Chapter 4: To the Loser

“It wasn’t fair,” said the woman wearing a blue skirt that came down to her knees, a gold blouse, and holding a banner that read ‘Go Bears’. “That other team is way too big. There is no way they are seventh and eighth graders.” She sat on a long wall with a group of others as occasionally a young man wearing a baseball hat and carrying a small duffel emerged from the gates at the back of the stadium.

The man sitting next to her had broad shoulders and wore a short-sleeved hoodie with a picture of a fierce looking grizzly bear on it, “Same thing happened back in my day. The rural parents hold kids who might be athletic back a year before starting kindergarten, sometimes two years. By the time they get to middle school they dominate.”

“That’s not fair, dad,” said the teen girl standing next to the couple and holding another of the banners. “They should make a law.”

The man smiled and shook his head, “I hear that, Nan, but do you want the government to force parents to decide when their kids start school?”

“Steven,” said the woman shaking her head. “If they’re going to cheat, someone should do something.”

“Yeah,” said the girl. “It’s not fair for the other kids.”

Steven shook his head again, “I’m not saying it’s fair. I’m just saying it’s the way things are done in some parts of the state. Shelly, would you have held Tommy back a year if you thought it would help him win the middle school championship?”

The woman shook her head, “I guess not. It’s not worth putting him so far behind. He’d start college a year later, start working a year later, he’d be behind in making a living, not to mention the social situations with boys and girls of different ages in the same class.”

“There you go,” said Steven with a shrug of his shoulders. “The short-term gain often isn’t worth the long-term negatives.”

The girl was a tiny thing wearing a loose-fitting crop-top, a pair raggedy of shorts, frayed along the hem, and a hugely thick gold belt. She looked at another girl next to her on the wall. “Oh god, Sarah, here comes the Enlightened Self-Interest lecture.”

She was a tall girl with long blonde hair wearing a stylish skirt showing off tanned legs. She wore a lightweight green, scoop-top shirt which showed her impressively round breasts to their best advantage. She laughed, “My dad talks about beer a lot, I think you’re lucky your dad is smart.”

“Why thank you, Sarah,” said Steven reaching over to put a hand on her shoulder. “Some people appreciate my advice.”

Nan rolled her eyes at her friend and shook her head, “Except that I have to listen to the same thing twice a day, every day.”

“Here he comes,” said Shelly standing up from the wall and moving a step toward a short but well-put-together young man wearing a shirt with a large, stylized B wrapping around a grizzly bear icon and carrying a duffel bag in one hand and a pair of cleats in the other. He had a head full of thick hair although wet from an apparent shower. Another boy, tall with an ambling sort of gate, walking at his side, tapped him on the shoulder, and pointed to the waiting group.

“Tommy!” said Shelly loudly, waving a hand.

He looked with a sad sort of expression, drooped his head, and slowly walked over.

“I’m sorry you didn’t win,” said Shelly opening her arms.

Tommy dropped the duffel and his cleats and took a step not towards his mother but directly to the tall, blonde girl, and immediately embraced her, putting his face into her shoulder and holding her tightly.

Shelly looked at Steven who shrugged, and then to her daughter who put her hands together in the shape of a heart.

“Since when?” mouthed Shelly extending her hands face up and raising her eyebrows.

Sarah bit her lip and looked at Shelly with a helpless expression while gently patting Tommy on the back. After a long hug he released the girl and turned to his mom, “Sorry, mom. We tried.”

“I know you did,” she said, opened her arms, and happily received a second long hug. “It wasn’t fair, those boys were older than you.”

After a long while he released her and shrugged, “Can’t win ‘em all.”

Steven picked up the duffle bag and put his arm around his son, “They were pretty tough. You’ve got the consolation game tomorrow though. Another chance to show your stuff.”

Tommy shrugged, “Consolation games are dumb.”

Steven shook his head and gave his son a squeeze, “I don’t think so. It’s important to take a loss, come back the next day, and do your best. Builds character.”

Tommy rolled his eyes and looked at his sister with a shake of his head, “Can you make him shut up?”

Nan laughed and ran her fingers through the boy’s hair, “Dad is usually right, even when I don’t want to admit it.”

Steven looked at her and opened his mouth in feigned shock, “What?”

“I said nothing,” replied Nan with a grin and put her arm around Tommy on the other side as they walked down the long cement walkway from the stadium.

“We’ve got dinner reservations tonight at that pizza place we read about,” said Shelly picking up the cleats from the ground and putting a hand gently on his back. “The Pinwheel.”

Tommy looked over at Sarah, “Are you coming?”

Sarah shook her head, “I’m going to dinner with Connor and his family.”

“Oh,” said Tommy and felt a stabbing pain in his stomach but ignored it.

“I’ll be at the game tomorrow and then I can ride back with you guys,” she said with a forced smile. “With Connor, Billy, and their uncle the car is pretty full. That is if you’ll let me, Mrs. Bloom?”

“Sarah,” she said with a smile. “You are always welcome in this family.”

Sarah smiled brightly and made a little skipping step that caused her breasts to bounce provocatively as she moved next to Nan and looped her arm with the girl. They walked all the way back to the big parking lot with Tommy in silence.

“Ok, sport. You hop on the bus with the team and we’ll pick you up around 7:30 for pizza,” said Steven with a smile.

Tommy nodded, took the duffel bag from his father, the cleats from his mother, and then walked over to the large charter bus where a group of boys gathered.

One of them shouted out, “Tommy!” as he approached and soon they were gabbing with one another.

“Hey, Sarah,” said a tall, broad-shouldered boy coming over to the group. He wore a sweat-stained baseball cap and a tight t-shirt that showed off his muscular chest to good advantage. “Mr. Bloom, Mrs. Bloom.”

“Connor,” said Steven with a nod. “Is Billy going to be able to pitch tomorrow? They knocked him out pretty early today.”

Connor shook his head and spat on the ground, “Bunch of fucking cheaters from the farm. Not one of those kids was under fourteen. They pulled that same shit on us back in the day but we kicked their ass anyway. Still doing it.”

“Don’t be so crude,” said Sarah putting her arm around his waist. She was a tall girl but he towered over her.

“Sorry to offend the ladies,” said Connor with a smirk as he glanced contemptuously at Nan. “Mrs. Bloom, Sarah.”

“Screw you,” said Nancy with a snarl.

“Oh, it’s Nan the Banana. I thought you were one of the little boys on the team.”

Nan flipped her finger at him.

“Nancy!” said Mrs. Bloom.

Nan flipped both her fingers at Connor, “Is that better, mom?”

Connor laughed, “Quite the little lady you’ve raised there, Mrs. Bloom.” With that he jerked his head to point at a sporty looking little two-seat car. “C’mon, Sarah. Let’s go for a drive.”

Sarah looked at her friend and the other two with a small shrug and walked off with the boy.

“I hate that fucker,” said Nancy. “I don’t know what Sarah sees in him.”

“Don’t let him get under your skin,” said Steven putting his arm around his daughter. “That’s what he wants.”

“And I would appreciate it if you could manage to use fewer profanities,” said Mrs. Bloom stroking Nan’s hair. “He is a jerk but that doesn’t mean you have to be one also.”

Nan looked at her mother, “You have no idea what it’s like to be my age.”

Shelly smiled, “I don’t?”

“It’s different now,” said Nan. “Social media. He posted pictures of Sarah on some stupid Insta private group.”

Shelly looked at Steven with a puzzled glance, “It means Connor is a jerk. So, Nancy,” he said turning to his daughter. “What was that?”

Nancy looked at her dad, “What was what?”

“That hug.”

“Oh jeez. Every guy in school is crazy about Sarah and you didn’t expect Tommy to fall in love? She’s hanging out every day and half the time in that cheer outfit or worse with her boobs in his face. Half your friends drool over her too, you know.”

“She could do a lot worse than Tommy,” said Shelly watching the girl in question walking off with her boyfriend.

“Mom,” said Nancy trying to act outraged but also knowing what Sarah did for Tommy the night of the celebration party in his room. “He’s going to be a freshman and we’re going to be seniors.”

“Two and a half years isn’t a lot,” said Shelly with a shrug.

“Maybe not when you’re old,” said Nan looking at her mother with a shake of her head and the look of disdain only a teenage girl can have for her mother.

“Old, are we?” said Steven moving next to his wife and putting his arm around her waist.

“You know what I mean,” replied Nan.

“I think they’d make a cute couple,” said Shelly refusing to give up on the idea.

“Dad, help me out here,” said Nan.

“I agree with your mother. Tommy is a fine young man with a bright future. Great grades, smart, funny, takes after his old man in the good-looks department.”

“Humble much? I’m not saying Tommy is the grossest guy in the world,” said Nan putting her hands on her hips and getting ready to continue her rant when she noticed her mother trying to repress a laugh and her father covering his mouth with his hand. “Ok, ha ha. You two are hilarious.”

“Although, to be honest,” said Shelly reaching over to pull at the hem of Nan’s shirt while looking at her husband. “I’m not worried about Tommy. He’ll find a great girl. It’s my daughter who concerns me. She flits from boy to boy like a mayfly but never settles down. I do want grandchildren eventually.”

“Really,” said Nan with a shake of her head. “Grandkids? I’m sixteen.”

Steven laughed loudly, “All right, all right. Stop teasing your daughter,” he said giving Shelly a quick kiss. “Let’s get back to the hotel. We have a few hours before we get ready for dinner and I could use a shower after sitting out in the sun for three hours.”

“I do need to brush my hair,” said Shelly looking coyly at her husband.

“Get a room,” said Nan.

“We have one,” replied Steven with a grin and pulled his wife close.

Nan lay on her stomach, picking chips from a courtesy bar bag, wearing a thick, fuzzy white robe, and watching the television when a knock came from the door.

“Sarah? Did you forget your card?”

“It’s Tommy,” came her brother’s voice from the other side of the door.

Nan scrunched up her nose, carefully put aside the chips so as not to spill them, got up and walked to the door, “Coming.” She opened it and saw, as advertised, her brother standing outside. He wore a t-shirt with some cartoon character on it, a pair of blue shorts, and black tennis shoes. “I thought we were picking you up in like half an hour?”

“I got bored and walked over,” he said. “Can I come in.”

“Sarah’s not here, lover boy.”

“I know, I just got bored.”

“All right, come in,” she said and flounced back over to the bed. “Don’t expect me to entertain you.”

He came over and fell back to join his sister.

“Take off your shoes.”

He kicked off his shoes, leaned back, closed his eyes, and sighed.

“Out with it,” said Nan resuming her former position.

“I was thinking,” said Tommy.

Nan looked back at him and squinted, “Are you sure?”

“What?”

“I don’t see any smoke coming out of your ears.”

“Ha ha, very funny.”

After a moment of silence Nan swung her legs around and sat next to Tommy with her back to the headboard, “All right, mopey. Let’s hear it.”

“I was thinking that maybe you could marry Brad and I could marry Sarah and we could all live together for the rest of our lives.”

Nan’s mouth fell open and she gave her head a rapid shake, “And mom thinks I’m the schemer.”

“It’s stupid, I’m stupid, I know,” said Tommy looking down at his hands which he twisted around each other.

“Oh, sweetie. You’re not stupid,” she said brushing his unruly hair away from his eyes. “It’s just that were still kids. There’s plenty of time to think about marriage later.”

“It hurts my stomach when I see her with Connor.”

Nan’s eyes softened as she looked at him, the pained expression on his face. “I think it would be great if you married Sarah. Speaking of which, she told me she visited you in your room at the victory party last weekend.”

Tommy looked down and blushed a bright red, “Oh yeah, she wanted to apologize for the date. She said it wasn’t fair of her to go out with me, that night with you and Brad.”