips. “Swimming and lifting are good for you, obviously.”

“Thanks, Miss Veronica. You look good too.” Why did I say that? I had been complimenting people all the time lately, but I thought Veronica was probably the wrong person to compliment, at least about her body.

“Why thank you, Jack. That’s sweet of you to say. Old ladies need to hear it every now and then. Even from a much younger man. Especially from a much younger man. You’re just saying that, though.” She was fishing for compliments but I didn’t realize it until later.

“No, ma’am. I’m not just saying it. You look good.” I thought that out loud. Shut up, Jack. “And I hardly think you’re an old lady. Mom’s not old and you’re younger than she is, right?” Why couldn’t I shut up? Just go back inside.

“Just a smidgen. Thank you, Jack. You’re quite the charmer, too, aren’t you?”

“No ma’am. I mean, yes, ma’am.” I didn’t know what I was saying. I was definitely not trying to be a charmer. She started putting more baby oil on her arms and then down to her belly and my eyes went where her hands went and that was dangerous. “I was just making an observation,” I said and looked back up at her face, but she’d seen me looking at her body.

“How old do you think I am, Jack?”

“Oh, please don’t make me answer that. That’s one of those, does this make me look fat questions.”

“Do I look fat?” she asked.

“No! No. Absolutely not. I just meant that, well, you know what I meant. You look...” I stopped before I said anything else. How could I mess up this badly, this quickly?

“Go on. How do I look?”

I sucked my lips into my mouth to keep from saying anything but it didn’t last long. “I don’t think I would guess your age but I know how old Mom is and she looks pretty good.” Shut up and go back inside. Just shut up, Jack, I thought.

“Care to elaborate, Jack?”

“Miss Veronica, I ... no, that’s all I wanted to say.”

“Uh huh. It’s really flattering that a young stud like you would think I look good. I won’t pester you anymore.” I didn’t say anything and there was silence for a moment. “Unless, of course, you’d like to be pestered. If you’d like to be pestered, I could do that.”

I took in a huge breath and blew it out slowly, scrunching my eyes closed. In my mind I could hear Robbie the Robot saying ‘Warning, warning, Will Robinson.’

“Miss Veronica ... I think it would probably be best if I stick to letting my girlfriend pester me. I think she likes to pester me.”

“I bet she does. If I were your girlfriend, I’d pester you,” she said and sat up and turned to get up. I had to leave. I had a great view of the top of her ample tits and I’m sure she knew it.

I put my hand on her shoulder to keep her from standing and she relaxed. It was warm and soft, and surprisingly inviting. “Nice talking to you Miss Veronica, I need to do some homework.” I paused for a moment. I remembered what Karen had said about women and insecurity. I thought Veronica was insecure but I also thought she needed a good fuck. Nope.

“Homework doesn’t sound like much fun. And your girlfriend is all the way down in Savannah. I don’t suppose she’ll be pestering you today, will she?”

“No, ma’am. Not much chance of that,” I said and paused, wondering how to gracefully leave.

She looked me over again and smiled. “You’ve never been ... properly pestered, have you?” I knew what she meant but I wasn’t going to answer. She looked at me and I tried not to give anything away but I’ve been told I should never play poker. “You’re a virgin, aren’t you, sweetheart?” I know I blushed. “My goodness. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I was a virgin ... once.”

We were way beyond what I felt comfortable talking about with Veronica but she was just so pretty and experienced and quite obviously willing. Like I said, it was dangerous. “Yes, ma’am.”

“There’s the ma’am again. You do that when you’re nervous. Someday, some woman is going to cure you of that condition. Mmm, mmm. It must be hard ... waiting to be cured.” She was playing with me. “I bet you’re concerned that when the time comes, you won’t be experienced and you’ll disappoint your sweetheart.”

That was true. “I hope not.”

“Well, I assure you, enthusiasm will cover a lot of inexperience. I bet you would be very enthusiastic.”

“Miss Veronica, I really need to take care of my homework, so...”

“Oh, bless your heart. You’re blushing. If a little talk with me makes you blush, I can’t imagine what your pretty girlfriend must do.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m going to go now,” I said but my feet wouldn’t move.

“Alright, Sweetheart. I won’t keep you any longer. Go do your homework, if you want. If you want to stay out here and keep me company, you can do that too. And I’m sure you know that if you’d like to show me just how enthusiastic you can be, I’d be glad to help.”

“Oh, god,” I unintentionally said out loud. I mumbled and muttered a couple of excuses and went back inside.

I got inside the kitchen and looked back out. Damn. She was hot and wanted to be fucked and she wanted me to do it. I could go back out, grab her and come back in and show her just how enthusiastic I could be. Holy shit. I thought she wanted that before Christmas but she was over the top.

For just a moment, the possibility seemed tempting. I thought I could go back outside and tell her I’d like to be cured and she would do it. And I could do that without any emotional risk. After all, was there any chance she would dump me? No, because we wouldn’t be a thing to begin with. It would be purely physical. She wanted my dick inside her, clearly. No emotional risk, whatsoever.

Except there would be. I’d feel guilty for cheating on Kim for the rest of my life. I hadn’t even done it with Sally, who I truly loved. Nope. I wouldn’t let that happen. I looked out the window and she had turned the chaise around to face the sun but she was showing off her body more. If Cheryl had never been married and was only twenty-five or so, how much more would Veronica know? I wanted to know what Veronica knew. I was frozen at the window, looking at her.

By that point, I was painfully hard. I went into the bathroom, imagined Kim straddling my legs and riding me and shot off in record time. Relief. No guilt. What a day for Mom to leave me home alone, except for Veronica. I congratulated myself for not doing something stupid, something I’d enjoy thoroughly and regret forever. How could I congratulate myself and feel guilty at the same time? The first time you have a chance to fuck a girl, don’t. Franklin was right.

I took a shower and got dressed then went out to the kitchen for some lunch, feeling much better about myself. Veronica was there, rummaging through the fridge. When I came in, she looked up. Thankfully, she had on a wraparound skirt for a cover up.

She took one look at me and asked, “Feel better?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You didn’t think about me, did you?” Holy crap. Was she asking what I thought she was asking? Was I that transparent?

This was crazy. “I’m not sure what you mean,” I said, trying to manage a poker face.

“Good. You thought about your girlfriend. That’s the way it should be.”

“I’m not sure what...”

“Uh huh. You’re a sweetheart, Jack. Your girlfriend is lucky.”

“Thanks, but I’m pretty sure I’m the lucky one.”

“That’s the way it’s supposed to be. It looks like you’re about ready to leave.”

“Yes ma’am. A quick bite before Franklin picks me up.”

“Ah. Girls’ day out and boys’ day out. How did I miss out?”

“We’ll Miss Veronica, I think Mom just forgot. I’m sure she didn’t overlook you. She probably forgot she was going to spend the day with you.”

“You don’t think she planned on leaving us alone together here?”

“No ma’am. I’m pretty sure she didn’t.”

“I don’t think she did either. And if she knew it was just the two of us here, alone, now, she’d probably be racing back.”

“To rescue me, no doubt.”

“No doubt. So, tell me Jack, and my lips are sealed and I won’t tell your mom, when are you going to find the cure?”

“You mean what will be the occasion that I lose my virginity?”

“Mmm. Yes, honey. You can tell me. I can keep secrets.”

“Well, I just think there’s got to be a lot of emotion wrapped up in sex and I want to make sure that I’m not going to have my emotions messed with once I do. And the same for her.”

“Don’t want the heartbreak, huh?”

“Yes, ma’am. That’s it, exactly.”

“And you already had a big dose of that when Sally left. Sally, right?” I nodded. “You’re right to think heartbreak sucks but sometimes a good fuck is just a good fuck.”

“Oh, god.”

“Next time you’re in between girlfriends...” Great. If I thought she pressed me hard that day, if Kim ever split, Veronica would really press. Why? Why me? Only one way to find out.

“Miss Veronica, can I ask you a question?” She nodded. I knew I was crazy for asking but I couldn’t help myself. Too much curiosity for my own good, I guess. “Why are you messing with me?”

“Oh, honey. Let me tell you something. Young girls can benefit from a man who has some experience. Someone that knows how to treat a woman. Someone who knows how to make her feel like a woman. When that young girl gets a little older, she just might want some enthusiasm. Enthusiasm from a strong young stud who might be making up for inexperience. Mmm.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And that young stud, might like the company of a woman who can go into extra innings.”

She looked at me like I was a snack or dessert or something. “I think I hear Franklin pulling up,” I said and started walking toward the front door. I knew she had a Cheshire cat grin on her face. Fortunately, Franklin pulled up just as I went outside and climbed into the car. He started driving and I was thankful to be out of the house and gone.

“You look like the boogie man is chasing you,” Franklin said as I got in.

“Worse. Miss Veronica.”

“Mom’s Veronica? What’s her name, Speller?”

“Duvier. I think Speller might have been her married name.”

“What’s she doing?”

I told him the whole story. He kept looking over at me with his eyebrows up in the air like flying caterpillars.

“You didn’t, did you?”

“No. Are you kidding? She said girls that get a little older appreciate young men that can go into extra innings.”

“Yowzah.”

“Yeah. And the whole time, she’s wearing a bikini that’s illegal in forty-one states.”

“Did you have fun?”

“Fun?”

“Yeah. Did you have fun? It sounds like she did.”

“I don’t know if you could call it fun. I’m trying not to get an obvious boner while talking to one of Mom’s - forty-something friends. Was there fun in there somewhere?”

“First, I don’t think you need to mention it to Mom. No harm done, right? Plus, Mom knows her friend and you said she kind of came on to you before so Mom probably sees it as Veronica having fun. Would she have gotten you into bed? Neither one of us really knows and there’s only way to find out.”

“Great. You mean if I actually fuck her than we can conclude she wanted to?”

“Yeah. And if that happens, don’t forget to go extra innings you young stud.”

“Now, both of you are laughing at me.”

“Maybe a little. She’s pretty hot, huh?”

“Yeah. She could probably pass for twenty-five. Flat belly, long legs, and she’s pretty.”

“Plus, boobs.”

“No kidding. So, you don’t think I should do anything?”

“Not unless you’re ready to go extra innings. She needs a man.”

“I remembered what you said, Franklin. You know, the first chance you get to fuck a girl, don’t. I remembered that. I thought it was stupid when you first told me.”

“But now I sound like your thoughtful and wise mentor.”

“I don’t think I was going to say it quite like that,” I said and we both laughed.

We pulled into the parking lot of the batting cages and walked across the parking lot. Before we went in, Franklin put his hand on my shoulder and we stopped to talk.

“Just so you know, I probably would have if this had happened when I was your age.”

“You would have tried to do it with Veronica?”

“Yeah. And I would have regretted it. Maybe not right away but when I found someone that I loved.”

“So...”

“So, you did good. It must have been pretty tempting.”

“Yeah. Probably more than I want to admit.”

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being tempted, just don’t act on it. Ah, and next time you see some babe grabbing some rays in the back yard...”

“Yeah?”

“Leave her alone.”

“Ah. Don’t put myself at risk of temptation.”

“Exactly. Don’t think it gets any easier, by the way.”

“Great.” We turned to go in and I asked, “Anything special, today? You have a funny smile.”

“I’ve got us booked for an hour lesson with the batting coach for The Charleston Royals, the farm team for the Kansas City Royals. He’s going to evaluate your swing and give you some tips. You know, help you with things that are beyond my knowledge level.”

“No kidding? He’s a pro batting coach?” Franklin smiled and nodded. Sweet.

We got to the batting cage and met Shoeless. His name was actually Joe Jackson but since there was a famous baseball player nicknamed Shoeless Joe Jackson, he inherited that nickname. He wasn’t that old and I wondered why he didn’t play. After all, if he knew so much about batting, why wasn’t he a player? He had a cart full of bats and we walked together out to the last lane. I noticed he had a slight limp when he walked. Maybe that was it. That would suck.

He gave me a thirty-one, thirty-two, and thirty-three bat and explained that the length and weight were related but you could have a thirty-two-inch bat that weighed a couple of ounces more or less than that. The bats he gave me were all minus two and they were balanced rather than end loaded. He sure sounded like he knew what he was talking about.

He started me with the thirty-one and watched me take a couple of swings with each. He took two of them back, leaving me with the thirty-three. Then he marked the bat with colored chalk, explaining that it was for him.

“You’re big and strong enough to swing the thirty-three so that’s what you should use, except if you want to adjust to the pitcher. We can talk about that if we have another session.”

We walked into the cage and up to the plate.

“Square up,” he said. “Show me your stance. I want to start with that, your load and so on.”

He moved my feet, changing the width of my stance and asked if I was okay with it. I nodded and he said we’d work on alignment after I’d hit a few. Then he worked through each stage of a swing. When he was satisfied that I understood the language well enough to take corrections, he stepped outside and set the machine to fifty. I thought it was really slow but he had his reasons. He watched me swing and hit ten out of ten and each of them, dead center over the pitching machine. At fifty, it wasn’t hard to do.

“You’ve got a good foundation Jack. Everything starts with a good base. Your hips open up well. Little change make a difference?” He asked and I nodded that it had. “We’re going to work on your hands before we change the speed.”

It felt good to be told my foundation was good, even though he had tweaked it several times. No major adjustments, I guess. We spent a solid ten minutes just on wrist break and another few on adjusting how close or far from my body they should be. He stepped out, set the machine for sixty and gave me another ten pitches. Then he had me open my hands while still holding the bat.

“One palm up, and one palm down, Jack. Always. The knob and your hip are connected. The knob doesn’t move until your hip does and your hip doesn’t move until the knob does. They start at the same time. That’s a lot but I want you to add one more thing. I want you to experiment with your load. Big load and little. A big load means your front foot is going to lift earlier and higher and a small load is short and quick. Try both and tell me which feels best and why.”

I went back to work. I did well with my hand placement and my hip had been attached to the knob. I was uncertain on the load though. We paused again.

“Okay. We’re not going to cypher out your load today but I can give you something to think about. I can tell that you like a big load. I’m going to give you ten pitches between sixty and eighty miles per hour but I’m going to mix them up. Then, we’ll do it again with a small load. Do you understand what we’re doing?” I nodded and stepped up to the plate.

My load was basically my backswing but it including lifting my lead leg to get ready to hit. I felt like I had more power with a big load but that I could adjust better with a small load. If I lifted my lead leg high and really wound up, I could knock the crap out of the ball and that’s what I wanted to do. He said that was normal but I could compensate by getting my lead leg up and letting it hang in the air until I needed to start my swing if I wanted to. Fractions of a second. He said that if we had more time or met again, we’d use a video camera so he could dissect my swing for me to watch.

“Hitting it deep is good, but first you have to hit it. If you put hitting it deep ahead of just hitting it, you might not do either. A big load might mean hitting a deep ball. But a big load might mean a big miss.”

The hour was over. It was a good thing because I had a lot to work on and I didn’t have room in my brain for any more. We thanked him and he recommended I get a Rawlings hard maple pro bat. The thirty-three was right but I needed my own. We shook hands and he left. I watched him walk away with that slight limp.

My batting glove had been a lifesaver but I was about done. Franklin hadn’t had a chance to bat and he wanted to try some of the stuff Shoeless had been teaching me. He hit about thirty pitches at seventy and felt pretty good about it.

“I picked up a couple of things. Good stuff. You learn anything?” Franklin asked.

“Definitely. It seems kind of weird that there’s not just one best way to stand and swing. What seems like it’s really different for a lot of players is okay. Big load or small, it’s what feels best to you.”

“No one best way. Hey, tell me about regionals. What happens?” We checked out and started walking for the car.

“You qualify on time. Conference winners and the next fastest four guys make it. Usually, the conference winners are the fastest so you end up with the eight fastest guys in the region in each event. I qualified for two, the one and two hundred free. I don’t know if you can compete in more than two. It looks like I’m the sixth fastest for each. So, you get your lane assignment based on speed. Fastest guy gets the four lane, the middle, and you work out from there. Top two for each event go to state. That’s about it. I’ll probably be racing against the same seven guys in both races. Maybe not. Anyway, that’s how it works. This year, it’s up in Conway. If I somehow managed to win or place second in regionals, I’d go to state. That would be fun but I don’t think there’s much chance of that. I know one thing’s for sure.”

“What’s that?”

“I will be the fastest freshman there. No doubt about it.”

“Pretty confident, huh?”

“I’m positive. No other freshman will come close.”

“You’re the only freshman, aren’t you?” he asked grinning and I nodded.

We pulled into the parking lot at College Park, the baseball field where the Citadel and Charleston Royals played their home games. The gate was locked but there was a gap and we squeezed through.

“What are we doing here.”

“Just going to get the feel for the field and we may as well do it here,” he said as we walked out to right field. “If you were playing right field, this would be your reference point, right about here,” he said. I looked from home plate down the foul line to our position, then back at the wall.

“You’ll have to get the feel for how much ground you can cover. If the batter hits it over the fence, you can’t get it anyway so your limit is that wall. High on the wall but that’s it. Your speed is going to be a factor on how far in you can play. The faster you are, the more ground you can cover, the more likely it is you’ll be able to make a play on the ball. If the batter is left-handed, he’ll be more likely to pull the ball and you’ll start here. Farther back for a power hitter and closer in for a position hitter.”

“How do you know which is which? Big guys are big hitters and smaller guys aren’t?”

“It would be nice if it was that easy. Scouting reports. And all that might change if there’s a man on base. Depending on the score, an out may be more important than a run.”

“What do you mean? You’d give up a run to get an out? That’s crazy.”

Franklin went on to explain a lot of the variables for each position as we moved from spot to spot around the field. I had thought baseball was simple but that was definitely not the case. Everything he said made sense. It was just a bunch of things I’d never thought about before.

“I’m not going to begin to teach you about pitching and catching. I don’t think you’ll end up doing either of those, anyway. Thoughts?”

“Yeah. I think I want to play first base. There’s not as much stuff to remember.”

“We didn’t talk about holding a man on base or pickoff plays. And we didn’t talk about backing up the catcher or the infield fly rule or...”

“Stop. A man’s gotta know his limitations. Too much baseball for one day. Man, I thought this was going to be easy.”

He laughed and we walked back to the car. Walking and then driving, he told me how simple the game was, reducing all the complexity for me. We pulled into the driveway. Mom was home and Karen and Veronica’s cars were there too. Could be interesting, I thought. Pretty sure Franklin thought the same thing. We walked in and Franklin announced us loudly, undoubtedly for the sake of safety.

The four of them were in the kitchen, sitting at the table or bar. Mom and Veronica had mixed drinks and Karen and Kim had iced tea. Kim pointed at the pitcher, Franklin and I each nodded and she got us a couple of glasses.

Franklin and I kept our distance and listened to them talk. I figured they were transitioning from antiques to dancing or clubbing, as Veronica called it. Kim was watching Veronica like a hawk. Something had happened before Franklin and I got there and it was pretty obvious there was tension between them. Veronica kind of brushed off what Kim said a couple of times and that didn’t go over well. Finally, Veronica said something about me and it set Kim off big time.

She very deliberately set her tea on the counter, got down off her stool and walked over to Veronica with a look in her eye I didn’t want aimed at me. She leaned in close and whispered in her ear, stood up straight, looked her in the eye and asked, “Clear?” Veronica looked like she had seen a ghost. Kim walked over, took my hand and led me out to the pool. We sat in the loveseat swing and I pushed off.

“Care to share what that was about?”

“She’s forty something. She has no business talking about you or me like we were playthings.”

“Started before we got here,” I said as an observation. “What did you tell her.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It obviously mattered to her. What did you tell her?”

Kim smiled a crooked little smile and thought about it for a moment. “I told her not to mess with you.”

“I believe that. Perhaps I should ask how you phrased it. She went white. What did you say?”

Kim’s upper lip twitched a little and she smiled. “I told her that I am an experienced hunter. I said that I could gut and dress a deer in three minutes and that if she gets within ten feet of you again, I would shoot her, gut her and bury her in six different holes and let the wild boar search for her.”

“Holy shit. I think she believed you.”

“I might have said something else too, but that was the gist of it.”

“Got me a gen-u-wine frontier woman.” I squeezed her and she put her head on my shoulder.

A couple of minutes later, Mom came out and sat across from us. I had no idea if she was upset with Kim or Veronica but she was definitely upset.

“You alright?” Mom asked Kim.

“I’m alright.”

“Anything you want to tell me?”

“You heard her. She doesn’t need to be making remarks about Jack. We’re in high school. She isn’t. She should stop acting like she is.”

“I think she was just having fun.”

“She’ll want to find a different way to have fun. I’m sorry if I messed something up but I’m not going to have her talking like that, like she can. She can’t. Not with me around.”

“What did you tell her?”

“That. I just phrased It a little different.”

“Mom, Veronica needed that.”

“You too, huh?”

“I woke up with you gone but Veronica was here, sunbathing. She said a lot of things that would make you blush, so, yeah, she probably needed that.”

“Did she...”

“Let’s just leave it at that. I don’t want to mess up your friendship and she probably was having fun and got carried away but Kim was right. Also, it was pretty cool.”

“Well, she’s got tough skin. I’d keep my distance for a while, though,” Mom said.

“I don’t think we’re the ones that needs to worry about that,” I answered.

“Probably true. I’ll talk to her,” Mom said.

“I already did that, Mrs. Pierce. I don’t think I could be any clearer and I know she understood.” Mom nodded and went back inside.

Kim was wound up pretty tight and I massaged her shoulders a little. She was like a teapot right before it starts whistling.

“There’s a big difference between Giggles playing and Veronica playing. Veronica isn’t playing. She’s testing the waters. Well, I think she’s done testing. And if she said stuff to you earlier, well, I’m not sorry.”

“You don’t need to be. It was actually pretty cool, what you did. I think I have a crush on you.”

“You better have more than that,” she said, relaxing a little.

“Want to go get some dinner?” I asked. “Dukes?”

“No, Silly. It’s your birthday. We’re eating here.”

“Ah. Forgot. I think you know this, but I want to say it anyway. I would never cheat on you in any way. Just want you to know that’s not ever going to be a possibility.”