Chapter 28

Every baseball team is tied for first place when the season begins. The cries of 'wait until next year!' by the fans of every team but last year's champion prove that in baseball, hope springs eternal.

The high school team was playing its opening game at home, on a crisp spring morning. Soon the sun would warm the field, but for now, the players gave out clouds of steam as their hot breath hit the cold air while they warmed up before the game.

The team had been optimistic about their chances going into their initial practices. Although it wasn't discussed openly by the players, when Bobby decided to start playing again, their expectations went through the roof. Most of the team remembered him from Little League, where he'd been the dominant force on the Loyal Realty team that shared the league championship in his last year playing.

He was still bigger than anyone his age in the school, and in fact there were only a few seniors larger than him. And none of those were on the baseball team.

He still was being held out of pitching in games by the coaches, having him work his throwing arm back into shape slowly and carefully. Some of the creative conditioning ideas the pitching coach came up with had Bobby shaking his head.

The weirdest one was what the coach called 'the rice drill.' This consisted of the coach lugging to the field a two foot high rubber kitchen garbage can, filled with grains of white rice. Bobby's challenge was to worm his hand through the rice, all the way to the bottom of the can.

His initial skepticism went away quickly, as at first he could just get past wrist deep. After a week or so, he could still only get half way down, but he could really feel the affect on the strength of his arm.

In Little League, the best fielder on a team typically plays shortstop to maximize their chances of being involved in plays during the game. Bobby had played there when he wasn't pitching. But the high school team already had an outstanding shortstop, and Bobby was trying to learn to play in the outfield for the first time in his life.

He was put in right field, which the coach could tell pissed him off. It had been the position of shame in Little League. The coach explained that at this level, right field was the place for the player with the strongest arm of the three outfield positions. The coach didn't mention that it was also a simpler starting point to develop Bobby's fielding skills. His intent was to move Bobby to center field, as soon as he got comfortable in right.

Collette pulled her Beemer into the school parking lot, with Sammy, Julie, and Porter Wilson on board. On the drive over, Collette and Sammy had been trying but mostly failing to be casual about Porter's arrival on the scene. They couldn't help looking at them in the back seat with big grins on their faces, despite Julie's warning glares.

They made their way to the home team's side of the diamond, above the team's dugout on the left field foul line. They found Patty and Morton already there, sitting with Raul and Barbara, Sandy Goodwin, and Collette and Dave's parents. They began settling on the bench immediately in front of them. Julie introduced Porter to Patty and Morton.

Sammy said hello to Sandy, and was puzzled as the young teacher seemed startled by her greeting. Even as she returned her hello with a smile and brief hug, she seemed preoccupied, looking around at the other fans taking their seats around them.

As they were placing their seat cushions and arranging their blankets against the chill, Collette was startled by a bear hug from behind. The surprised girl looked over her shoulder to see who had engulfed her, and found Barbara's face beaming at her.

"Well, hi there, Mrs. Ramirez," Collette said playfully. "I should have known it was you. There's this bump in my back," she observed, referring to Barbara's swelling belly pressing into her.

"You know better; call me Barbara, Collette. Do you know why you're being hugged?"

"Uh, no, not really."

"Because you got my bone headed son to play baseball again, that's why."

"Hey, I didn't do anything," Collette protested.

"Really? That's not how I heard it," Barbara replied with a grin.

Collette immediately turned to give Sammy a suspicious look, but found that she'd turned away and was engrossed in conversation with Patty and Morton. They were telling her about their plans for a picnic for two later in the day.

"Thank you very much, Collette," added Raul. "We can already see the difference — he's much happier since he started playing again."

"You're welcome, but as soon as he got to the field I could tell he was going to play. I didn't really have to do anything but get him there."

"We're glad you did, Collette. We'd tried and couldn't persuade him. I know Dave and Sammy tried. I guess you just know how to deal with him better than we do," teased Barbara.

Collette snorted. "I seriously doubt that, Barb. I've never been able to figure guys out. As soon as I think I have a handle on one, they manage to slip away from me."

Barbara started to say something, but seemed to think better of it. After a few moment's pause she said, "Well, thank you again for your help. Now we just have to see if he remembers anything about how to play."

Sammy, who had supposedly been engrossed in another conversation, quickly spun around.

"Just wait, Mom," she said with obvious pride for her step-brother. "He's gonna kick some serious butt out there."

"Do you really think so?" asked Barbara doubtfully. "I mean, he hasn't played for so long."

"I think if anything, he's hitting better than before," Sammy replied. "He used to spend so much time practicing his pitching that he basically just winged it at the plate. They've got some good coaches on this team, and they've got him just ripping the cover off the ball."

"He said they aren't letting him pitch yet though," observed Raul.

"Yeah. They know how long it's been since he threw a lot, so they're being careful. I think that's another sign that the coaches know what they're doing."

About then Julie moved over in front of Raul and Barbara, holding an embarrassed Porter Wilson's hand.

"Hi Barb, hi Raul," she said with a shy smile. "Hey, I wanted you to meet Porter Wilson — he's Muriel's grandson, so you may see him around from time to time."

"It's nice to meet you, Porter," said Barbara sincerely. "We'd really like to have you and Muriel over for dinner some time. I've spoken with her on the phone to thank her for all her help to Julie and Bobby. She sounds like a very smart and sweet lady."

"She sure is," Porter replied.

"Yeah," rejoined Julie, "and you've got to keep your eye on her too. She's a tricky little so and so sometimes."

Porter simply chuckled, and Barbara chose not to pursue Julie's remark.

As the time for the start of the game grew closer, Sandy seemed to get more and more... twitchy. She kept scanning the entry points to the stands, as if she were waiting for some one, though she hadn't mentioned anything about it to Raul and Barbara. Barbara managed to resist asking what was up, but kept an eye on her nonetheless.

Raul got up to get some coffee for him and Barbara to combat the chill. He stopped to ask Sandy if she would like one as well, blocking her view of the main entrance until he could get her attention. She looked up and snapped at him that she didn't want one. Raul raised his eyebrows at Barbara, who silently shrugged her shoulders.

As Raul moved on, they heard Julie call out, "Hey, there's Mr. Harris!" Collette looked and smiled broadly when she spotted him as well. "Hey, Ron!" she called down to him.

As Harris looked up and grinned at Collette's brash greeting, Sandy jumped to her feet and waved down to him as well. He reversed course to get to the proper aisle and began climbing up the steps to them.

"So... do you have something to tell us, Sandy?" asked Barbara teasingly.

Sandy turned to her with a slightly guilty grin. "Well, maybe. I was worried you might think I'd lost my mind if you heard I was dating another cop."

"Hey, I've wanted to meet this guy myself," Barbara replied. "After the good stuff all the kids were telling us about him, I was thinking about tracking him down and jumping his bones myself."

"What! Barbara, don't you even think about..." Her voice trailed off as she realized that she had just been effectively tricked into revealing the depth of her feelings.

"Barb, you can be a sneaky bitch sometimes," she said ruefully.

"Never mind me, dear," said Barbara with a grin. "Greet your new man," she urged her gently.

Sandy turned and smiled shyly as Ron approached. She held out her hand for him to grasp as he sat down. After he gave Sandy a quick kiss on the cheek, she turned proudly to introduce him to her friends.

As luck would have it, the opponent for the first game of the season was generally thought to be their strongest rival in the league. The size of the crowd for both teams reflected the importance of the game, and Bobby looked in wonder at all the people that had turned out. It was the largest crowd he'd ever played in front of, and the season was just starting!

They had a few spare minutes after their warm-up drills, and Dave and Bobby came to the fence near their families; all their teenage friends and family flowed down the bleachers to wish them well.

It wasn't long before Dave and Bobby had to get back to the dugout. As their friends began climbing back up the bleachers, a voice called out to Porter.

"Hey, Wilson! I didn't know fags came to baseball games!"

All the teens turned to see a group of three boys looking at Porter with sneering grins on their faces. Julie wheeled angrily to face them.

"Yeah? Where are your dates, you dick-less wonders?" she called back to them.

"You're his... his date?" asked one of them in surprise, gaping at the pretty girl with the big chest holding on to Porter's arm.

Julie was about to reply, when a soft call came from the direction of the field.

"Hey," called Bobby softly to Porter's tormentors. "C'mere," he called, crooking his finger at them.

The three of them looked soberly at the big ball player that was looking calmly up at them. They reluctantly got up and walked down to the fence, where Bobby spoke to them, too softly for anyone but the boys to hear what was said.

At the end of their chat, the people in the stands could see all three of them nodding vigorously at Bobby. He gave them a friendly smile and hustled off to the dugout.

The boys Bobby had been talking to climbed up the stands to where Porter and Julie were settling back into their seats.

"Hey Porter, sorry man. We didn't mean... well, anyway... we won't be saying stupid shit, I mean stuff, like that, any more."

"No problem, guys," said Porter calmly. "And don't be afraid to ask for help in math class. Okay?"

"Really? That's cool! Thanks Porter," said one enthusiastically while the others nodded vigorously. They then turned and walked back to their own seats.