Junior Year Box Set

Poor Nate would be scarred for life. I found myself in the middle of the ballroom as all other conversation stopped to listen to my mother do what she does best. That is, explain how I was a ‘stupid boy’ and how I would be on the next plane back to the States. Nate, bless his soul, howled when Mom began to get loud. Greg, the big chicken, left his son to his own fate. Angie switched to mother-bear mode and rescued him.

I had finally had it.

“Okay, I get it. I’m minding my own business while taking every precaution I know of. Because some criminal decides to come after me, I’m the one who must be punished,” I barked.

“Don’t take that tone of voice with me,” she came back.

Several of my teammates flinched when she said that. Apparently, they’d been in similar situations. I took a deep breath and bit back about five excellent comebacks. I closed my eyes, forcing myself to relax. Then I opened them and looked her right in the eyes.

“I love you. I love that you care enough to protect me. And I realize you’re trying to do what you think is best. I wouldn’t want it any other way,” I said as my chest tightened with emotion.

I think my mom could see I was being sincere and not just trying to placate her. Up to this point, our emotions had been running wild, and my taking a step back made her reconsider her position.

“If anything ever happened to you …” she began, but I wrapped her in my arms to hug her.

Dad took that moment to wrap us both in a hug as well. My allergies must have been acting up to cause my runny nose and watery eyes.

“What did he do?” I heard behind me, and I turned and found Tami, looking annoyed.

That seemed to lighten the mood as I let go of my parents and hugged Tami. I heard someone clear his throat. Not that I cared, but it made me aware that I was making a spectacle of myself in front of everyone.

I looked over Tami’s shoulder and saw she was standing with Mr. and Mrs. Mass, their daughter Harper, and, surprisingly, a smiling Tim and Wolf. What was going on?

“What are you guys doing here? I thought you were going to be at two-a-days.”

“The Mass family decided to come down and, lo and behold, all interns got an end-of-summer bonus check. It was enough to cover the group airfare, food, and hotel room, with a little spending money kicked in,” Wolf explained.

Next, Peggy came in with the boys, followed by Tracy and Pam. Coby wanted his mom, and Little David wanted out of the stroller; I’m sure he didn’t care who freed him. I picked him up, and he giggled. That was exactly what I needed right now.

I began my circuit around the room to meet everyone’s parents with Little David as my helper. The first ones I found were Allard’s. I told them what a fantastic job he’d been doing and then got an invitation I might want to decline.

“When you get a chance, stop up at our room. We brought Allard his favorite thing to eat: jars of pickled bologna and red-hot franks,” his dad announced.

“I’m almost afraid to ask what that is,” I said.

“It’s exactly what it sounds like. My mom canned it herself. She pickled bologna in a jar. You haven’t lived until you’ve had a fried pickled-bologna sandwich,” Allard explained.

Apparently, I let my concern about eating something like that come across my face.

“Son, that’s nothing. I grew up in Alabama, and I remember one birthday my mama made me a bologna cake,” his dad said, to add to my discomfort.

“It’s not a real cake,” Allard assured me. “You get thick-cut bologna and sandwich it in between a mixture of cream cheese, onion, and Worcestershire sauce. Then you then frost it with the cream cheese mixture to make it look like a cake. You serve it on crackers.”

“I think you’re all nuts,” was my firm opinion.

“Here I thought Allard said you were okay,” his dad said with a grin.

They laughed at me as I made a hasty retreat so I could meet everyone else. I received my share of ribbing from my teammates about being a mama’s boy. It was nice to meet their families. They all commented on their sons’ new clothes and hairstyles. I made it clear I had nothing to do with the ones who’d dyed their hair.

Tristan had an older sister who made me nervous. The way she eyed me, I was afraid to be left alone with her. I was happy when her dad saw the look, and she was soon in the hall being talked to.

When I was done with meeting all the new people, I spent time with my friends and family.

◊◊◊

For my free time, I decided I wanted to go to the batting cage at the ballpark we were playing at today. Estadio de Beisbol was home to the Sultanes de Monterrey. The Sultanes were a Triple-A minor-league team in the Mexican League. Estadio de Beisbol was one of two stadiums we would be playing in. The other was Ciudad Deportiva.