Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2018 01:06:14 +0000 From: Douglas DD Subject: Aiden II Chapter 30 Welcome back. Today you will learn who made the Yard Goats. Please donate to the Nifty Archive to keep the stories coming. Emails appreciated. Douglas thehakaanen@hotmail.com CHAPTER 30 THE ROSTER SATURDAY, APRIL 21 Aiden and Gordy had only travelled a couple of blocks from the trailer park when they heard a car coming up behind them. As it slowly passed, the boys could see that it was a Mayfield police car. The driver was Officer Mike, who stopped ahead of them and signaled for them to pull over to the curb. The boys obeyed and dismounted their bikes. "Did we do something wrong?" Aiden asked. He had no idea what they could possibly have done wrong while covering two blocks on their bikes. "No, boys," Officer Mike laughed. "This has to do with something I forgot." "You forgot to give us a ticket?" Aiden said. Mike was about to console the boys one more time when he saw the mischievous grin on Aiden's face. "Yep. The speed limit in town is 25 miles per hour and I clocked you two doing 50. We won't even go into the wheelies when you tore down the road." "We promise to go slower next time if you tell us why you really stopped us," Gordy said. "Well, you told me you happened to have those stuffed animals because you were taking them to the fire station for the Teddy Bear Brigade collection. I forgot to give you a form to fill out so you can get credit for being a donor," Mike explained. Aiden reached into one of the saddles and pulled out a slip of paper while Gordy did the same. "It's done," Aiden told the police officer. "We didn't think about giving it to you. Our parents even signed them." The names of the donors were going to be posted on a display at the Mayfield station; minors needed to have a parental signature for their name to be on the board. "Wow, I am impressed. You boys are on top of everything." Officer Mike was ready to return to his car when Eddie and Roger came by on their bicycles from the opposite direction Gordy and Aiden had been riding in. "Hey, look Roger, the good guys are getting a ticket," Eddie said loudly as the two boys continued to ride by. "Probably for carrying stuffed passengers on the back of their bikes and riding too slow." "Hey, Eddie, how about you and Roger swinging back around here and stopping for a moment," Office Mike ordered. The boys reluctantly obeyed. "What do you want?" Roger asked, his voice oozing contempt. Mike ignored his attitude. He'd had some dealings with Roger over the past year and Eddie hadn't put himself in contention for any citizen of the year awards since moving to Mayfield. Eddie's most recent escapade had been a shoplifting incident at the grocery store the month before. His hearing in juvenile court was scheduled for the upcoming Thursday. "Maybe I should give each of you two a ticket for not wearing helmets," Officer Mike told Eddie and Roger. "I was told we don't have to wear one," Roger protested. "You don't if you're riding out in the county, but in the town limits, helmets are required if you're under sixteen." "Bullshit." "Fine. I was going to give you guys a warning, but if you can't keep your mouth shut I suppose I should give you rides home and hand the tickets to your parents." "Okay, okay," Eddie whined. He was in enough trouble with his dad as it was and didn't want him using his belt on him again. "We'll wear them from now on, we promise." Mike glared at the two little preteen punks. "If you get seen riding without wearing a helmet again, I'll make sure you get those tickets and your bikes are confiscated," he promised. "Now get lost!" The boys quickly mounted their bikes, but Mike stopped them. "You're going to walk those bikes, not ride them." They dismounted with a great deal of grumbling and went back in the direction they had come from. After turning left at the next intersection they rode a couple of blocks and rode into Roger's front yard. "Asshole," Roger said. "Fucking cop thinks he owns the fucking town." Roger cussed like the middle-school boy he was. "I saw how those faggot assholes with their stupid stuffed animals were kissing his ass. I hope they both get cut from the baseball team because no way I want to be on their team." He gave Roger a knowing look and said, "You're going to get cut for sure." "Like I care. I quit showing up so I wouldn't have to be around that fucking Aiden Miller. You can't believe the trouble he made for me and Peter and Barry last year. He's a fucking dick wad. I can tell you for sure that he's gonna make the team because his dad is the baseball coach at the high school not because he's any good. You're gonna be playing with him no matter what." "Shit, that sucks big time." Eddie didn't yet have the resentments against Aiden that Roger did. While he disliked Aiden, he hadn't thought about the personal dynamics of Aiden's life. "Speaking of sucking," Roger leered, "don't you owe me one? There's nobody home at my house right now." The boys parked their bikes next to the house and then entered through the backdoor. By this time Officer Mike, having finished his business with Aiden and Gordy, turned his car around and returned to the Evergreen Trailer Park. Aiden and Gordy rode to Gordy's house where Gordy's mother, Flo, had lunch ready for them. After they ate, the boys went to Gordy's room and stripped down to their underpants and socks. Gordy got out some paper and pens and the boys speculated on which of the nineteen boys turning out for the team would survive the cut. "Roger is toast," Gordy speculated, "and I hope that Eddie is. Did you see how they talked back to Officer Mike? I was waiting for him to arrest them." "And they were lying about not knowing about the helmets," Aiden said. "At least I know Eddie was because we talked about that in health class when we had bicycle safety." "Yeah, like Eddie pays attention to anything in class." Aiden considered Gordy's statement and nodded his head. "You're right about that one." The boys played a couple of video games until Aiden dressed so he could ride home in time for dinner. They gave each other a quick hug before walking out of Gordy's room. Aiden received a hug from Gordy's mom that was welcomed at the same time it embarrassed him. He hopped on his bike and rode home. SUNDAY, APRIL 22 Scott and Connor had completed their final roster after finishing their Saturday dinner at Florentino's Mexican Restaurant in Kentburg. When they were satisfied with the fifteen players they'd picked to fill out their roster they headed to Scott's studio apartment which was a half-mile from the restaurant. Connor spent Saturday night at Scott's apartment where they had two rowdy rounds of sex with each of them bottoming once. "Fuck, you were wild last night," Connor told Scott as they ate breakfast. "I was in a wild mood," Scott laughed. "Getting that roster finished took a lot of pressure off." "Having a Mayfield Baseball Club team is certainly different than being independent," Connor observed. "The expectations are pretty high." "As they should be. I mean my high school class and your class helped create the old Go to State Club, after all." Connor had graduated from high school in the same class as Marty, a year ahead of Scott. While Scott's class came up with the idea of the club and the original leadership, Connor's class was an integral part of the founding of the club. "Well, we have the coaches' meeting with the board at one and then we can visit the boys with the good and not so good news." Personal visits to give the news if a player had made the roster or not was the policy of the Mayfield Baseball Club and had been ever since Eric Simmons and his teammates founded the Go to State Club when they were middle school sixth graders. A big part of the board meeting would be the assigning of sponsors and names to the teams. The club's board of directors had to do a lot of scrambling because of the changes that came about at the last minute in the league structure. "Fuck, I think we have time for one more go-around before we have to leave for the meeting," Connor leered. "How about a good old sixty-niner this time?" Scott found no reason to object. At the meeting Scott and Connor were surprised to find out that their team would be the Yard Goats. The Centralia Clark Pass & Pacific Railroad had been the sponsor of Phil's high school age teams for the past five years. But the younger team needed new uniforms and the CCP&P had the money to buy them. They would be taking over the Yard Goats name. Ben's Hardware and the Mayfield Grocery combined to sponsor Phil's sixteen-and-under team. The team would be using the same uniforms as the year before and would only have to change the sponsorship patches on the sleeves. "I can't believe we are now the Yard Goats," Scott marveled as he and Connor left the meeting room at the Mayfield Café where they had enjoyed lunch while meeting with the other coaches and the Mayfield Baseball Club Board of Directors and the club's student officers. "That's been a big name in the area for the last five years," Connor said. "I guess we have a reputation to uphold." "Coach Phil will skin us alive if we don't keep up the standards he set for the name. I think the players are going to be really happy when we tell them what the team name is going to be." "Yeah, they are, especially Aiden." Aiden was busily writing on his computer. He had to write a story for English that involved a dragon. Mrs. Riley came up with writing ideas that intrigued Aiden and tickled his creativity. He thought this was one of her best ideas yet. As was usually the case when he sat at his computer, Aiden was naked. He loved the comfort that came with wearing just his birthday suit. He was working on a scene where a boy in a village thinks he just saw a dragon, which scares him, not because he is afraid of dragons but because he knows they're not real. He was also trying to come up with a good name for the dragon, but inspiration kept evading him—he just couldn't come up with an idea that suited him. Names like Bob the Dragon just didn't cut it in his mind. "Aiden," came Larry's voice from the stairs, "we have company." That was code for him to get dressed and come downstairs to meet the company. Had he said, "Aiden, you have company," then it would have been okay for him to come down in just his underwear or to just remain in the nude. Not bothering to put on the white briefs he had thrown on the floor he slipped on a t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts. If his daddy had wanted him to dress more formally he would have come upstairs, knocked on his door, and told him so. He went down the stairs wondering if the visitors were his coaches. They had told the team at the end of practice that they would be visiting everyone during the afternoon. He was filled with a conflicting measure of dread and hope as he turned into the living room. Seeing nobody there, he went across the foyer into the conference room where he saw Coaches Connor and Scott sitting on the couch. Aiden's anticipation and shaky confidence was instantly swallowed up by fear. They are here to tell me I'm cut, he thought, forgetting that the coaches had told the team they would be visiting each of them sometime during the day on Sunday. "Hi, coaches," Aiden said with unexpected bashfulness. "Hey, Aiden," Scott smiled. "Congratulations on being a member of the Yard Goats." Scott and Connor had been told by Phil at the meeting earlier in the day that there was no sense mincing words when they met with the players and their families. "Just come out and let everybody know what the deal is," Phil advised. Aiden looked questioningly at Phil. "The Yard Goats are dad's team—they're a big kids' team." Phil came over to Aiden and wrapped his strong arms around his son. "Things have changed this year. You are now officially a Goat." Aiden fought for breath for a moment, then took a deep one and yelled out, "Yippee! I'm a Goat!" His scream was somewhat muffled by Phil who still had him in a hug. He wiggled his way out of his dad's grasp and stepped over to the couch. "Thanks Coach Scott and Coach Connor." "Thanks for what?" Scott asked. "You're the one who did the work to make the team. You're a damned good baseball player and I know how hard you worked to get there." He suddenly realized his slip. "Sorry, for the word, Coach Sanders." "I think Aiden's ears will survive being singed," Larry laughed. Aiden was grinning at the praise from his coach. He was already looking forward to a fun year when he suddenly realized that there was one person who could spoil that fun. "Who all made the team?" he asked. "We aren't saying until we've talked to everybody. As soon as that happens, we'll email the roster to you and your dads," Connor replied. He looked at the clock over the mantle. "We'd better go—we've still got six more to visit." The coaches knew that the kids' jungle telegraph was already spreading the news and the players would know most of the roster long before they sent their emails. Aiden and Phil escorted the coaches to the door. Scott reminded Aiden that the next practice was on Tuesday and followed Connor to Connor's car. Phil and Aiden watched them until they disappeared to the east on North Lake road. Aiden was certain they were heading to Kalie's house. Five minutes later, Gordy called Aiden's phone. "Have the coaches been to your house yet?" he asked Aiden. "They just left." "Well?" "I made the team." Aiden tried to temper his exhilaration in case Gordy didn't make it even though Gordy was good and there was no question in Aiden's mind that his friend made the team. "Yaaaaaaaaay! So did I!" Gordy screeched. Yes, Aiden thought, it's going to be a fun year. Just then the house phone rang. Larry answered it and told Aiden it was for him. The jungle telegraph was now busily at work. The call was from Kalie, who had also made the team. "They picked me and I'm a girl," Kalie sobbed into the phone. "I'm so happy!" Kalie certainly didn't sound happy to Aiden, nevertheless he gave her his congratulations and told her that he was happy, too. Which was true. Kalie might be a girl, but she was a good player, and that was what counted most in Aiden's book. Aiden then called Miles, who had also made the team. Just as he ended the call Mason called. He sounded so excited Aiden thought he was going to explode. "Aiden, I called Miles first but I got his voicemail and I hope he made the team so now I'm calling you because the coaches just left and I bet you won't believe me but I made the team and I get to play on a travel team with the best players and I can't believe that it happened to me and we've got to practice together so I get better." Mason stopped to get a breath of air and then continued. "I know you made the team because you're the best baseball player at Lakeview and you were the best player on the Knights last year but did you make the team? I hope so because it's going to be so fun..." "Yes, I made the team, Mason." "Oh, I am soooo happy that you and me are both Yard Goats. I gotta call Miles. Bye, Aiden." When the final roster arrived in Aiden's email only two decisions surprised him. He was sure that Eddie would not make the team because he was an asswaffle, but his name was on the roster. The other surprise was Tanner Benson being cut. Tanner was a sixth grader at the middle school. He was the only sixth grader to be cut. Aiden understood that Tanner was a borderline player, but Aiden thought he was better than Mason. And he certainly would have been a better teammate than Eddie. Aiden was really pleased to see that the twins made the team since he had helped convince them to turn out. Lenny, Lance, and Vincent Madden were the only fourth graders to become Yard Goats. He gave the twins a call and ended up talking to Lenny. While not anywhere near as exuberant as Mason, he was excited for both himself and his brother. "I wouldn't have even turned out for this team if you and Gordy and Miles and Mason weren't going to be on it. I know Gordy made it and I bet you and Miles made it. Did Mason make the team?" "He sure did." "Cool. He's better than people think." Not long after that conversation, Aiden got a long-awaited call from Marty. Since the Nuts had an afternoon game scheduled, Marty said he would do his best to give Aiden a Sunday night call. "Marty, I made the team," Aiden told him after they said their hellos in various forms. "Was there any doubt?" Marty asked sincerely. "I dunno, maybe. I never tried out for a team like this." "So what? Just remember how good you are, bro. Remember that you're the best and it's up to the other guy to prove that he's better than you. If you have doubts about that, then you're already making him better in your own mind." Aiden mulled that over for a few seconds before saying, "Is that part of being in a zone during a game? Thinking that I'm the best?" "That's an interesting way of looking at it, but yeah, I would say you have it pegged." "How was your game today? I've been so busy all day I haven't looked it up yet." "You need to learn to multi-task on that computer of yours," Marty laughed. "We won 5-4 on a walk off single in the tenth." "Sounds like it was an exciting game. How did you do?" "I was one-for-four with a walk. Struck out twice and doubled." "What does that make your average now?" "Hell if I know. That's why I keep smart people like you around me to figure that shit out." Aiden brought up his Marty spreadsheet and added Marty's numbers in. "You're batting .238 now and you have six doubles and two home runs. Did you get any other stats?" "Well, my double came with two outs in the tenth. Then, with me on second, Chris singled me in and we won." "Awesome. You're a hero," Aiden gushed. "Nope, I'm just a baseball player trying to play the best he can play." "And I bet you think you can play way better than batting .238. I know I think you can because you're better than that." Aiden paused for a moment. "You're the best, bro," Aiden said, echoing Marty. Then Aiden's tone of voice got very serious. "One kid who made the team is a total asswaffle," he complained. "His name is Eddie and he's a bully. He bullies Mason and he'd bully the twins but he's afraid of them because they know martial arts. And he tries bullying me but I told him to go fuck himself. I don't want to play with somebody like that on my team." There was a long silence before Marty said. "Well, sport, it appears you have no choice. Sometimes you have to play with somebody like that. I know there are two of them on my team right now." "On a pro team? You mean there are asswaffles on a pro team?" "Quite a few of them in fact, just like any other part of life. All I can do is be the best teammate I can be and let them be themselves and hope their attitudes get in their way of moving up. "So, I never say anything at all to Eddie about what he does?" "You SET the example and let him BE the example. And if he does things like not hustle and or bully kids then you might let him know that's not how this team does things. What is the name of your team if you know it yet?" "The Yard Goats." "No shit? You're taking over the name of Coach Phil's team? Awesome. You guys have a name to live up to. That means you better kick ass, and I don't mean just the score—I mean in being a good team in every way possible." "Even with Eddie on the team it will be lots of fun because all of my best friends are there. "When's your first game?" "We have a practice game on Wednesday and pretty soon we'll start playing real games." "Kick some ass on Wednesday. I love you, little bro." "You kick some ass tomorrow. I love you, big bro." That night for the first time in a while Aiden put his undies on, took Horace down from his shelf, and went downstairs to sleep. He wanted to share his happiness with his dads and cuddle up with them. He set Horace on the end of the bed and crawled in between his dads. "I love you," he told them. "Thanks for taking me to the cages and playing catch with me and helping me make the team." Larry wrapped his arm around his son and kissed him on the forehead. "We love you, son. It's nice of you to pay us a visit. It's been awhile." "Horace missed you," Aiden said sleepily. As he drifted off to sleep he thought about how his dads never once messed with his hair after he'd climbed into bed with them. TUESDAY, APRIL 24 "It looks like Muddy and Eddie are friends again." Miles observed as the boys sat down to lunch. "I don't get Muddy at all. One minute he's friends with us and the next minute he's friends with Eddie," Aiden moaned. "Eddie acted big-headed all day yesterday because he made the team," Kalie said. "That's because he's an asswaffle," Aiden stated with certainty. "All asswaffles have big heads." "And you don't mean the head inside of their pants either," Miles giggled, causing Kalie to blush bright red which Aiden instantly noticed. "That's really nasty," Kalie said. "Hey, if you don't like how boys talk, then you don't have to sit with us," Aiden pointed out. The way he and his friends saw it, Kalie was either going to be one of the boys or she wasn't, but either way she couldn't get all embarrassed when they talked the way boys talked. The Yard Goats had practice after school at the park department baseball complex. The practice went well with Eddie being on his best behavior. Scott told the team after practice that he thought they were ready for their practice game. The Goats would be playing the Clark Pass eleven-and-under team at the Mayfield complex. Both teams would be playing in their practice gear rather than in full uniforms and there would be free substitution and everybody would be in the batting order. Nevertheless, Aiden was pleased that he would be starting at third base even though most of the players would be playing at multiple positions. The coaches had already told him to be prepared to pitch two innings. Aiden batted second the next day. He was playing in his practice gear, but it felt good to be playing somebody different than his teammates. Aiden played two innings at third, pitched two innings, and played an inning in centerfield. It felt strange playing in the outfield, since he'd only played there a couple of innings the year before and in a couple of pickup games at the park during the summer. While nobody officially kept score, the calculating minds on the Yard Goats knew they had won 19-8. Like most Clark Pass teams, their opponents weren't very good, but they did play hard and with enthusiasm. Aiden had fun playing them and hoped they'd win their share of games when the season started—except against the Yard Goats of course. Aiden had two hits, caught a pop fly in the outfield, and fielded two balls cleanly at third. He set Clark Pass down in order in his first inning on the mound, but gave up three hits and a walk in the next inning which scored three runs. The Clark Pass team would end up playing in the park league. They felt they would be more competitive there, even if it meant a bit more traveling than the Puget Sound Division the Goats would be competing in. Muddy and Eddie hung out together on the bench and once again Eddie was on good behavior. Aiden and Gordy speculated that maybe Muddy was doing something to make Eddie behave. Aiden was determined to find out if that was true. Aiden wondered why there weren't very many sixth graders on the team. Larry explained that a lot of it had to do with the starting date of the eleven-and-under league. "The twelve-and-unders don't start until toward the end of the middle school season, which eases the conflicts. Also, a lot of the sixth graders turn twelve too soon to be eligible. I know Trent has one of the waivers allowed. His father said Trent wanted to play with you and your friends and that they would work out conflicts as they went along. Does that answer your question?" "It should since it was one of the longest answers to a short question in history," Aiden replied with an impish smile. The other question had to do with why there were so many more boys from Lakeside school than from Parkwood. Phil speculated it had to do with how close knit the Lakeside boys in Aiden's group were. "I know that the park league has plenty of Parkwood boys playing." More than anything else, the practice game had Aiden ready to play serious baseball, but the serious games were still a couple of weeks away. Next: A Week in the Lives of...(Part 1) Yard Goats Roster: Aiden Miller-Lakeside (5) Kalie Carter-Lakeside (5) Gordon Lansing-Lakeside (5) Mudrak Babik-Lakeside (5) Russell Kingman-Mayfield MS (6) Miles Gomez-Lakeside (5) Trent Hallion-Mayfield MS (6) Lenny Hazen-Lakeside (4) Lance Hazen-Lakeside (4) Ed Schafer-Lakeside (5) Jared Finn-Mayfield MS (6) Mason Johnson-Lakeside (5) Kenny Gray-Parkwood (5) Yonder Sanchez-Mayfield MS (6) Vincent Madden-Parkwood (4)