Baseball's Later Innings

(original version: 10,479 words)

I'd like to thank Kenjisato again for editing. Sexual activity only involves characters over the age of eighteen. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Baseball, It Is Not The Late Innings Yet

Well, another baseball season is about to start. I am the head baseball coach at Box Canyon high school. My name is David Powell. I've been teaching social studies and coaching baseball here for thirty years. Being a coach, I work out with my team. At fifty-two, I still have most of my hair, and no dad bod. Some of the younger lady teachers have been surprised at my age; most thought I was fifteen, or more, years younger.

Maria and I

Maria and I had raised three wonderful boys, all three had earned almost full-ride baseball scholarships, and adding part of mine and all of Maria's Legacies grants to our alma mater. The boys had left college with no college loans. Now, they're all finished with college ,and have started their own adult lives and are fathers themselves.

Why I am alone — Maria's death

I had been married for twenty-eight years, when my wife died suddenly of a heart attack. It happened the first week in June. I had just finished work for the summer. It took me the whole summer to even start to feel real again.

The doctor said Maria was sort of lucky— if you can call death, lucky. The autopsy showed that she had stage four pancreatic cancer; he said it would've been very painful for her. I kind of hung onto that fact, and I was then okay that she had gone quickly.

My boys and their families were a great support for me. My seven-year-old grandson, David, said, "I can't be sad, grandma is up in heaven watching over me; she always made me happy when I was sad. I won't be sad. I'll be happy I had a grandma like her."

Granddaughter Little Sharon, four, just said, "Gama is up in 'eaven." Out of the mouth of babes. Baby Maria was born four months after I lost my Maria.

Tryouts

I was looking at all the players who were trying out for the teams. The first three days are like a cattle call; I make even last year's varsity players try out. I noticed a young player who looked like he had a good arm. He was just a freshman, and he said he'd like to be a pitcher. Usually, I would have varsity players bat against self-proclaimed pitchers. Many of these self-proclaimed pitchers felt they were entitled to the position, but this kid spoke humbly without any arrogance.

I had him pitch against five good freshman prospects, and no one even fouled a ball off. Then against four good junior varsity prospects, two were able to foul off one pitch each. And finally, against six of my best varsity prospects, each one was able to foul off just one pitch— not one had a single hit.

I told him to sit down.

Just for the heck of it, I had the kid bat against varsity pitching. The kid had a great eye; he did not let one ball in the strike zone go by. Out of fifteen pitches in the strike zone, he hit eleven into fair territory. I called him over and had the freshman and junior varsity coaches take over.

"What is your name?"

"Daniel, Daniel Denton, sir."

"You are pretty good, are your parents here?"

"No, sir. Mom works at the bank and my dad is dead. But mom will be picking me up about a half an hour after tryouts."

"Well, Daniel, I'd like to talk to your mom; I don't care what time she gets here."

Our league required extra doctors' notes and parental permission for freshmen to play varsity. I could see something great about this boy.

The name sounded very familiar

The name Denton sounded very familiar to me, then I remembered back a few years ago, I had a scorekeeper named Bethany Denton, who had been going out with one of my players, Christopher Stevens, a standout pitcher who was scouted by both the pros and Division I schools. He had pitched us to third place in the state tournament, and made the all-state baseball team. Chris was killed in a car accident on his way to visit a university that was going to give him a full-ride baseball scholarship. Beth was not seen after that year. Friends said she took Chris's death very hard, and had to move away to get away from her hurt. Could Danny be her son?

Tryouts were over for the day at five o'clock. I had another two days to pick twenty-two to twenty-five players, but I knew basically who my first eleven varsity players would be, and I hoped Danny would be my twelfth. At five-thirty outside my office, I heard a young man's voice and a woman's voice.

The woman asked, "Did you do something wrong? Why would the coach want to see me?"

There was a knock on my door. "Come in."

Danny opened the door and allowed his mother to enter first.

When Danny's mother's and my eyes met, the recognition was unmistakable. It was Beth Denton. She opened her mouth and could not speak. So I said, "Hello Beth, how have you been?" Just like meeting an old friend.

Beth said, "Coach Powell! I did not know you were still here."

"Well, I am still here," with a big smile.

Beth turned to Danny and told him, "Take a chair out in the hall so I can talk to coach Powell in private." Danny took a chair out to the hall.

Turning to me, "Coach, I need to talk to you."

When the door closed behind Danny, Beth's eyes began to tear up.

I grabbed a box of tissues and put my arms around to embrace the trembling mother. I helped her sit. I felt very protective of her, at least that was what I felt, even though I felt some kind of electricity between us.

"Coach, I am sorry. I did not think I would be talking to a living memory of my earlier time here in Arizona. You see, coach, Chris Stevens is Danny's father. We had been intimate for the first time just weeks before Chris left for his campus visit. I found out I was pregnant and called Chris before he left. He said he was happy, and he couldn't wait until he got back home. We made plans to be together forever right on the phone. After we hung up, he left and had his accident somewhere on US-93... I have never driven on US-93 since.

"Then when they accessed his phone, it had shown that I was the last one to talk to him. His parents blamed me and when I told them I was pregnant with his child, they got a court order to stop me from calling them. My parents threw me out for being pregnant and I went to live with my grandparents out of state. I got my high school diploma and went to college thanks to my grandparents.

"I got a great job with the bank and inherited my grandparents' home when they died, just months apart. Last year, my parents were both diagnosed with cancer, and they died within months of each other also. When they were diagnosed, I reached out to them. We finally made amends. Since I'm an only child, I inherited their house here in town when they passed. Right after that, I was offered the position with the bank here as manager. I sold my grandparents' house and moved Danny and myself back here, and now he's in the school I started high school at."

Beth was crying silent tears, I got another box of tissues.

At this point, I grabbed three Cokes out of my little fridge, pointed to the door and said, "Okay for Danny?"

She nodded yes.

I went to the door and gave Danny the bottle of the elixir from my youth. I sat down and handed a bottle to Beth.

Beth continued, "As far as I know, Chris' parents still haven't acknowledged Danny. They are up in their late sixties and I am afraid Danny will never meet them."

"Well, now that I have set the mood, what did you need to talk to me about?"

A Date?

I said, "How about a change of scenery. Let me take you and Danny to dinner because what I want to ask you, very much involves Danny."

She bit her lower lip, while she thought. "Okay, Coach. But won't Mrs. Powell mind?"

As I glanced down a little. "My Maria passed away about two years ago."

"Oh, I am sorry."

"By the way, you need to call me Dave."

"Okay, Dave," she said, with a sympathetic smile.

"Where do you want to go? What does Danny like?"

"He is fourteen, he is an eating machine. Good thing I work at a bank!"

"We have: Texas Roadhouse, Applebee's, and Outback Steakhouse for casual dining. They don't overcharge as much as other places. I don't work at a bank."

Maria and I had invested well, her life insurance and state retirement payoff was a nice amount; I could almost own a bank, in my mind, at least.

I told her I'd pick Danny and her up at six-thirty. I remembered where her house was, even with the passing of time. I had to make sure my scorekeepers got home on game nights. I pulled up in front of her house at six-twenty-five, and checked my hair in my rearview mirror— I don't know why I did it, or why I went home to change, but I did.

I got out of the truck and started up the walk, and the door opened up. Danny came out and said, "Mom isn't quite ready yet, you want to throw the ball around?"

I liked this kid. He asked like I was his best friend and not the guy who could say yes or no to his baseball career; he didn't know I was thinking of putting him on varsity.

Okay, I always had my mitt with me, yes, I was a fifty-two-year-old kid. We threw back-and-forth in his front yard, for what seemed like an hour. It was really only fifteen minutes. His mother came out and I almost got hit by one of Danny's throws.

Beth looked fantastic, I was like CASUAL, WOW! She was about thirty-one or thirty-two, and she was that little girl who had grown up for sure. Danny opened his mom's door, and then jumped in the back seat. I had forgotten to turn off my radio when I got out, so when I started the truck, it came on with "I Can Love You Like That" by John Michael Montgomery. I reached to turn it down or off, but Beth stopped me, saying, "I like this song."

"They read you Cinderella / You hoped it would come true / That one day your Prince Charming / Would come rescue you...

"...I can love you like that / I would make you my world / Move Heaven and Earth if you were my girl...

"...I'm no Casanova but I swear this much is true / I'll be holdin' nothing back when it comes to you / You dream of love that`s everlasting / Well baby open up your eyes...

"...I can love you like that...

"...You want tenderness-I got tenderness / And I see through to the heart of you / If you want a man who understands / You don't have to look very far"

I smiled thinking she probably was just out of college when it came out. Maria and I were moving my youngest son, Mark, into his college dorm at that time.

I asked Danny where he wanted to go eat.

Danny responded, "Pizza Hut!"

Beth informed him, "Hold on there, Cowboy, we had pizza three times in the last two weeks; let's let Dave... er... I mean Coach, decide!"

As I drove past Pizza Hut, I could hear Danny softly chanting, "Pizza Hut, Pizza Hut, Pizza Hut." I quietly chuckled because my boys used to do the same thing.

I pulled up in front of Texas Roadhouse, then as we walked in, with all innocence, Danny said, "This is fancy."

I looked at Beth and her eyes were sparkling, as she blushed. I gave her a wink and smiled. We were seated in a quiet section if there was such a thing in a Texas Roadhouse. The waitress took our drink order— Danny a Coke, Beth a margarita, and I ordered Coke. Beth started to change her order to a soda, and I told the waitress, "She WILL have a margarita." I ordered some appetizers, and we ordered our steaks.

I told Beth that baseball season had started, and I do not drink during it, a habit I picked up in college, so I could help the fools that did drink to get home.

I asked Danny, "How would you like to play varsity?"

Both Danny's and Beth's eyes were as wide as saucers.

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, what did you say, coach?" Danny said, when he regained his voice.

Beth was right there with him, with her questioned look.

" I have coached a number of players who made Triple-A and a couple have made the pros. I have in my thirty years, not seen your talent at your age ever, not even in my own three sons.

"What I want to do, is to mentor you slowly, the freshman and JV coaches will overwork you. I want you up with me. You won't play much as a freshman, but I will use you as the batting practice pitcher and short relief. Then increasing your playing time, until senior year; you could be my number-one pitcher and maybe in the state!"

I looked at Beth. "What do you think, mom?"

Beth kind of tilted her head and looked at me with both eyes. "Coach, if you are blowing smoke up my ass, I'll kick yours!"

Both Danny and I did a double take.

Danny said, "Mom!"

I held up my hands defensively. "Have you ever heard of me not doing everything I can to help my players? I know you are just protecting your son, but I am telling you the truth."

Beth said, remorsefully, "Chris did say you were the best coach in the state."

Danny said, blankly, "You mean my dad?"

Beth looked at Danny with surprise. "You know?"

"Yeah, mom. The first week of school I was in the library, and I looked up some old copies of the school paper, and they said you two were the 'it' couple at Box Canyon High. Then I looked at yearbooks from his senior year, his parents had donated his copy to the school after he died. I saw what you wrote in his yearbook, and what must have been some mean girls said about you. Also, I saw my birth certificate. You didn't hide it too well, mom."

Beth was silent.

"Mom, I trust coach. Do you?"

Just then our steaks came.

Danny attacked his steak and baked potato. Beth had a petite cut. I didn't even know it was on the menu. I ordered a ribeye and baked potato. Danny and I went bite for bite, but he won the competition and we waited quietly for his mom to finish.

"Okay. What do I have to do so he can play varsity?"

"An extra permission slip and extra doctors' physicals." And I said very softly, where Danny could not hear me, "And a walk in the park."

Beth said, "Oh my," her face began to turn a little pink.

It was getting near eight-thirty, as we finished our apple pies. I paid the check, and we headed back to Beth's home.

I pulled into Beth's driveway; we all got out and walked up to her door. She unlocked it and said to Danny, "Shower and bed in twenty minutes there, Cowboy."

I started to leave, and Beth said, "Hey where's my walk?"

I turned back to her. "I didn't think you took me seriously."

Beth nodded her head. "Besides, I HAVE to still talk to you. Let's just walk in my back yard."

As we walked into her backyard, she hooked her arm in mine. She led me to a garden bench and sat down. I sat down.

"David, I have a confession to make— when I was scorekeeper for you, before I started dating Chris, I had the biggest crush on you."

It was my turn to be shocked.

She continued, "I used to write love notes to you, but never sent them to you; they are still all in my diary. I knew you were happily married, and I thought I would never get a chance; such is the mind of a lovesick teenager." Beth began silent thinking.

She looked up into my eyes, raised up and kissed me, but she held the kiss, and she brought her hands behind my head to hold my lips in contact with hers. Before I knew it, her tongue pushed its way into my mouth, and I began pushing back with mine, our embrace did not break.

We began kissing harder. I felt like I was back in high school, kissing Maria, but this was not Maria, it was Beth— a young woman that I was over twenty years older than. Her hand began to stroke my arms, and then to my shoulders; I began to caress her back. I stopped to catch my breath. The breath I took was like taking a hit of pure oxygen for the both of us, because we broke the embrace.

I said the first thing that came to my mind. "Would you like to go out on a date sometime?"

I drove home just like I had driven home from my first date with Maria. I climbed into bed and fell asleep almost before my head hit the pillow.

The dream or something else

I began to dream. It was one of the clearest dreams I ever had.

It began with the first time I saw Maria, freshman year, a cute, blue-eyed strawberry-blonde, she had a figure like most ninth-grade girls, her age; she was just beginning to have curves. Like any other typical fourteen-year-old's romance, we didn't actually date; we would meet together at dances, sporting events, the mall, the movies with a group of kids.

That all changed the summer after freshman year, when we began meeting at the beach on the river, and many times, to go tubing. We would tie our two tubes together and float down, sometimes interlocking our legs or holding hands, and we would talk— what bands we liked, songs that we liked, food we liked, and how we liked each other. Puberty was well at work with both of us— I moved from tenor to baritone in the choir, and dad bought me my first razor, he got tired of me using his; Marie started filling out, first her one-piece bathing suit, then into a nice parent-pleasing two-piece.

On our tubing adventures, we would get separated accidentally-on-purpose from the rest of the group; we would then float down a smaller channel of the river. This was where we first kissed. It also was where I found out how hard it was to hide a hard-on in a bathing suit!

That summer, Marie's change of swimwear caused a sunburn where the two-piece did not cover; it was cut a little lower on the top. She innocently asked me to apply aloe cream to the red strip of skin just above her breasts. To this day, I would always wonder how innocent she was in asking me. That summer, I called it the 'summer of first base'.

My dream moved on to senior year, when we both turned eighteen. I was going to attend State on a partial baseball scholarship and a partial academic scholarship; that really helped my parents. Marie received a full academic scholarship to State. We were like peas and carrots, as Forrest famously said in that movie.

Our parents recognized that we were very much in love, and they had a meeting first without us. The dream included when both sets of parents met with Marie and me; they were ruthlessly honest! They laid down the law about love and sex! NO CHILDREN UNTIL WE GRADUATED!

They rented us an apartment, and inferred that they would possibly stop by at any time. Our whole time in college was taken up with us studying, my baseball games, and if we were lucky, some very romantic loving. We finished college childless; we both got teaching jobs; then got married before the summer was over.

We had been teaching a year when Marie showed me the pregnancy test— we were pregnant! Oh, we loved each other so much. After ten years of being a stay-at-home mom, Marie went back to teaching after our third son started school. We balanced parenthood, teaching, childcare, and a healthy romantic sex life. Our love was great! I knew because I'd hear other guys talk about theirs, and ours was so much better than what they described. When I checked with Marie, she said the same thing about what her gal pals would say.

This loving bliss lasted seventeen years, until I woke up next to Marie's cold body one morning.

I woke up in a sweat and tears flowing. I went into the bathroom and just rinsed myself off, I changed the sheets because of how much I had sweated. I lay down again; I looked at the clock, it was only one-sixteen in the AM.

I fell asleep quickly AND the dream was back. I saw my Marie.

With her loving eyes looking at me, she began to speak, "Hello David, how are you? I have missed you. I still love you. I know you are worried about how I might feel about you finding a new love. Don't worry, I think since you are still a man, you need someone to stand beside you, like I did. You are still young enough to find love again. I love you so much, I can't bear to see you wasting your life mourning me. I know I will always have a place in your heart. But you have always had a heart that had the capacity to love again.