Copyright © 2020-2024 DouglasDD. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 51
“NO MATTER WHAT”
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1
<Mackenzie Dixon>
Mac, busy playing a video game, received a call from Trent asking if he and a couple of his teammates could stop by his house. He was surprised by the request since nobody from his teams ever came by his house except for the partiers like Russell, Roger, Jared, Yonder, and sometimes Max. Brodie used to come but busy-body assholes like Aiden Miller talked him into quitting his partying. That had been fine with Mac because Brodie never seem to be having fun, anyway. If you didn’t want to get wasted at one of his parties, then why come?
Which begged the question of why Trent and his teammates wanted to talk to him. Maybe they wanted to become part of the party crowd even though they had signed their contracts and become part of that stupid club that promised to stay away from booze and weed and shit. Yeah, that was it, he thought. If his dad would sign the contract, I could have a party and they all would come, and everybody would get drunk. I would be breaking the contract, but all of them would be doing it, too. What was the school going to do if they got caught, kick them all off the team?
When the doorbell rang, Mac yelled out that he would get the door. His mother was watching television while his dad was in the garage working on whatever project he had on his agenda.
Five of his teammates were standing on the porch. “Hey guys, come in,” Mac said flatly. Trent, Max, Scott, Everett, and Barry came through the door. Mac knew Trent was coming but didn’t know who the others would be. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Aiden wasn’t one of them. He was also happy that they were all eighth graders.
Mac considered Trent to be the leader on the baseball team. He was a tough kid who took no bullshit but was loyal and likeable. Scott was one of those kids who was liked by everybody. Max was totally nice. He had been drunk with Max and Everett a couple of times each, but they hadn’t been to any of his parties since they joined that stupid “No Matter What Club”. Mac knew that Barry used to be a bad boy, drinking and smoking weed—especially smoking weed. Mac had sampled pot, but with his dad letting him drink beer whenever he wanted, he saw no reason to ruin everything by smoking weed.
“So, what do you guys want to talk about? If it’s about my next party, it probably won’t be for a couple of weeks because of some shit my dad and I have to take care of.” Mac was referring to their meeting with Coach Ecklund at the school the next day. He didn’t know how the meeting connected with his next party, but it’s what his dad wanted so he went along with it.
“We want to talk about you playing baseball,” Trent said. “Is there a place where we can all sit down?”
“My bedroom as long as some of you don’t mind sitting on the floor,” Mac replied.
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Everett said. The other four agreed with him.
After they got settled in, Mac and Barry were sitting on chairs, Scott and Max on Mac’s bed, and Trent and Everett made themselves comfortable on the floor. Mac gave them pillows to sit on or to use as cushions if they chose to lean against the wall.
Trent had picked his teammates for the visit carefully. He wanted all of them to be eighth graders, which left Aiden out. Even though Aiden was a seventh grader, he was an acknowledged leader on the field. But Trent felt that Mac would be more likely to listen to eighth graders, plus he knew that Mac didn’t like Aiden, which made it even more vital he be left out. Trent promised Aiden he would report what happened at Mac’s house after he got home.
“So, how come you guys want to talk to me?” Judging by the serious attitudes his teammates had carried into the house with them, Mac was certain it wasn’t what he had hoped for—that they all wanted him to have a kegger, no matter what the contract said.
“We want to talk about if you’re going to be playing on the team and if you are going to play the way we would like you to,” Trent said.
“Yeah, I’m going to play. I like playing baseball. And no matter what you guys think, I signed that fucking contract—it’s my dad who won’t sign it.” Mac went on to explain the contract issue his dad had and how his dad called an old high school buddy who was a lawyer. “We’re going to meet with Coach Ecklund and Mr. Donovan at school tomorrow morning. I bet I’ll be playing, contract or no contract. My dad don’t take much bullshit from people.”
“And if they let you play what then?” Max asked.
“What do you mean by what then? I play baseball, that’s what. And, by the way, what the fuck did you mean about what you would like to see me doing? Are you guys the coaches now or what?”
“I guess we mean two things,” Trent said, “But first, we should tell you what we think we should do every practice and every game.”
“Duh, you should be practicing and playing baseball. Do you think I’m a moron who can’t figure that out or what?”
Scott spoke up for the first time. Scott was more a leader by example than verbally. As a result, when he said something, everyone listened. “There is one word you left out, Mac.”
“What?”
“Hustle. We hustle in every drill. In every play in practice. Every play in a game. We even hustle on the bench by having our heads in the game and supporting our teammates.”
“I hustle,” Mac said without conviction.
Mac’s statement was met by a long silence until Barry simply said, “Bullshit.”
Mac was ready to punch somebody, anybody. He did not like being dissed in his own bedroom by a bunch of assholes who claimed to be his teammates. They might be the teammates of a fellow asshole like Aiden Miller, but they sure as hell aren’t my teammates, he thought.
There was another long silence. The long silences were making Mac nervous, but he didn’t know what he could say to break it. Finally, he decided to put the impetus back on his teammates. “Tell me a time I didn’t hustle.” More silence. “In practice this spring,” he added, knowing there were times he didn’t hustle at times on other teams when he was pissed at somebody.
This time the silence was broken by all of his teammates at the same time. Trent called for quiet and asked Barry to go first. He already knew what Barry’s example would be—a time last week when Mac didn’t run out a routine pop fly to third that was dropped and got thrown out. Barry gave his example and finished by saying, “You ended up running laps for that one. I’m surprised you didn’t remember it.” Like his teammates, Barry knew that Mac did remember it and was hoping his teammates had forgotten.
After Barry finished, Everett chimed in with another, followed by Trent, and then by Max.
“I guess Scott’s got nothing to say, so maybe he thinks I do hustle,” Mac said.
“I think you don’t care about the Mayfield Middle School Titans,” Scott responded. “You just care about yourself.”
“But…”
“I agree with Scott,” Trent said. “Since you never hang out with us, except when some guys came to one of your keggers, and most of those guys either didn’t turn out or were cut, you have no clue how we all want to play and so you don’t know what you should do.” Max felt himself blush at the mention of attending Mac’s keggers.
“So, you want to win games,” Mac said. “Big deal, that’s what everybody wants.”
“What we want,” Scott said, “is to win championships. We keep coming close in all of the sports and we want to do not only what Coach says we need to do to win, but we want to do even more. We want do what we need to do to win the league championship.”
“And not only this year, but every year in high school,” Barry added. “We want to do what the first Go to State Club ended up doing and that’s winning State Championships.” Aiden had been spending a lot of time telling his teammates the history of the Mayfield Baseball Club, the Mayfield Middle School Titans, and the Mayfield High School Mustangs—and his teammates had listened attentively.
“I just want to play baseball,” Mac said. “Is that a crime or something?”
“Nope,” Trent responded. “You can probably find a rec team to play on somewhere during the summer if you want to play. But if that’s all you want when you play for the Mustangs in high school, then you might as well stay home.”
Trent’s statement led to another long silence.
“I thought you guys were my teammates,” Mac whined.
“We are if you want to play on the same team as us. And that means playing the way we play. By hustle, hustle, and more hustle. Play to get your uniform dirty like Riley or Aiden, Mason, Scott, Gordy, plus a shitload of other Titans. And then there’s Bobby Neal if you ever heard that name.”
“Look, I don’t care about any of them. All I want to do is play baseball, but it’s hard to do if you guys all hate me.”
“Nobody hates you, Mac,” Max said. “Everybody wants you to be a part of the team. I mean we’ve seen you play and practice when you’ve played the game right, just like Coach says to do. I mean you gotta WANT it and WANT it all the time.”
“So, we’re asking you if you want it, and I mean it like Max said it, and that is if you WANT it!” Trent said forcefully. “If you’re with us, then just say you are. And if you’re not, we’ll leave. But if you get your contract shit solved and Coach lets you practice and play, I promise you that if you don’t do it the right way, you’ll wish you’d kept your sorry ass at home.”
The five Titans could sense that Mac’s resistance was all but gone. For all his bluster, Mac wasn’t a very assertive individual. He had what could be considered by some a bully’s personality, but he wasn’t even much of a bully.
When Mac first moved to Mayfield a bit over a year ago, he had a hard time making friends and finally looked to see if he could buy friends when his dad told him he could have small keggers in his new home. Mac was no stranger to drinking, but this was something different and he soon had an in with the lower echelon at the middle school and a small number of jocks. He took it personally when his invitations were turned down, as they had been by Aiden.
“Tell me what I have to do,” Mac said meekly.
“We’ve all told you,” Barry said. “Now do it!”
“And there is one more thing you need do. It might even help you with the whole contract thing,” Trent said. He pulled a typed sheet of paper out of his backpack and handed it to Mac. “Read this and then sign it.”
Mac read the large type across the top immediately and saw the sheet was what he suspected it was—the type read “The Mayfield No Matter What Club.” He dropped the paper and watched it flutter to the floor. “I was ready to get my uniform dirty and then you give me this bullshit? What difference does it make if my dad won’t sign the contract? This ain’t no contract, this is pure bullshit.”
“Just try reading it,” Scott responded calmly. Surprisingly, the way he always kept his cool was the big thing Mac respected about Scott.
Mac read the document and then looked up at his guests. “It says if I sign it I won’t drink or use drugs no matter what happens for one year and then I should renew it. It says I have to promise in front of least three witnesses who are in the club that I will stay clean for one year no matter what and then sign this paper and then they sign it and that makes me a member of the No Matter What Club.”
“That’s what it says,” Barry said. “So, are you going to sign it?”
“That means no keggers, right?”
“I hear root beer comes in kegs and it’s pretty good stuff,” Scott answered.
“But it’s not like a contract so I can’t be kicked off the team or kicked out of school or whatever if I do drink or use?”
“Well, that’s not true and you know it. But just violating the agreement has a consequence,” Trent said. “And what happens is even worse.”
“How?”
“You have friends who trusted you enough that they signed this so you could be a trusted member of our club and then you destroy that trust.”
Mac gave Trent a confused look. Scott could see his confusion and decided to clarify what Trent had said. “You see, Mackenzie,” Scott said, using Mac’s full name which nobody did except for his parents when they were upset with him, “you really do have five friends here in your bedroom right now.” Scott picked the document off the floor. “If you sign this and we sign it, it means we are friends who trust you absolutely, which means totally. And if you destroy that trust, like Trent described it, it’s gonna be really hard for you to get it back.”
“This isn’t for life,” Mac said. “Once I sign it and then I want a beer bust kegger, I just wait until the year is up and you have to sign me up for the club again.”
“You could,” Barry said. “It’s what is called a loophole, but nothing says we HAVE to sign you up again. You might end up having trouble finding three club members who will sign for you until you show you can really be trusted.”
“Do I have to go to meetings and shit?”
“All you have to do is what’s on the sheet, and that’s not drink or use,” Trent told him.
“One more thing to think about before you sign it,” Barry said. “To us, this is like your first time getting your uniform dirty. It’s like hustling on the field, but now you’re hustling in your mind and in our minds. You hustle on the field and get dirty; your teammates trust you on the field. You sign this, we all trust you in life.”
Mac had no idea his friends were so philosophical. He had never thought of the word trust as being so important. But to the five boys in his room, it was. And he knew for sure that two of those boys hadn’t minded getting wasted before joining the club. But here they were in his room, trusted by boys like Scott and Trent who he was sure had always been clean and sober. Mac didn’t think that joining the club would help him return to the team if his mom or dad didn’t sign the contract, but he did know that by signing it he would have something he had never had before—real friends.
Mackenzie Dixon signed the No Matter What document, reciting the oath on the sheet. Scott Keller, Trent Hallion, Max Robinson, Barry Bender, and Everett Pritchard reconfirmed their oaths and signed under Mac’s name.
THURSDAY, APRIL 2
<Mackenzie Dixon>
Coach Ecklund arrived at school in a good mood. He was scheduled to substitute. He couldn’t wait for the next school year when he would be back to fulltime now that his health problems were cleared up. After home room he would be teaching three periods of eighth grade math, one period of pre-algebra, and two periods of seventh grade math, although not in that order.
He never made it to home room or to first period. As soon as he walked into the office, Edith Jackson, the school’s office coordinator, told him that Mel Donovan, the principal, wanted to see him in his office. Coach Ecklund was half-way to the office door when the principal stepped out. “Step right in, Dean,” he said.
“I have a feeling this is not going to be fun,” Dean Ecklund said as he sat next to Mel’s desk. A man dressed in a suit was sitting on one of the other office chairs. Dean recognized him as Avery Fuller, the attorney for the Educational Service District that serviced Lewis County.
“Funny how these feelings get developed after years of experience. It looks like you’ll be missing home room and at least first period. Arlene will cover for you,” Mel said as he sat as his desk. Arlene Quincy was the assistant principal.
“Let me guess…this has to do with Mackenzie Dixon.”
“Like I said, years of experience,” the principal chuckled. “Have you and Avery met?”
“Once. At a conference on athletic injuries and the law. Good to see you again, Avery.”
The men then discussed the issue at hand which was the refusal of Mac’s father to sign his athletic contract. Dean told Avery about his chats with Mac and his one phone conversation with Mac’s father, who told him he was turning the issue over to an attorney.
“Well, Mr. Dixon will be arriving with an attorney. He is Clark Butler, who Dixon must have hired on the cheap,” Avery said. “He is not very well versed in education law, or almost any other kind of law. His main profession is ambulance chaser. He works chiefly in Thurston County. I guess he and Dixon went to high school together.”
“Does he have any kind of a case?” Dean asked.
“No. This ploy is not a new one and the court has found for the school on the rare times this has gone to court. I have a feeling this will be settled before your first period is over.”
“Does this make you wish you had taken a full leave of absence?” Mel asked Dean.
“Not at all. I was dying of terminal boredom before I decided to do some part-time work to finish out the school year.”
About ten minutes later, Mac, his father, Arnold, and his father’s attorney arrived, and the group retired to the office’s conference room. Dean was surprised when Mac placed his backpack on the floor and sat in the chair on his right. “I’m sorry, coach,” the teen whispered. “All I want to do is play baseball. I want to tell everybody that.”
“We’ll get this straightened out, Mac. Hang tough,” Dean responded.
The two sat quietly as the attorneys, Mac’s father, and the principal discussed the issues. They were brought into the discussion by Mr. Donovan.
“Is this what you want, Mac? To be able to play without your contract?”
Mac’s father nodded at his son. Clark, his attorney, had anticipated the question and had given Arnold a response to rehearse with his son. Mac liked the response and worked hard on preparing it with his father. What Mac or his father had not anticipated was a Tuesday evening visit by five of Mac’s teammates.
“Hey, Mac, answer the man,” Mac’s father said. His voice brought Mac back down to Earth. Arnie Dixon knew what his son was going to say—they had practiced his answer enough times. He wanted to get this stupid meeting over with so he could go to work. He had told his boss he would be at the dam by ten when he asked to be excused for part of the morning. Arnie was a maintenance specialist at the Mayfield Dam.
Instead of answering, Mac reached down to his backpack, opened the zipper to the front pocket, and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. He unfolded the sheet and set it in front of his father.
“What the hell is this?” Arnie asked as he picked up the type-written sheet.
“Read it,” Mac said with certainty he did not feel. He wondered if maybe he made the wrong decision.
Mac’s father read the document and then glared at his son. “If this is what you plan to do then why am I wasting money on a lawyer and wasting time in this meeting? You couldn’t have, maybe, told me about this?”
“I did,” Mac replied softly. “I told you more than once last night to read what I signed and that you might as well sign the contract because I wasn’t going to use alcohol no matter what. But you not only wouldn’t look at it you wouldn’t even listen to me.”
“I thought it was just bullshit to get me to sign the contract, even though you knew I didn’t want to sign it.” He looked at the No Matter What document in front of him on the table, turned to Mr. Donovan and Coach Ecklund, and placed his right index finger on the paper. “Do you guys know anything about this?”
“We know this has been circulating around the middle school and high school for close to a year now,” Coach Ecklund replied. “But we have nothing to do with this. The athletes who put it together said this was their project and asked the coaches and teachers and administrators not to talk to athletes about signing it. So, we keep our nose out of their business, which doesn’t mean we don’t have a good idea of who the members are.”
“Is this just for athletes?” Clark Butler, Arnie Dixon’s attorney asked.
“It was started by athletes for athletes, but a number of non-athletes who are active in school activities have joined the club from what I understand,” Mr. Donovan responded. “I’d love to talk all students into signing it because it means so much more than the contracts. But this is students working with students which is its strength. Learning about trust is as important to this venture as staying away from drugs and alcohol.”
“I’m still not signing the contract,” Arnie insisted. “Somebody has to stand up for parents.”
“No, Dad! You have to sign the contract. I want to play baseball. Please.” Mac looked at Coach Ecklund. “Coach, you saw who signed this. They were at my house yesterday and convinced me to sign it. They want me back if I hustle and they said that joining the No Matter What Club was the start of hustling on running out pop flies and getting my uniform dirty.” He turned back to his dad. “Don’t you get it dad? They want to be my friends and I want to be their friend the right way and I want to play baseball to prove to them and to Coach Ecklund and to you and…and…,” his voice dropped to a whisper, “and to me…that I can do it.”
Arnie Dixon wondered who had stolen his son. This wasn’t the same boy who had keggers in the basement with the wild boys of the school. Mac and those boys were just like he was when he was thirteen. And now his son wants to live clean and play hard? How did that happen in one day? He knew all about negative peer pressure, but he had no idea that positive peer pressure could be just as strong if not stronger.
“I’ll pay you back for your lawyer from my allowance for the next hundred years. Just, please, let me play so I can prove to my friends that I can play hard and do things right.”
Arnold Dixon picked up the pen sitting in front of him and signed the athletic contract. “Keep your money because now you have the chance to prove it to me, too.”
Coach Ecklund met with Mac after the meeting broke up. “Congratulations Mac. I have no doubt you’ve got the talent to succeed, but I didn’t believe you had the heart to go with it. Now, let’s see what you can really do.”
“Will I get to play tomorrow?” Mac asked.
“Since you’ll be practicing after school today you will be able to suit up for tomorrow’s game. If you suit up, there’s a chance you will play. I’m sure you understand you won’t be starting tomorrow; a starting position is something you’re going to have to work for but be ready to play.”
As Coach Ecklund watched Mac head for class, he prayed Mac would follow through on what he’d promised. He was completely honest when he told Mac he had outstanding talent. It wasn’t the first time he’d told the boy that, but he couldn’t convince him that it took talent plus hard work to be above the pack. But now, if he were serious and added hustle and hard work to his talent, he could make a huge difference in the quality of the product on the field.
<Practice>
Trent, Scott, Max, Everett, and Barry each took a moment to give Mac a swat on his ass or a light punch on his shoulder with a message that was clear—the only person stopping you from working your ass off is you.
In his own way, Mac understood that he was at a crossroads, that what he did from this practice on would not only determine what his baseball season would be like, but also the direction his high school athletic career would be taking.
Everyone from the JV players to the student managers to the coaches watched what Mac did in practice. The person who gave him the hardest look was Aiden, who was skeptical that a new Mackenzie Dixon had suddenly been created. But Mac kept his mouth shut during practice except to encourage his teammates, especially the five who had sat in his bedroom the day before and read him the riot act. The one teammate he stayed away from as much as he could was Aiden who he knew was waiting for him to fail. Mac was determined not to give the little asshole the satisfaction.
Coach Ecklund met with the team at the end of practice and praised the players for their hard work and hustle. He reminded them that Kentburg was always one of the top teams in the Seamount League and that the varsity and JV would both have to play their best ball to win their game.
“Scott will be our starting pitcher and Muddy will catch.” Naming the starting catcher as well as the starting pitcher was something new, but it made sense to Aiden. He knew his pop announced the starting pitcher and catcher, so maybe Coach Ecklund was learning something from his former assistant.
The coach went on to talk about Rico Ramirez, who would probably be Kentburg’s starting pitcher. Ramirez was a big eighth grader who had been impressive as a seventh grader on the varsity the spring before. Ecklund knew he hadn’t pitched against Clark Pass as the Kentburg coach obviously had him slated for tomorrow’s game. Aiden was sure that the Titans would be a much more competitive opponent for the Kentburg Royals than the Clark Pass Eagles had been. However, as had been the case in basketball, Clark Pass had some talented athletes which made them a team nobody should take lightly.
Aiden walked to the gym with Gordy and Miles. “What do you think of the new Mac?” Gordy asked.
“I’ll believe it when it happens every day. But I found out from Trent that there is one thing Mac did that will prove how serious he is,” Aiden replied.
“What’s that?”
“He signed a ‘no matter what’ promise and joined the club.”
“Yep, that means more than the school contract does, because nobody has to sign the ‘no matter what’ promise like they do the contract,” Miles pointed out.
“Like I said, it will take more than a day for him to prove anything.”
“Do you think you guys will ever like each other?” Gordy asked.
“There’s not much chance of that happening.” Aiden knew what he said was more bluster than fact.
“Even though your teammates and friends are totally behind him?”
Aiden didn’t have an answer for that.
<Mac Dixon>
Coach Ecklund told Mac he had something he wanted to discuss and asked him to stay after practice. Mac wondered what he had done wrong, since that was why teachers and coaches wanted people to stay late. Instead, the coach had asked him to consider being a catcher.
“I did some catching when I lived in Tacoma, but I also played outfield and first,” Mac responded.
“Oh, so you have caught some. That’s even better. How much did you catch?”
“I don’t know, maybe half my team’s games in sixth grade. I wasn’t that good but I kinda liked being in the action all the time. But our coach didn’t really teach me much either.”
“Coach Seaver will work with you if you don’t mind spending the extra time. You’re a big kid, athletic, smart, and you already have a couple of pitchers trusting you.”
What the coach didn’t say was that Muddy made a good second-string catcher and that Lenny, who showed a lot of promise, was a year away from being ready for a full-time varsity role. The idea of Mac catching appealed to Dean Ecklund’s instincts, and he had learned long ago to trust those instincts. While the harvest wouldn’t truly be reaped until high school, the coach felt that by the end of spring break Mac would know enough to be an adequate catcher. Since the season would only be one-third over, he still had time to develop even more by the end of the season.
For his part, Mac knew that Aiden was one of the starting pitchers on the varsity and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to catch him. But he recalled having to catch a snarky little asshole in sixth grade. They said what they had to say during a game or practice and otherwise they just ignored each other.
“Okay, I’ll try it,” Mac said.
“I thought that’s what you’d say,” Coach Ecklund grinned. “I’d like for you be at the gym at ten on Saturday unless you have plans with your family.”
“I’ll be there, Coach.”
“Great. Just wear your baseball practice gear. We’ll have all the catcher’s gear you need. And don’t forget your cup.”
That night Mac lay naked on his bed lazily playing with his hard five-inch cock. He thought about practice that afternoon and how for the first time since moving to Mayfield he felt like part of a team. Of course, there were some like Aiden and his friends who, while they didn’t ignore him, weren’t exactly friendly, either.
He thought about the five boys who had been in his bedroom yesterday after dinner. He fantasized about all of them getting naked and having a circle jerk. He had felt up Max’s cock at one of his keggers and wondered what it would be like to seriously jerk him off. With that thought he squirted light cum across his chest and belly. As he wiped himself off, he wondered why he was jerking off to a fantasy about his teammates instead of one about a girl or two.
<Aiden and Nolan>
Aiden’s computer chat with Nolan started out on the topic of baseball. Meadow Park would be playing Clark Pass at home and Nolan would be the starting pitcher. “Kentburg beat Clark Pass 8-2 on Tuesday, but I think they’re going to be better than people think,” Nolan said, which had Aiden remembering his thought at the end of practice—don’t take the Eagles lightly.
“Well, I guess we get to see how good Kentburg is tomorrow,” Aiden said.
“You know they’re going to be good, so I guess you get so see how good you guys are.”
“Or both.”
It didn’t take long for the topic to change from baseball to sex and for the two randy boys to watch each other jerk off to a satisfying cum.
FRIDAY, APRIL 3
<Mayfield Middle School baseball field>
The Titans were the home team for this game. Since Mayfield and Kentburg were just a few miles from each other, the Royals’ bus trip would be around 15 minutes. The Titans were taking infield practice when the Royals arrived. After the Royals finished their warmups the Titans had left the field and the Royals they could take infield practice.
The game was not a good one for the Titans who were anything but Titanic. Rico Ramirez did start the game. He had the best fastball in the league along with an okay changeup and a breaking ball that often didn’t break and he often had problems throwing for strikes. As a seventh grader he had the same problem with his fastball, but in his first start as an eighth grader he took his fastball and blew it by the Mayfield hitters.
Rico had a no-hitter for four and two-thirds innings until Max Robinson singled. By that time, the Titans were down 4-0. Max was stranded on first to end the inning. The Titans had their only threat in the bottom of the sixth. Miles walked and Aiden singled for his first hit of the season. After a flyout, Trent singled to load the bases, but Muddy grounded into a 4-6-3 double play (second base-to shortstop-to first) to end the inning.
Rico ended up pitching all seven innings, shutting out the Titans on four hits, while striking out 12 and walking 3. He was, in a word, dominant. Mac came into the game as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the seventh and singled. But Scott, Jared, and Collin went out and the Royals walked off the field with a 5-0 win. Aiden, who started at second, went 1-for-3 and also pitched a scoreless top of the seventh.
Coach Ecklund met quickly with Aiden and Trent in the locker room, asking them if they would mind coming to the school at ten in the morning to help with some catching work for Muddy and Mac.
“I didn’t know Mac was a catcher,” Trent said.
“He says he caught in sixth grade. I want to try him there and I need a couple of pitchers. Plus, Coach Seaver and I want to work with Muddy on blocking pitches in the dirt.” Muddy had three passed balls in the game, all on pitches in the dirt. One of them led directly to a run. Muddy had some strengths as a catcher, but consistently catching the ball wasn’t one of them. As the umpire told Muddy in the sixth inning after he missed a pitch that hit the ump in the chest, “The position is called catcher for a reason, son.”
Aiden said he would be at the workout since he couldn’t think of a good reason not to be there. He knew that the fact he and Mac didn’t like each other did not qualify as a good reason. He also knew that if he turned down his coach’s request to help and his dads heard about it his ass would be in big trouble. All he could do was hope he would be the one pitching to Muddy and Trent would pitch to Mac. Since Trent had led the group that went to Mac’s house, Aiden was certain Trent and Mac would get along just fine without him.
<Aiden and Nolan>
“That sounds like it will be a total suck fest,” Nolan said as he and Aiden enjoyed a video chat in the nude. Aiden had told him about being recruited to help the coaches work with Mac and Muddy on their catching skills.
“I just about had to say yes when Coach Ecklund asked me to help. I mean the only way I could say no was to lie to him when he asked me why I couldn’t come to the workout,” Aiden said. “Dude, Mac is as big an asswaffle as Roland Barker was on your basketball team.”
“You give him a chance and see if he’s serious about changing.”
“He’s had his chances to be serious. He’s not getting any more chances from me.”
“You know, you could have told your coach you had a meeting to go to. You know, your Fourth Dimension meeting.”
“I don’t think he knows about my problem that might not be a problem but probably is a problem,” Aiden said as he commented on whether or not he really was an alcoholic. “And if I said I had to go to a meeting and didn’t go I’d be lying then, too.”
“You’re probably right. Your integrity is a big reason I love you.”
“Is it a bigger reason than my dick?”
“Well, when you put it that way, I suppose—damn, that’s a hard question to answer.”
“How about I beat you in a jerk off race so you can see it in action.”
“You’re on,” Nolan grinned. “But, before we start the race, everything is still on for tomorrow, right?” Nolan was referring to their overnight with Greg and Skyler in Monte.
“Oh, yeah. We aren’t supposed to be in Monte until two and Coach said the workout wouldn’t go any later than eleven-thirty. We’ll have plenty of time to get there. I’ll get picked up by Dad or Pops or both as soon as we’re done with the workout. I wish it was earlier, then I would have had an excuse to tell Coach I couldn’t be there.”
For the record, Nolan beat Aiden by fifteen seconds, which meant he would be the top the next time they enjoyed intercourse, unless they changed their minds, of course.
SATURDAY, APRIL 4
<Aiden>
When Aiden’s phone woke him up playing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, Aiden knew it was Marty, since that was his ringtone. He looked at his desk clock and groaned when he saw it read five after eight. He had set his alarm for eight forty-five.
“Hey, Marty. It’s kind of early to be waking people up, isn’t it?”
“I see I caught you in one of your good morning moods,” Marty responded. “I’ve got a long, busy day and decided to call when I had a chance. If you want to put yourself on a time schedule, just let me know.”
“Sorry. I was gonna be getting up soon anyway. But my alarm is nicer to wake up to.” Aiden’s alarm clock was set to play classical music and when it turned on it was without a sound except for extremely quiet music that grew to a crescendo as it gently woke Aiden out of a sound sleep.
“Where are you off to, the Fourth Dimension meeting?”
“Nope.” Aiden quickly told him what he thought of Mac and where he was going and why.
“Well, I’ll give you credit for setting your alarm,” Marty chuckled. “But have you thought about giving him a chance to prove himself?”
“You sound like Nolan and my dads.”
“I take that as a compliment.”
“Whatever. I just hope Coach Ecklund has me throwing to Muddy. Muddy is weird, but I like him and he’s kind of a friend.”
“Kind of a friend. That’s an interesting description. So, while we still have time, I want to ask you a couple of questions.”
“Before we do, congrats on yesterday’s game,” Aiden said.
The Mariners had defeated the Rangers 4-3. Marty had been 1-for-3 at the plate with a walk and scored a run.
“I wondered when we’d talk baseball,” Marty chuckled. “And sorry about your game. That Royals dude must be a stud to shut you guys down like that.”
Aiden knew Marty had checked either the Seamount League or the Mayfield Baseball website. Aiden had watched Marty’s game on television.
“It seems to me you’re carrying a huge resentment regarding Mac,” Marty said, as he got into his subject before it was too late.
“I don’t have a resentment. I mean, he is a genuine asswaffle.”
“Have you thought about making amends to him?”
“ME make amends? Marty, he’s the one who’s an asswaffle.”
“So, if you looked at your relationship with him since he moved to Mayfield, you can honestly say you have done nothing to make amends for.”
“Well, maybe I treated a lot of what he said as bullshit and told him so, but that’s because it was bullshit.”
“In whose opinion?” Marty asked.
“In mine. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”
“In whose judgement?”
“Mine.”
“What do you think would happen if you told him before your workout today that instead of snarling at him that maybe you should have listened to him and explained why you thought the way you did?”
Aiden felt like Marty wasn’t listening to him which had him feeling frustrated. “I thought that his wanting me to get drunk at his parties and making fun of me for going to those AA meetings and staring at me for yelling at him to hustle explains everything that needs to be explained.”
“Did you ever try saying anything positive to him, like when he did hustle in practice or in a game?”
“He never gave me…”
“Make your amends before you work out,” Marty interrupted. “Ask Coach Ecklund if you can pitch to Mac, and then do what you can to help him. I’m not asking you to be his friend, Aiden. What I’m asking you to be is a good teammate, and if you can’t be that, then you need to take a long look at yourself and at your role in the bad blood between the two of you.”
“Whatever. I still think it’s up to him.”
“I gotta go, bro, Read pages 84 to 86 in the Big Book. Good luck and remember to be honest about what you contributed to the problem. I love you, little bro. Do the best you can this morning.”
“I love you, big bro.” Aiden disconnected and stared at his phone. The problem with talking about problems with Marty is that Marty often pissed him off, like he did this morning. That usually meant that he would get even more pissed off when he did what his big bro suggested only to find out that he was right.
“You’re up earlier than expected,” Larry said as his naked son came down the stairs for breakfast.
“It’s all Marty’s fault. And good morning pop.”
“Nice game by the M’s yesterday.”
“Yeah. I told him about the catching workout this morning. He thinks I should be making amends to the team asswaffle.”
“And you obviously don’t agree.”
“Nope. And don’t go telling me he’s right. Sometimes you just gotta be there to know what things are about.”
“While you’re eating breakfast, grab your Big Book and read…”
“…pages 84-86,” Aiden finished. “I already know what it says.”
“Think of this as studying for a test,” Larry told him. “In order to insure you have the solutions you need, you go through your book and notes one more time. From what you’re telling me, it sounds to me like you might need a little review.”
Aiden got up from the table to retrieve his book. When he returned, Larry was gone. He sat down and read the three pages. After closing the book, he took it upstairs with him and set it on his bed. He grabbed Horace and sat him next to the book. He then kneeled next to his bed prayed for forgiveness since it was obvious he had been of the opinion that his shit had quit stinking when it came to dealing with Mac. He asked for guidance and then stood up.
He lifted Horace off the bed and looked into the eyes of his beloved stuffed donkey. “Well, Horace, I guess the worst that happens if I make amends to Mac is that he tells me to fuck off, which he would probably say to me pretty soon anyway.”
<Aiden and Mac>
If it wasn’t for his busy schedule, Aiden might have ridden his bike to school. Instead, Larry gave him a ride.
On the way, he was worried that his Pop would give him more advice about dealing with Mac. Instead, his Pop told him that he had received a phone call from Coach Ecklund telling him that Kevin Corcoran would be at the workout to help work with the catchers.
“Wasn’t he the catcher on one of your state champions?” Aiden asked.
“That he was, and on my middle school JV champions back when he was in sixth grade. He’s still the best catcher I’ve ever coached, which is saying a lot. He should be a huge help to both of your teammates.”
Larry dropped Aiden off at the ballfield where Mac was playing catch with someone he didn’t recognize. Aiden was surprised that Mac had beat the coaches to the workout. “Is that Kevin?” Aiden asked his Pop.
“Yep. I’m going to get out with you and tell him hello.”
Even though he hadn’t told him so, Aiden understood that Larry was giving him a chance to have his talk with Mac before Trent and the coaches arrived. After greetings and introductions, Larry said, “I’d like to catch up on a couple of things with Kevin. How about you guys play some catch for a few.”
Aiden nodded and picked up a ball. He appreciated how his Pop could set things up without making it look obvious. Sometimes Aiden thought Larry was manipulating him, but he soon learned that his Pop was simply giving him the freedom to make the right decision or to do the right thing without making it obvious to everybody.
“My dad says you and Muddy are lucky that Kevin could come.” Aiden told Mac. “He was a really good catcher.”
“Yeah, for two state championship teams. Pretty awesome alright.”
They tossed the ball back and forth a couple of times before Aiden held onto the ball and said, “I want to tell you something.”
“I already know what it is. You don’t want to pitch to me because you think I’m an asshole.”
Aiden was immediately ready to snap at his teammate but managed to put the pause rule into effect before saying, “First, I wanted to tell you that I was wrong yesterday.”
“Wrong about what?”
“I was wrong about telling guys on the team I didn’t trust you and I didn’t think you were serious about the “no matter what” club and you’d just go do your own thing.”
Aiden could see anger building up in Mac and waited for the explosion. Instead, Mac took a deep breath and said, “You seriously didn’t trust me?” Aiden nodded. “Yeah, I guess I don’t blame you.” Whoa, that’s a surprise, Aiden thought. “Trent and those guys showing up at my house Wednesday kinda woke me up. What else did you want to tell me?”
“I wanted to say that I plan to do my best to be a good teammate to you. I guess if you’re going to be catching me that will be even more important.”
“That’s kind of what Trent and them said to me. They said there was more to playing on a team than just being on a team. That I had to be a good teammate to really be on a team.”
“And I was seriously going to be a bad teammate to you, but that would suck for both of us. I don’t know if we can be friends, although I hope it will happen. What I do know is we can be good teammates and then who knows what will happen.”
“You know, when I was catching on my sixth-grade team, I just caught the ball as good as I could. But everybody says a good catcher has to work with his pitcher and I’m not that great at working with people.”
“You know what that means?” Aiden said.
“No, what?”
“That once the coaches and Kevin work with you on catching the ball and footwork and throwing and all that stuff, you and me will need to learn how to work together. Lenny is already pretty good at that, but he’s just a sixth grader and some peeps don’t think he knows what he’s talking about. I bet Kevin can teach you a lot. I mean, he did catch Eric’s perfect game in the state tournament.”
Mac’s eyes widened. “For real? He caught that game? That game is like a legend in this town, fuck maybe in the whole state.” Eric’s perfect game was the Class A State Championship game T-Mobile Park, which was then Safeco Field.
“Can I ask you to do something?”
“Okay,” Mac said guardedly.
“To start our pitcher/catcher relationship with a hug.”
Mac’s answer was to step over to Aiden and wrap his arms tightly around the smaller boy. The two enemies were starting on the path to becoming good teammates and maybe even friends.
Next: Jaden