Vision Ch. 05

--

It's an early Saturday morning and we're having pancakes when we hear voices coming from the front door.

Lou goes to check it out and I follow.

"It's Lenny and Harry." She mouths to me quietly as we listen.

"Look man, she's your sister, you wake her up."

"It was your idea to come over here, you know how she is if you wake her."

"Yeah but she's less likely to kill you."

"We should have called first."

Peering through the peep hole she giggles quietly before quickly opening the door to two startled faces.

"If this were prison you'd both be my bitches. What do you people want?"

"It's time." They look at me. Lulu looks at them and shakes her head. "I don't think so."

"Come on Lulu, you've not played with us since he came. Please?"

She shakes her head. "No."

Lenny clasps his hands in supplication.

"What's going on?

"Basketball. They want me to play.

I look at her and start to smile. "We said we'd play together one day."

She smiles too, remembering.

"I recall that conversation as well and I think the key word there was 'maybe'.

She's smiling at me in that way. Harry looks uncomfortable. Lenny breaks the spell though.

"Alright, break it up. I'm surprised you haven't broken him yet from what Lili's told me."

She turns lazily to look at him. "Watch it you little man-whore. Eddie's the only high school friend I have left that you've not glommed on to."

"Yes, but one day I'll get her too, you just mark my words." He smiles and waggles his eyebrows at her.

"Boy, please. You got game, but don't be ridiculous. Dax, we grew up balling on playgrounds with broken glass and lead paint. They roll pretty hard and if you run smack dab into either of these mastodons at full speed it can hurt like a motherfucker. Some of us go out of our way to make sure that happens." She looks at Harry accusingly.

"Lou, I can handle myself. Besides I need a little exercise."

Relenting with a sigh she says, "Alright, but he's on my team. If you harm a hair on his head so help me, I will have your ass."

"He's a grown man, he'll be fine." Harry looks at me cockily. I know he's thinking he'll trash me on the court.

"Yeah, well I know how you fuckers roll."

"Come on Lou, he's a big boy. We're not going to break him. Besides, I suspect he can more than handle himself", says Lenny tauntingly with a knowing look.

"I'm too old for this shit. The way these guys play it's like a full contact sport."

"Lou you know you can take it, you were just out there a few weeks ago making people cry. Are you getting squeamish in your old age?" Says Harry.

She grimaces. "I'm not in the least bit squeamish and I yes I can take it. But do I want to? I like black and blue in my closet, not on my body. I don't want Dax turning those colors either."

I appreciate her concern but she's bordering on emasculation. "Lou, it's fine really."

She looks uneasy. "Alright then, as soon as I find my mouth guard, we'll go."

Lenny goes, "Awww shit! Once again it's on people! I call Lou's team!"

"Lou that good?"

Harry says, "Lou is agile, mobile and hostile. She never attacks straight on, you don't see her until it's too late, she's quick. She can't dunk of course but can generally post from anywhere on the court."

Having braided her hair into pigtails and twisted them into knots. She comes back wearing high top sneakers, camouflage shorts and a gray wife-beater over what looks to be a seriously tight black and white sports bra. She looks harmless enough, downright adorable really.

"Lenny you can roll with me but I don't want you out there showboating today. Harry you with me? Be a winner for a change." She smiles at him cheekily.

"Lou, that'd be one chief too many on the same team, we always were too hardheaded to team up."

There's a silent exchange between them that I am not comfortable with.

"Suit yourself. No bitching and moaning when I kick your ass though."

"Likewise." He smiles at her.

"Do I ever complain about losing a fair fight? Unlike some, I am a gracious loser."

"Yeah, but you rarely lose," grouses Lenny.

"Hence my graciousness."

When we get to the gym some friends are there and they are glad to see her. She puts a finger to her lips, signaling silence as she walks up behind someone.

"Hey Riley, how's the leg?" She says in a lilting taunt.

Without turning he replies, "Ah yes, the unmistakable voice of Satan. Did you check your cloven hoof at the door today?"

He finally turns around smirking.

"I'll check mine if you check yours. Come roll with us? Then you won't have to cry yourself to sleep tonight. June told me how upset you were last time."

"Fuck you Lou!"

She cocks her head to the side, chin in the air. "Hey, watch it! You don't want a bad report. One phone call and you are on the couch for a month living with the band of the hand." She looks at him calculatingly.

"I swear your evil knows no bounds, fine."

"Good boy!" She smiles at him and slaps him on the shoulder.

I turn to Lenny. "What happened with those two?"

"She can't always block per se, but she's quick and has deft hands and will strip you of the ball and pick & roll on you in a heartbeat, which is what happened to Riley the other month.

He was pulling the ball back to go up for a shot and she jumped and took the ball. He got testy and lashed out with an overly aggressive arm across her chest and neck and got his ass handed to him when she came back with an elbow to his kidney, he went down on his knee pretty hard," says Lenny smiling admiringly.

"Which saved him - Harry, Matt and I were about to whip his ass."

"Now if Harry will just do the right thing and commit to being my power forward, I won't have to worry about a thing. You know you don't want me to call Uncle Jack and say you wouldn't play with me." She twists from side to side like a naughty little girl, smiling wickedly.

He shakes his head and smiles back. "Fine, Lou. Whatever."

I pull her aside. "You're a brat."

"I'm saving lives. I have two of the worst court offenders on my team, Harry and Riley, which means they won't knock me around, and me, you and Lenny won't get to swinging in here. They foul hard. Because of their size not too many people take them to task for it. They bring brute strength. We bring style.

Remember, I'm not Lulu out there. I will get shoved and knocked down; it's the nature of the game. There's no crying in basketball, unless you win the championship and then, well it's all-good. So, unless I'm bleeding from the eye, or you see a bone protruding through the skin, let it go."

She gives me a stern look. I nod ok. This should be interesting. We all stretch and run a few laps before starting. Our lineup is pretty good - Lou at 5'5 is point guard. Hell, if I remember my stats correctly, she's the same height as Muggsy Bogues. At 6'3 I'm playing shooting guard today though I prefer power forward, but as Harry is the biggest guy out here at 6'8 and 270 pounds he's got that position more than covered.

Lenny is 6'1 so he's a small forward and Riley at 6'4 is holding the center.

We start off slowly, everyone sizing each other up looking for weaknesses. Attempting a dunk, I avoid a potential block by switching the ball from my right hand to my left in mid-air for a beautiful lay-up. I jog down the court shrugging and smiling as I look at Lou, who winks at me. After I make several steals and finally manage two dunks it starts to get harder.

To limit my effectiveness they really start to play rough, trying to intimidate, overplaying me to keep the ball away, double-teaming me as soon as I even touch the ball, trying to force me to give it up. Whenever I go to the basket, they make sure a big someone is blocking my path, and they are pretty much trying to nail me as I soon as I come off the screen.

Luckily, I have a pretty decent fade-away jump shot, which is pretty much indefensible. Lenny is an excellent dominant offensive force, out-leaping, out-spinning and outmaneuvering defender after defender - not very fast or particularly quick-footed, and not always able to shut down a person one-on-one, but he consistently displays a knack for anticipating the moves of his opponent, allowing him to intercept passes and create turnovers.

He's a solidly good player with simple and effective defensive moves, he doesn't hesitate to jump into a passing lane to make a steal or allow his man to step past and drive to the hoop, then blocking the opponent's shot from behind.

Lou is all about the showtime pick & roll. She's very quick and precise with her crossover dribble and no look passes. She's tough too, not backing down at all when she's defending the ball. I can see why she prefers playing with Harry and Lenny, these three know each other's moves only too well. Not to mention that no one dares push her around too much with Harry and Riley on her team. They don't seem to know what to make of me just yet, which is to advantage.

We're trailing 76-73 when Lou calls a timeout to talk strategy, which she's surprisingly good at.

Using a triangle offense she guides us perfectly. Harry blocks several shots. The man's a wall. He grabs the rebound and gives me the inbound pass, I drive to the basket, and hit a layup over several defenders. Using his bulk to advantage Riley makes 2 critical 3 point shots. They bring the ball up court and try to pass it to their forward, who was set up in the low post and was being guarded by Lou. She gets jostled a bit but steals the ball and without looking passes it to me, I slowly dribble up court and pause at the top of the key, eyeing my defender.

I start to dribble right, then cross over to my left, violently shrugging off my guard, foul isn't called so I take the jump shot. Richard catches the rebound but misses a desperation 3-pointer, and we handily win the game.

"Where'd you learn to play like that?"

"My Dad. Lenny's 5 years younger than me, so I was the closest thing to a son my father had for a long time and I've always loved the game. Dad was an excellent strategist he actually did a little coaching. Actually your dad is named for one of my favorite military commanders. Maybe it's fate that we met. But you've been holding out on me Dax."

"What?"

"Harry tells me you were all state for Mississippi for 2 years."

"What's past is past. It's not like I went pro or anything. My knee went out at the end of my sophomore year of college, which was pretty much the end. It happens that way for a lot of players. I suppose I could have pushed through, but you've gotta have the passion for it and 3 painful surgeries has a way of taking the heart out of the most ardent of players. Besides being laid up all that time allowed me to really develop other interests. That's how I ended up finishing at MIT."

She nods, looks at me thoughtfully. "My playing isn't a turn off?"

"Hell no!! I knew you had game, but not game. I can't wait to get you home. First time I've ever wanted to sleep with a teammate."

She turns her head the side lifts her arm and sniffs, wrinkling her nose. "Phew! I am rank. You may have to use the Jaws of Life to get me out of these bra's."

"Two bra's Lou?"

She shrugs and cups her breasts. "Can't have them flying about knocking people down. Someone could lose an eye."

Leaning towards me she takes a whiff. "You're a little pungent yourself."

"Nothing wrong with hot sweaty sex."

"To end up yes, to start out, no. After we shower we can get sweaty again." She scoots over and kisses me.

From the front seat Lenny starts making gagging sounds. "If this is what it's going to take to get you two to play with us, I'm not sure it's worth it."

This earns him a resoundingly sharp slap to the back of the head.

"Shut up and drive faster. I'm starving back here."

He shoots her a cross look in the rearview mirror, but takes out his phone and hands it to Harry.

"Make the call."

Harry dials, "3 car wrecks, we should be there in ten. Dax did you want one too? You can always change it when we get there. Brisket, bacon burger from hell, three types of cheese, Alabama white sauce, beer battered onion rings and a large order of fries and fried pickles to share.

"Sounds alright.

"Make that 4."

We arrive find parking relatively close by and go in. It's small and dark, not too busy for midday on a Saturday.

"It's a total dive, but they've got the best burgers in town, don't let that mess in Carytown fool you. They've just got better advertising."

We sit down. Harry and Lenny exchange looks and Lenny shakes his head and chuckles.

"You see how she do right?" Says Harry.

"Typical. At least it's not just us. She does Dax like that too I see. Consistency is key." He looks at his sister.

"How now negroes?"

"You, never sitting with your back to the door. Just like a man."

She looks at him. "Kindly Fuck-off and spare me your sexist gender psycho-babble bullshit. Forgive me if I don't want to sit with my back to the unwashed, tatted up, half-inebriated masses. I got trust issues. If you two don't want me to sit here, don't hold the door and let me walk through first, because I will surely take my preferred spot each and every time, simple as that. And Harry your big ass couldn't even fit in here on this side anyway you know these booths are uneven, so please."

Harry and Lenny smile at each other again but back off. A plate of fries and a pitcher of beer arrive. Her eyes light up as she digs into the well-fried delicately spiced fries and pours herself a tall glass. A squat, well-muscled man in an apron comes out and she gets up to hug him.

"Portman, how's it hangin'?"

"To the left today Lou, to the left. You guys been out playin'? What's it like to be in the sunshine on a Saturday?" He asks wistfully.

"It's hot man, you're not missing a thing. This is Dax."

"This is Portman, best burgers in town." He looks at me closely as I shake his hand. There's a commotion in the kitchen and he does a half-turn to look.

"Gotta go before they burn down the place, Just wanted to thank you in person for that citrus soap you sent from Florida Lou, gets all the grease off and doesn't take me an hour to do it. Meals' on the house."

He ducks back into the kitchen barking orders.

"That's 3 pounds of chuck you just charred, it's coming out of your pay!"

"Free eats!" Says Lenny.

"We are leaving him a fat tip, that man works damned hard, serving others is not easy." Says Lou.

Our burgers come and they are everything that was promised. Lou tears into hers. "You've got something on your chin. Says Harry. He goes to wipe it off, but Lou leans back, moving her chin away, using her wrist to wipe it off.

"Yep. Sauce on my face, crumbs in my cleavage, must be the weekend." Everyone laughs. Talk flows smoothly, easily. It's nice to see her so relaxed. They go back and forth her and her brother but they seem very close.

"I can't believe you roll with her in public. She eats like a baby hippo man. Look at her go," says Lenny.

"Blow me," Lou says making a rude gesture and biting into her burger again. She puts the burger down and drags an onion ring through the seasoned mayo and eats it with gusto.

I follow suit, eating one of her onion rings and Lenny's eyes go wide with shock even Harry looks incredulous.

I turn and look behind me but there's nothing there. I look at Lulu who shrugs and continues eating.

"Lou let you sample from her plate? It must be serious. Usually people draw back a nub." Says Lenny, him and Harry exchange glances.

She rolls her eyes. "Because you two don't sample, you fucking eat it all. It's probably the reason I eat too fast to this day for fear I won't get enough in time."

"Yeah but still," says Lenny looking at me with something akin to awe. There's a different look on Harry's face though.

She purses her lips and exhales. "Besides, he can cook and at least replace what he eats unlike you guys. Ain't that right baby?" She turns to me for a kiss and I oblige. She tastes of pickles.

Lenny shakes his head, but Harry continues to look strange.

"Harry you got some new ink, let's see that."

Harry pulls his t-shirt aside, proudly revealing a wild tattoo extending down his shoulder and back.

"You went tribal this time, huh?" Lou traces it with her index finger as he flexes his shoulder and looks at me mockingly.

"Nice, but you better not let Aunt Arlene see that." Innocent enough, she's talking with her mouth full and has her burger tightly clutched in one hand, but watching her touch another man is a bit rough.

"One of these days we'll get you drunk enough to get in the big chair and get one yourself," he says to her.

She looks at him and shakes her head. "I love the look, but I don't think so."

Just as well as I don't like the thought of her beautiful flesh marred with ink.

"Alright guys lets move this along. Dax and I have errands to run."

"Oh do we?"

"Yes, we do. My freezer is getting low and we are going to load up your truck with enough for a few months."

Lenny and Harry exchange looks again. Harry stops eating altogether and Lenny sighs heavily.

Lou watches for a beat. "I tell you what, you two look like you have other things to do, Dax and I are going to call an UBER and go back to the house and let you two get on with your weekend."

I follow her lead and we settle up and head out but I am curious.

"Harry is still slowly coming to terms and I think I've taxed him enough for one day."

-

We go home shower and change and head back out.

Dax accuses me buying up the world. But monthly shopping is best, you waste a lot of precious time otherwise. We each have a shopping basket and I pile his with enough meat and bacon to feed a small army.

"It's handy having you here, I can do all the shopping in one fell swoop. Most of this is going to the freezer, I have the fresh fruit and produce covered I think so I wont have to do this again until like Christmas!"

I stock up on lots of toilet paper, detergent and dish liquid, nuts, cheeses and wine.

"We've gotta hurry, we have company this weekend. Babyfriend is coming to visit."

He smiles. "The nephew?"

"Yeah. I usually get him alone for one weekend a month, but Lili claims she's been giving us time to settle down. He's been with Uncle Jack and Harry the past two weekends but when I ran into Arlene and she all but said he's been driving her crazy. He's a handful and quick as lightning & those guys aren't always as attentive as they should be, something about his reaching the knobs on the stove and speeding up her baking to an alarming degree. Do you mind? I completely understand if you want to take off."

"Not at all, I love little people."

Ouch, that again.

"I wasn't hinting or anything, so don't take it that way."

-

We go to the Yellow Umbrella for her fancy charcuterie and fish. The nephew is old school and loves chicken and fish and greens and corn on the cob. He eats seriously for a little tyke. We get to the house just as Lili pulls up.

"Aunt Lou!" He comes running up as soon as we step out the car and she sweeps him around tickling him mercilessly, speaking in a gruff witchy voice.

"The tickle monster loves you, she misses you!" She's got him down in the grass, tickling him mercilessly. I wouldn't expect this of her.

"She missed your nooks and crannies, but she especially missed the pit! The pit of despair!" She pulls his arm up tickling his armpit as he screams and laughs eventually wiggling out and running away.

Lili shakes her head and looks at me. "In the grass Lou? Thank god I gave him Benadryl." Looking sympathetically at me she says, "Good luck with these two."

She catches and kisses her son, hugs Lou, waves goodbye and leaves. We start taking things inside.