Mayfield Magic

 

 

CHAPTER 19

CALIFORNIA HERE WE COME

 

SUNDAY, JULY 26.

 

<Aiden’s house>

 

Larry had pancake batter mixed and bacon ready to be fried. He knew he had to wake the boys by eight to give Mason plenty of time to shower, eat, and be ready for Mason’s mother to pick him up at ten for church. That gave them another fifteen minutes to sleep. He predicted Aiden would be cranky and Mason would be his usual, unflappable self.

 

Larry thought about hearing Mason’s singing coming from Aiden’s room as he sang “The Impossible Dream”. Because the sound was muffled by the walls and the distance, he knew he was losing a lot of the tone of Mason’s voice. He was sorely tempted to go upstairs to listen, but even standing outside in the hall seemed to him to be an intrusion on the boys’ privacy.

 

Larry’s thoughts were interrupted by the landline ringing. He saw that the caller was Robert Perez, the tournament director for the BaseBrawl. He answered the phone wondering what the call was about.

 

“Hello, Larry,” Robert said after Larry greeted him. “I hope I didn’t wake you early on a Sunday morning.”

 

“Not this time,” Larry chuckled. “There are three boys spending the night with my son Aiden and I’m starting up breakfast since I have to wake the poor things up at eight.”

 

“Four teens having to get up early on a Sunday. Well, it will get them in shape for waking up for the morning tournament games.”

 

“What can I do for you at this early hour?” Larry asked.

 

“I have some questions about a young man on your team.”

 

Larry assumed the questions were either about Skip or one of the two pickup pitchers. He wondered which ‘I’ he had neglected to dot or which ‘t’ he hadn’t crossed. “Ask it and I’ll answer it.”

 

“It’s regarding Mason Johnson.”

 

“Mason? What about Mason? He’s a player on my regular roster.”

 

“Sorry, I should have set your mind at ease before asking the question. This has nothing to do with your roster, but with Mason as a person or, more specifically, as a singer.”

 

Larry breathed a little easier. “Well, Mason is a wonderful boy. Friendly, polite, and well-liked by his teammates.” Larry figured it best not to go into Mason being a first-class horndog. In that respect he wasn’t all that different from many of his peers. “As for singing, I know he’s had a few years of singing lessons and still sees his teacher. He has a beautiful singing voice. In fact, he…”

 

Robert finished Larry’s sentence. “He sang the National Anthem before one of your games. I have promised not to go into detail, but Carol Novak, who is head of the tournament entertainment committee, has seen a video of Mason’s performance and recommended him to sing for an event at the tournament. The singer of the opening National Anthem has been picked.

 

“We have scheduled for ‘America the Beautiful’ to be sung before the Friday morning games, but we don’t have a singer yet. As I said, Mason’s name has come up and I wanted your take on whether you think he would be interested and how he would work out as a performer.”

 

“Oh, Mason would definitely be interested. He loves to sing and to perform. As well as sing, he also plays piano and guitar. I am not an expert on music, but I know talent when I hear it. I think Mason would be an excellent choice. Mason happens to be one of Aiden’s teammates overnighting and, as far as I know, is still sleeping soundly.”

 

“Please don’t mention anything to him. I will need the okay of his mother before I make a proposal to him.”

 

“His mother will be picking him up at ten for church. I’ll give her a call and see if she can come a little early and call you regarding Mason singing. I am certain she will approve—she is very proud of Mason’s musical abilities, much more so than she is of his baseball talents,” he chuckled. “Mason is an excellent utility player for us but is not a regular starter. His hitting is a bit suspect but he’s an outstanding defensive player and a smart baserunner. His mom knows he loves playing and she enjoys watching him play. Anyway, you should receive an answer in a couple of hours at most.” Larry knew he had probably presented Perez with too much information, but he figured the more he knew about Mason, the better. Larry wondered how Carol Novak had learned about Mason but decided to let that information be revealed in its own time.

 

“I’ll look forward to the phone call.”

 

After disconnecting, Larry called Mason’s mother, Madeline, and told her that the BaseBrawl director wanted to talk to her regarding Mason singing before the start of a set of games. He asked if she could come by early and call Robert Perez, the director. To say she was excited about the possibility was an understatement. Larry told her Mason did not know about this and that Robert had asked that Mason not be told until he had talked to her.

 

The house was soon enlivened by two teen and two tween boys. They came downstairs for breakfast in the raw. Larry quickly negated Aiden’s morning crankiness by assigning him to be the Naked Chef for breakfast. Aiden named Mason his assistant and the preparation of breakfast got underway, followed by the kind of consuming only pubescent boys could pull off.

 

After breakfast and the kitchen cleanup, the boys showered, dressed, and waited for their rides to show. Mason was surprised to see his mother had arrived while he was showering with Aiden. He was relieved that she was on the main floor and had no idea the two had showered together. While his mother was a punctual person, she was rarely early. He was also surprised she was on the phone and wondered if the phone call was the reason she was early.

 

Mason soon learned what the reason was. “Are you serious?” he asked. “They really want me to sing right there at the Brawl?”

 

“Yes, they do,” his mother responded. “You know you have my permission to sing. You know that I’m so proud of you for being asked. And what that means is that it’s up to you whether you do it or not.”

 

“Where do I sign up?” Mason grinned. Before he could move, Aiden, who’d been in the back of the room listening to everything going on, ran up to him and gave him a hard, long, gigantic hug accompanied by a kiss on his right cheek that somehow made a ten second stop at his lips.

 

Larry looked at Madeline Johnson to see how she would react. He knew she was very protective of her son, and that included keeping him from succumbing to the temptations offered by his friends and peers. But she looked on as if seeing the two boys kiss was the most natural thing in the world.

 

“I can see you’re both pretty happy about Mason singing at the tournament,” she said.

 

“Um…yeah.” Mason stuttered as Aiden broke the hug. He waited for his mother to go off on him, but when she didn’t say anything, he finished what he wanted to say. “’America the Beautiful’ is a real pretty song and I know I can sing it.” Of course, Mason often thought he could sing anything, but he was trying to be modest. He was also trying to get a feel for what his mother thought of Aiden’s hug and kiss, but all she did was smile. Mason’s mother had changed a lot over the last couple of years and, as far as he was concerned, it was a change for the better. She hardly ever gave him flack anymore for walking around the house in nothing but his underpants, or even naked, and when she did say anything, it was because she had a good reason, like company was coming or they would be leaving the house for something.

 

After Mason left with his mother, Aiden sat next to his pop. “I can’t believe I did that,” Aiden said.

 

“What, hug him?” Larry asked.

 

“No, hugging is cool with almost everybody. Even my kiss on the cheek is probably okay. But all of a sudden, I was kissing his lips. And we know what his mom can be like.”

 

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but as Mason has started maturing, she’s been much more tolerant of a lot of things that used to anger her. I think she’s seen what a fine young man he’s starting to become.”

 

“I wonder how she’d feel if she knew Mason was addicted to a certain boy part,” Aiden giggled.

 

“If she hasn’t figured out by now that he’s gay, she never will. If you want my humble opinion, I think she’s decided that if she’s going to have a gay son then the best thing that he can do is hang around with the nice gay boys---you know, boys like Aiden Miller or Nolan Moyer or the Hazen twins.”

 

“Well, it’s not like the twins advertise that they’re gay.”

 

“It’s not like they hide it either,” Larry chuckled.

 

Aiden felt blessed that he could have an open and honest chat with his dads like he was having with Papa Larry. He knew that there were a lot of gay boys who weren’t so fortunate. Riley came to mind as a victim of gay basher bullying. So did the boys he read about whose own parents rejected them, causing some to commit suicide. These were topics he discussed with his dads. And when he talked to them about the serious side of being gay, he always made sure to thank them for being the loving, understanding parents they were.

 

“I know you guys are gay and everything,” he’d said to them more than once, “but that doesn’t mean you have to listen when I tell you stuff that’s on my mind. But you always do listen. Always. And you always love me. And, well, I always love you.” Aiden often wondered how much influence his dads had on Nolan’s parents accepting him and Nolan as boyfriends. He suspected it was a lot, especially with his mom. Nolan’s dad being a family judge probably helped him to be a tolerant parent like his dads were. Aiden knew for sure that he and Nolan were two of the luckiest boys in the world for having parents who loved both of them and allowed them to be openly gay boys.

 

Aiden spent the afternoon packing and unpacking his suitcase until he had the items he wanted packed and somewhat organized. When Marty, the experienced traveler, had told him that rolling his clothes instead of folding them before packing was the best way to pack clothes into the available space in a suitcase, Aiden had giggled. Packing hadn’t been a big deal for the Federal Way tournament since he only had to pack for three days. But for this trip he needed to pack for seven days. Using Marty’s method, he managed to squeeze everything into his new suitcase.

 

He asked his dads to check out what he had done before closing up the suitcase. They examined his checklist, saw how everything fit, and gave it their conditional approval. “We’ll need to weigh it before giving final approval,” Phil said. They took the suitcase to the bathroom where the digital scale had it well below the 50 pounds maximum.

 

“It’s good that suitcases have wheels, since there is no way I’d want to carry that thing around,” Aiden said.

 

“Oh but think of the strong arm muscles you’d develop on the trip,” Larry chuckled.

 

“Or think of how my arms will be so tired I couldn’t lift my bat at home plate and all my pitches will take two bounces in the dirt to get to home plate.”

 

“Oh, nonsense. The pitches would make it there on one bounce easily.”

 

The afternoon was spent watching the Mariners kick the Pirates 8-2 at home. Marty went two-for-four (a single and a double) with two runs batted in, a run scored, and a walk. He had a putout and three assists in the field. Aiden watched the game in the nude as he usually did.

 

“Great game by your mentor,” Phil said.

 

“He keeps having good games like that he’ll be a shoo-in for Rookie of the Year,” Aiden said.

 

“Dylan Webb threw seven shutout innings for the Yankees yesterday.”

 

“Marty will beat him out. No question in my mind.”

 

“The writers’ polls bear you out so far, but the votes are close.”

 

Before Aiden could continue the discussion, his phone played a diesel locomotive horn blowing the grade crossing sequence. That was Nolan’s ring tone.

 

“Hey dude, we’re home,” Nolan said.

 

“Am I still on for dinner and an overnight?” Aiden asked.

 

“Mom says be prepared to scarf down her kielbasa special.”

 

“I guess that would be a yes.”

 

Aiden quickly dressed, grabbed his backpack, which he had packed for an overnight, and hugged his dads. He went to the garage, donned his helmet, and rode his bike the short distance to his boyfriend’s house.

 

After Aiden arrived, he dropped his backpack and helmet off in Nolan’s room and they went to the railroad room where they met with Nolan’s dad. Paul was busy reconnecting the track to his mountain tunnel. Once he had the mountain line ready his layout would be complete, and he and Nolan could run their trains anywhere at anytime.

 

“I’m surprised you boys didn’t strip down to your underwear,” Paul noted.

 

“Mom said she’d be calling us up to set the table for dinner pretty soon, which would mean putting everything back on again. You know how she is about coming right away when she calls and about being dressed up for Sunday dinner,” Nolan said.

 

“Oh, I know all right. But she is being a bit loose tonight seeing as she’s serving kielbasa with baked beans and cornbread, which is more like a midweek meal than a Sunday meal. Plus, she’s okay with you and Aiden wearing t-shirts and shorts.”

 

“Mom has really loosened up since we moved to Mayfield. Maybe she’ll even let Aiden and me go around the house naked during the day when he visits. I mean other than in my bedroom or down here in the railroad room.”

 

“Well, you still had to wear your Sunday best to church today.”

 

“I can handle that. Church is church,” Nolan said as he started his Northern Pacific freight train on the track along the perimeter of his table. He didn’t get far before Vivian Moyer called for the boys to come upstairs and set the table for dinner.

 

The dinner was something much different than any Aiden had at Nolan’s house before. He complimented Vivian on how much he enjoyed it.

 

“I have a feeling you’re going to be a frequent regular dinner guest here now that we’re neighbors,” Vivian said. “Which means you’ll get a lot more regular meals.”

 

“Well, if all the other regular meals are as awesome as this one, that would be wicked,” Aiden said. “I’m gonna have to tell my Phil dad about this one.”

 

Paul had thought his wife may have lost her mind by serving baked beans to two young adolescents who would be sleeping in the same bed, but he kept those misgivings to himself. After all, they were the ones who would have to live with the odor.

 

After dinner, Aiden felt right at home when the Scrabble board came out and they played a couple of rousing games. Paul surprised nobody by winning the first game, but Aiden won the second game by five points when Paul was stuck with a Z on his tray after the last play was laid down, which forced him to have to subtract 10 points from his score.

 

“Nice game, son,” Paul said. “You and Nolan both have impressive vocabularies for a couple of boys who are supposed to be addicted to video games.”

 

“Nolan and I both read a lot,” Aiden pointed out.

 

“And it shows,” Vivian grinned. In the short time since she moved to Mayfield, she had gotten to know Aiden better and the more she learned about him the more impressed she was with the boy her son had chosen to be his boyfriend. “I’m going to retire to bed now since I have to get up early for work, unlike Nolan’s slacker father.”

 

“Hey, I might not be a presiding judge yet, but I’ve been going to the courthouse doing my research so that I’ll know the lay of the land when I come back from my leave of absence,” Paul protested. While he was technically on a leave of absence until September, he had started working in his chambers and was paid a stipend for each day he showed up. 

 

Aiden and Nolan said their goodnights and went to Nolan’s room for the night. They had been holding hands off and on during the games and were holding hands as they left the den. After they were gone, Vivian turned to her husband. “They’re sexually active, aren’t they?”

 

“Yes they are, and yes Nolan and I have had some discussion on sex, including gay sex, which I’ve read up on and asked Larry and Phil about. And I know that those two have had similar discussions with Aiden. What we would like to do next is have one or both of us sit down and talk to the boys together. I know you don’t approve of their sexual proclivities, but I feel that by keeping up with what they’re doing and not showing disapproval, we’ll have a better handle on what they do than by forbidding anything sexual.”

 

“I know, dear. If we forbade it, then they would be sneaking it in.”

 

“Well, I did tell Nolan to be kind of sneaky,  and ‘if you happen to have sex at home, do it like you’re trying to sneak it in.’”

 

“In other words, keep the noise down,” Vivian said.

 

“Well, we follow the same rule when they’re around,” Paul pointed out. “Although, knowing how pubescent boys feel about their parents having sex, it’s probably more to keep from freaking them out than for any other reason,” he chuckled.

 

“I just hope they don’t get hurt. They are so young—Aiden isn’t even a teenager yet, although you wouldn’t know it by how he played that second Scrabble game. I just get scared that one day one of them runs into the girl who convinces him that he isn’t really gay and he falls for her.”

 

“Nolan tells me that the girls have been doing just that to both of them and that Aiden has already warned him about which girls are ready to turn him straight after school starts. That said, if it happens, then, with the help of Phil and Larry, we’d have to help them pick up the pieces. But remember, Phil and Larry were boyfriends when they were Nolan and Aiden’s ages.”

 

“I know, but they are just so vulnerable,” Vivian said with a sigh. “I remember when I was in middle school having Johnny Duggan break up with me. I was so devastated. I just hope the same doesn’t happen to them, but we both know it’s likely.”

 

“Yes, we do. Larry, the educator, says middle school romances are notoriously temporary. But the ones that are solid and last are often unbreakable lifetime commitments before they are out of high school. As you know, I had my crush on Dennis Murphy in eighth grade. It almost lasted the school year, but then his freshman sister Franny showed me an entirely different world.”

 

Vivian gave her husband a kiss. “As great as this discussion has been, I really do need to get my beauty sleep.”

 

“I’ll join you and help you maintain that deep and endless beauty of yours.”

 

“You say the sweetest things.”

 

Paul and Vivian turned out the lights and left for some adult fun in bed.

 

While Nolan’s parents chatted about them, Aiden and Nolan  stripped naked and prepared to do more than what Nolan’s parents thought they were going to do. When Paul and Vivian thought of sex between the boys, they were thinking of mutual masturbation or, at worst, oral sex. The idea that they would engage in anal sex didn’t seem possible to them—they were simply too young.

 

On the other hand, Larry and Phil knew the boys went all the way because they all but admitted to it when asked. It was hard not to since they knew Larry and Phil had to hear the various sounds of their sexual intercourse. Larry cautioned them that while he and Phil wouldn’t volunteer any information to Nolan’s parents, they would give them a complete and honest answer if they were asked.

 

But what their parents thought meant nothing to the young adolescents as they kissed and groped and kissed harder and groped longer and kissed deeper until they knew if they didn’t get to the serious business of fucking, they would blow their wads spontaneously. They were so into making out they ignored their partner blowing a couple of loud farts.

 

“You’re bottoming, right?” Aiden asked.

 

“No way, dude. We agreed you’d bottom the first time we fucked in my new digs,” Nolan responded. “And we knew you’d totally bottom when I bottomed out in your sexy ass. You gotta be yanking my chain, ‘cuz no way I said I’d be the bottom this….” Before Nolan could finish, Aiden planted a wet kiss on his lips, and the boyfriends tongue wrestled for a few seconds until Aiden broke the kiss and parked on his hands and knees over Nolan’s supine body. A string of precum attached Aiden’s throbbing cock to Nolan’s abdomen.

 

“Yeah, I was yanking your chain, so while I’m on my hands and knees how about you getting behind me and lick and kiss the ass you think is so sexy and then fuck it as hard and deep as you’ve ever fucked it.”

 

“I love it when my cute, innocent looking, blond boyfriend talks dirty to me,” Nolan grinned as he got out from under Aiden.

 

“Are you gonna use a condom?” Aiden asked.

 

“Do you want me to?”

 

“I want you to fill my ass with your cum.”

 

“Then I guess the answer is no.”

 

Before Aiden knew it, Nolan was behind him kissing his ass, then licking his pucker, before giving him a tongue fucking.  Aiden’s body shivered and he knew it wouldn’t take him long to shoot his load. He didn’t care—he was so turned on he knew he’d get up again while his boyfriend fucked him.

 

Nolan got a tube of lube out of his nightstand, applied it to all the right places, and quickly shoved his five-and-a-half-inch teen cock into Aiden’s tight ass. He then did as he promised and plowed him with his buff teen body shoving his erection as deep as it would go.

 

Aiden reacted as he knew he was going to and less than two minutes after accepting his boyfriend’s cock he shot his watery tween cum over Nolan’s blue and white striped fitted sheet. He fought to keep his moaning down as he squirted knowing they didn’t want Nolan’s parents to hear the noise of their sex.

 

Aiden’s orgasm brought Nolan to the edge of his own climax and quickly over the top, doing what Aiden had asked for—filling his ass with cum.

 

After recovering their breath and their wits, the boys cleaned up and climbed under the sheets. Neither one was bothered by the gooey dampness of the bottom sheet. They’d slept in worse and more than once had rubbed their combined cums over each other before falling asleep. They saw their lover’s emission as something to covet rather than something to avoid.

 

“I think I am now an official resident of my room and my house,” Nolan whispered.

 

“Now I can call you an official Mayfield boy, which is a boy who has sex in Mayfield in his own bed.”

 

“I’m glad we did this. And I mean beyond us christening my room with our cum. But who knows what kind of sex we’ll have on our trip. I’m sure we’ll do something beyond jerking ourselves off under the covers, but what will we be doing and with who?”

 

“I dunno,” Aiden said. “But I do know we won’t have privacy like tonight where we can be totally into each other. But we will have fun, not only with our teammates, but with the Canuck dudes if we can find a way of getting together with them.”

 

“As long as I’m with you I’m happy. Besides, with Mason as our roomie, we don’t have to worry about his being there. Mason has seen it all and done it all.” Nolan stopped to think for a moment and then said, “Just think, for the first time we’ll be playing on the same team. I love you, Aiden.”

 

“I love you, Nolan, who is now my Goat boyfriend.”

 

“I’m not sure at all what to make of that.”

 

The two turned toward each other and kissed and petted each other wondering if sleepiness or intense horniness would come first. Sleep won—this time.

 

<Max>

 

Aiden, Max, and Muddy were the only members of the Goats who did not sleep in their own room that night. Max was invited to a party that junior Julio Bernard was hosting. His parents were away for a long weekend and Julio, who was sixteen, was allowed to stay home providing he watched over his brother Albert, who was twelve and entering seventh grade. When Julio told his brother he would be having a party with lots of booze and weed, Albert asked what he was supposed to do.

 

“Well, little bro, how about you get shitfaced and stoned,” Julio answered.

 

As a result, Albert got high and drunk for the first time. He also had his cock sucked for the first time, as well as the second and third times. Linda Bacon sucked him for the first time, Max got seconds, and by the time Julio did it for the third time Albert was too out of it to care who it was sucking his cock.

 

Max couldn’t believe he chose sucking a cock over eating out a pussy, but Albert was kind of cute. Plus, Max thought Albert’s antics as he experienced sex and a booze and weed party for the first time were hilarious. But after sucking the almost hairless four-inch cock Max wondered what he was doing there, other than emphasizing the fact that he wasn’t beholden to what the No Matter What Club believed, not that anyone seemed to care. What struck him, as the room was spinning around him toward the end of the night, was that he was the only player on the Goats who drank alcohol and used drugs. For the first time that he could remember he felt guilty about it. But that thought died when he passed out on the floor after somebody had puked on his bare belly.

 

<Lenny and Lance>

 

While the twins slept in their own room that night, only Lenny slept in his own bed. He and Lance enjoyed each other’s bodies as they traded fucks. As much as they loved their boyfriends, they each felt there was something about having sex with his twin brother that nobody else could touch.

 

“We should have said we wanted to room together on the trip,” Lenny said.

 

“What would Riley and Grant do?” Lance asked.

 

“Be roommates like us. Skip could room with them, and we’d room with Max.”

 

“Max? Really? You were more than happy to have Max room with me and Grant.”

 

“Okay, you’re right. It works best the way it is.”

 

“We could always switch for a night,” Lance pointed out.

 

“Let’s see how it all goes down after we get there,” Lenny said.

 

“Let’s try to find one night where we sleep in the same room. We don’t even need to do sex. It could be just to sleep together like we like to do sometimes—not for sex but because we’re brothers who love each other like…well, like…shit…”

 

“We love each other like brothers,” Lance grinned.

 

That led to some kissing and a sixty-nine to finish off their evening. They realized that could be last sex they would have with each other for over a week.

 

MONDAY, JULY 27

 

Aiden helped Nolan with his packing after breakfast. Nolan’s mother had shown him the rolled clothes method of packing, but Nolan hadn’t taken it very seriously. But as soon as Aiden demonstrated how tightly t-shirts, socks, underpants, and a baseball uniform could be squeezed into the suitcase by rolling them, Nolan was convinced. He understood handling his mother well enough to know that he would have to thank her for the clothes rolling suggestion without telling her it was actually Aiden who convinced him that it worked.

 

Nolan was packed by ten-thirty. The boys rode their bikes to Aiden’s house. Aiden did a triple check of his packing list and was finally satisfied he had packed everything he needed. It was time to enjoy a hero sandwich constructed by Phil before changing into their spare swimming suits; they had already packed away their good ones.

 

They met with Larry and Phil on the dock and were soon joined by Paul Moyer. Gordy and his father, Aaron, arrived just after Paul. It was time for an afternoon of waterskiing. Gordy wished there had been a way for Kalie to join them, but this was Aiden’s special little pre-trip party. He made a note to himself to see if he could get Aiden to invite him and Kalie for a waterskiing afternoon after they returned from the big Brawl.

 

Everyone got a chance to ski during the afternoon. They were all experienced skiers, which made the afternoon go smoother than if they had somebody who was inexperienced with them. Kalie came to mind since Gordy knew she didn’t have much waterskiing experience.

 

After an afternoon of fun, the boat was tied up at around three. Gordy thanked his friends for the fun time, then pulled his bike out of his dad’s SUV and took off for Kalie’s house, ostensibly to tell her goodbye. The reason for the long goodbye was that Kalie’s father and brother were working in the lettuce patch and her mother was in Centralia doing some volunteer work with friends. The result was Gordy had sex with Kalie for the second time and for the first time on her bed. They kept their ears open to pick up the sound of an approaching car or truck, which they never heard.

 

Gordy and Kalie agreed that the second time was better than the first since they felt more comfortable with what they were doing. As they dressed after finishing, they promised each other that they would figure out a different place for their third time. They were happy that they were talking about a next time.

 

Kalie made sure to tell Gordy how much she would miss him, and that Brittany would be a poor substitute. But, while Gordy was away playing baseball in California, she’d be in a tournament the same weekend and Brittany would be her roommate.

 

“Well, we have to do something together, right?” she asked Gordy.

 

“I’m good with it as long as I can have fun on my trip too.”

 

“Just don’t have it with a girl.”

 

“I won’t as long as you stay away from the boys,” Gordy told her.

 

They exchanged a long kiss and then Gordy rode home in time for dinner.

 

Aiden received a text from Skip, who was using his grandmother’s phone. “grans and me r in cali. its nice and hot here. we have the bus and ill c u guyz tommorrow.”

 

TUESDAY, JULY 28

 

<The Journey>

 

All of the Goat players were at the middle school by six-fifteen. Even Max showed up early, which raised a few eyebrows.

 

Aiden noticed that Cal had a small carryon case that he didn’t set down with the luggage.  “What do you have in there?” Aiden asked.

 

“I’ve got my trumpet. I never leave home without it,” Cal answered.

 

“You never told us you played the trumpet.”

 

“That’s because you didn’t ask. But I do, and I play it even better than I pitch. I was in the high school band this last school year and in the spring I played in the Lewis County Community Orchestra concert for the first time. I was the only middle school player in the orchestra. There were two high school kids from Centralia and everybody else was an adult.”

 

“I guess that means you must be pretty good.”

 

“That’s what everybody says,” Cal shrugged.

 

“Isn’t that thing kind of noisy to play on a trip like this?”

 

“Don’t worry, I won’t be playing it on the plane, or in the airport, or in the hotel. I might not be playing it at all, but I decided to bring it with me because you never know. I can always go to the end of the beach or something to get some practice in. I sometimes use a mute when I practice to keep the trumpet from being too loud.”

 

“Well, I hope you get the chance to play it somewhere, because now I want to hear you play it.”

 

Riley and Gordy were listening in on the conversation. “Me, too,” Riley said.

 

“And me three,” Gordy added.

 

“We’ll find a way,” Aiden said.

 

The bus pulled into the loading area at six twenty-five. Coach Hallion, Eric, and Jackson Hallion helped the bus driver load the two team equipment bags and everyone’s suitcases. Jackson was coming on the trip to help make the tournament a family affair.

 

The players, along with Larry and Martha Hallion, boarded the bus. Because of his coaching schedule, as well as his work schedule, Phil wouldn’t be flying to California until Thursday morning.

 

After having his schedule changed three times by his boss, Kevin finally was able to make a reservation and keep it. He would be flying to California Thursday afternoon, plus his boss agreed to have the company reimburse him for any change fees or difference in fare if his final reservation was pricier than what he would have been paying before. 

 

As the boys sat on the bus waiting for the luggage and equipment to be loaded, Scott stood up and addressed the team. “Okay guys, Trent and I texted you this, but here is a live reminder. As soon as we’re all off the bus at the airport, when I holler GO, we all shout out ‘California, here we come!’ Got it?”

 

“And everybody agreed to this?” Max asked.

 

Scott wondered where Max was coming from with his question. “Yes, they did, including you.”

 

“Okay, just checking.”

 

Scott thought the Goats should have taken trips more often, since Max was acting out of character by being agreeable.

 

With the luggage almost loaded in the bus’s baggage compartment, Coach Hallion told Jackson to board the bus since there wasn’t enough work left to keep four people busy. Jackson boarded just in time to hear Scott start his countdown.

 

“Now, let’s have a practice run. I’ll start at three and count down. Ready…three…two…one…GO!”

 

“California, HERE WE COME!” the seventeen Goats on the bus shouted out.

 

“We’ll do one more practice when we leave the school,” Scott said. Scott was as animated as the team had ever seen him and they loved how he was pumping them up.

 

Jackson shook his head as he sat in an empty row. He couldn’t recall any of the teams he played on being as whacked as the Goats. He wondered if the team name had anything to do with that. What he did know was that as much he had jerked off thinking of being home alone for almost a week, giving him a chance to fuck Glenda almost daily, deep down he was happy to be going on an adventure with his family.

 

“And when we land? What then?” Cal asked.

 

“Hmm, good question,” Scott answered. “Trent and I never thought of doing anything, I guess. We didn’t want to make a racket while the passengers were getting ready to get off the plane. Do you have an idea?”

 

“Yeah, how about when we touch down, Scott counts down and we all call out, ‘California, THE GOATS ARE HERE!’? “

 

Cal’s idea received instant approval from the players, but Martha Hallion felt she needed to express her motherly opinion. “I think that will create too much of a disturbance. My advice is to wait until you’re on our bus where you won’t be bothering anybody.”

 

The Goats were all surprised when Trent was the one to object. “Mom, you know we’re all going to be behaving so it makes you, dad, Coach Eric, and Coach Sanders all proud of us from as soon as we get into the airport terminal until we land in Orange County. I don’t think one shoutout to show how proud we are would hurt anything.”

 

Larry decided to give his opinion on the matter. “I agree with Trent that it is a way to show the team’s pride. I’d approve of the shoutout providing Coach Hallion agrees and he and Scott inform the flight attendants of their plan. Then you go ahead and shout out, but only if they agree to it.”

 

“I can agree with that,” Martha said.

 

“I think we should change one thing if we do it,” Aiden said.

 

“What?” Scott asked.

 

“We shout out, ‘California, THE MAYFIELD YARD GOATS ARE HERE!’”

 

Aiden’s idea met with instant approval. It was then that Eric and Coach Hallion boarded the bus.

 

“What was the shouting about?” Coach Hallion asked.

 

Scott told him and was pleased when the coach nodded his approval. “As long as you do it before we enter the terminal,” he said.

 

“That was our idea,” Trent said.

 

Trent and Scott then went back to the coach’s seat where Trent told him about their touchdown shoutout and what Larry had said.

 

“I’ll agree to that as long as we get the approval of the flight attendants,” the coach said without hesitation.

 

The captains returned to their seats, nodding to their teammates that they had received approval for the landing shoutout. That had been easier than they thought. Trent had been ready to stand up to his other parent on the issue, but that hadn’t become necessary.

 

The bus pulled out of the middle school loading zone at exactly six forty-five. Scott, who was sitting toward the front of the bus, stood and called out, “Ready! For practice—three, two, one, NOW!”

 

“California, HERE WE COME!” the Goats screamed, bringing smiles to the faces of the three coaches, Martha Hallion, and the bus driver who could see that this was a fun group of boys.

 

Once again Jackson thought about how whacked the team was, which had him realizing that this was a really special team. He also came to the conclusion that his dad and his coaches were as whacked as the players. In their case the issue was why his dad listened to Coach Sanders and accepted the invitation to participate. Jackson had looked up the tournament and its participants online and saw that the boys from little old Mayfield would be playing some high-powered opponents. From what his brother Trent and his father had told him, the only reason the team from the small town received the invitation was that some kid in the area attended Mayfield High School or some school nearby for a short amount of time and went away impressed by Coach Sanders and Mayfield’s dedication to baseball.

 

‘Impressing some high school jock is fine,’ Jackson thought, ‘but it takes talent to win games, not somebody’s opinion.’ Trent had told Jackson the kid’s name and he paused his thoughts to think of it. The name Matthew came to mind, and he was pretty sure that was it. Jackson wondered if Matthew wanted the small-town team in the tourney to give his team a possible easy opponent.  But the Goats were a talented team and had won some big games during the summer, although it wasn’t against the caliber of teams they would be facing in a couple of days.

 

Whacked or not, Jackson planned to root for the Goats and for his brother, no matter what the results. He hoped he might meet somebody to hang out with, since his dad and brother would be on the field. ‘Who knows, I might even meet that Matthew dude,’ he thought. 

 

They arrived at the Portland airport at their planned time. The ride had been relaxing and comfortable, both because most of the ride consisted of running at 60 miles per hour on Interstate 5 and because the boys were so tired after their early wake up times. All but Gordy and Mason had dozed off. Like everyone else, Gordy had gone to sleep early;  he was in bed and asleep over an hour earlier than anybody else. Mason was so stoked about his upcoming song, the excitement of playing in a tournament again, and his first airplane trip, he couldn’t fall asleep. He satisfied himself with looking out of the window at the passing scenery.

 

As soon as the baggage and equipment had been unloaded from the bus, Scott called the Goats together and told them it was time. The boys stood quietly and focused on Scott who quickly started his countdown.

 

“Okay, here we go,” he said. “Ready! Three, two, one, GO!”

 

“California, HERE WE COME!” the seventeen players, plus one high school boy, shouted out in unison.

 

The passengers in the loading area turned to look at the group of boys heading into the terminal. Their thoughts went from ‘it looks like somebody’s going to have a lot of fun’, to ‘I’m glad I won’t be flying with them,’ to ‘what a well-behaved bunch’ as they saw the boys gather their luggage and follow Coach Hallion into the terminal, to ‘kids! Who needs them?’

 

“Hey, bro, thanks for joining us,” Trent said to Jackson when they got to the Alaska Airlines arrival area. Martha soon handed everyone their boarding pass and she, a gate attendant, and the coaches helped the boys secure their luggage tags. In a matter of minutes, the attendant had scanned in their bags and she and another attendant took care of sending the luggage to the baggage area as the Goats headed for the TSA check-in line.

 

Even though the process was beyond boring to the boys, they showed their discipline by behaving themselves and keeping their conversation level low while they were in line.

 

An incident surrounding Cal perked up everyone’s interest as they started though the actual check. A TSA agent asked Cal to open his carryon case. Cal did so, even though he wondered why since the case had gone through the x-ray machine.

 

“What is that?” the agent asked.

 

Cal fought down the urge to inform the agent he was a total ignoramus and told him it was a trumpet.

 

“So, show me it plays music and isn’t fake.”

 

Cal, who was by now feeling a bit sassy, attached a mouthpiece, put the trumpet to his lips, and played a loud, offkey, “BRRAAAAAAAAAAAAPPP.” 

 

“That sounded horrible,” the agent said.

 

“I’m just learning to play it and I’m not very good at it,” Cal said innocently. “That’s why I’m taking it with me, so I can practice when I get to California.”

 

“I can see you need a lot of practice. Okay, you can put it away and join your friends. Sorry to put you through that.”

 

“It’s cool, Mr. Agent. You were just doing your job,” Cal said in his best ass-kissing tone.

 

In what seemed like hours but was actually a little over fifteen minutes they finally made it to the waiting area, heading for Gate 7.

 

“The agent was right, that note you blew did sound horrible,” Trent said as the team walked through the corridor.

 

“I thought about playing the ‘Trumpeter’s Lullaby,’ but I don’t think the dude would have appreciated it,” Cal smirked. Cal didn’t realize it at the time, but his little act of rebellion helped cement him as a real Goat in the minds of his new teammates.

 

When they arrived at Gate 7, they saw that the gate attendants had set aside a corner of the waiting area for the team. The boys took their seats and waited patiently. Nobody could leave the area without checking with a coach and nobody could leave solo, even if they were going to the restroom.

 

Eric surveyed the seventeen Goats going over, giving an extra-long look to each of the boys who was on his first airplane flight. They were Mason, Calvin, Emmett, Lance, Lenny, Rusty, Riley, Mac, Miles, and Max. Some of the novices, like Calvin, Emmett, Lance, Lenny, Mason, and Rusty, looked like they were chomping at the bit to get the waiting over with and board the plane. Miles and Mac had an air about them that said, ‘been there, done that’, even though they hadn’t been close to doing it. Riley and Max, as they looked out the window as their jet that was connected to the jet walk, had a look on their faces that said, ‘WTF am I doing getting on that thing?’

 

Everyone else was the veteran of at least one flight. Eric remembered his first flight. He was eight and living in Tacoma at the time and his parents decided it was time for him to see what the fuss over Disneyland was all about. He had been nervous until the jet accelerated and then his brain shifted from nervous to thrilled within seconds. He had enjoyed flying ever since, although riding a train was his true love.

 

As they waited in their seats, every member of the team had his phone out, texting somebody about their experiences of the morning and about upcoming adventure in the skies. Thirty-four hands were in constant motion as the seventeen Goats lost themselves in the small screens in front of them. Eric walked into their waiting area, amused by the singlemindedness of the players.

 

“Hey, Coach Eric, can we text peeps from the plane?” Emmett asked.

 

“Nope. You’re going to have to put your phones in airplane mode,” Eric replied.

 

“How do we do that?”

 

“I think one of the nice attendants is coming over real soon to give you some quick instructions. So, you might want to send off the text you’re working on real quick.”

 

Mark Durbin, one of the gate attendants, had told Eric and Coach Hallion that since a lot of inexperienced fliers would be sitting together it would be a good idea if he had the players all put their phones into airplane mode before they boarded. The boys had barely sent off their texts when Mark arrived in the Goat’s corner of the waiting area.

 

He quickly went over the procedure with the players. He, Eric, and Larry all double checked the phones to make sure the protocol had been followed.

 

“Your phones will stay in airplane mode until we land and the flight attendants tell you it’s okay to close it,” Eric said.

 

“And then we can text?” Miles asked.

 

“To your heart’s content, although you will be expected to put them away and disembark the plane at some point.”

 

“Whatever…,” Max grumbled.

 

Eric chuckled at Max’s grumble since he knew he was close to being spot onto the mark. The Goats were not only a team, they were sometimes a true herd of goats. 

 

The call to board soon arrived. The boarding announcement had the Goats boarding in the first group after the first-class passengers. When they got to their seats, Coach Hallion, Jackson, Larry, and Eric helped the few boys who had a carryon.

 

The newbies had been told how the takeoff would work, but even the best explanation couldn’t tell them what the acceleration down the runway would be like. As with Eric, they were thrilled by the experience, as were the veterans in the group.

 

After the jet reached its cruising altitude, a flight attendant made a special introduction. “I’d like to welcome the Mayfield Yard Goats thirteen-and-under baseball team on board Flight 179. They will be playing in an invitational tournament in San Marcos. We wish to thank the Yard Goats for flying Alaska Airlines and wish them the best of luck in the tournament.” Her announcement inspired a round of applause and some appreciative cheers.

 

A majority of the passengers who had been listening to the announcement wondered what a yard goat was. A couple of them, who were sitting close to the Goats, asked them.

 

Generally, conversations went like this: A lady in an aisle seat tapped a shoulder in the seat in front of her, which happened to be Aiden’s, who knew exactly what a yard goat was, unlike a couple of the players who had no clue (Max and Emmett). The rest of the players knew at least enough to answer a question and some, like Nolan, Mac, Trent, Riley, and even Calvin, knew as much as Aiden.

 

“Excuse me, young man,” the lady said when Aiden peered around the seat. “But what on Earth is a yard goat?”

 

“It is a locomotive that is used in freight yards to move cars around,” Aiden answered.

 

“Oh, so like locomotives—powerful machines,” her husband said.

 

“Exactly,” Aiden grinned.

 

The Goat contingent took up seven sections of seats, plus two more seats. They had eight window seats in all which went to eight of the ten newbies. Lenny and Lance switched seats when they could. Max tried to act cool by saying he didn’t care what was outside since all he could see were clouds. But he was secretly pleased when Calvin offered to switch seats with him a half-hour into the flight. Max stared out of his window for around twenty minutes before switching back and then falling instantly to sleep.

 

When the landing announcements were made, the flight attendant alerted the passengers that the baseball team would be shouting something out when they touched down and for them to be prepared. Trent, Scott, and Coach Hallion had done their jobs communicating with the flight attendants.

 

As the jet started its descent the newbies, and a couple of the veterans squeezed their armrests, or, in a couple of cases held hands with the boy (friend) seated next to them.

 

When the jet’s wheels hit the ground some of the boys grunted in surprise while watching for Scott’s signal. It came quickly as he held both his hands high in the air and yelled toward the back, “Ready, three, two, one, GO!”

 

“California, THE MAYFIELD YARD GOATS ARE HERE!” the Goats shouted the well synched cheer. To the surprise and pleasure of the team, the passengers clapped, and this time cheered loudly.

 

The Mayfield Yard Goats had landed in the Golden State of California and were ready to play baseball.

 

Next: BaseBrawl Day 1—The Yard Goats Are Here