by Clay Cormany
"Ewww, it looks awful," said Phoebe, who then pointed at spindly legs that suddenly emerged from one of the holes. "There’s something coming out the finger! Throw it away!"
Jace let the mitt fall to the floor, and a small spider crawled out of it.
"Is it a black widow?" asked Phoebe. "Those things can kill you."
"I don’t think so," said Jace, "but I do think I need a new glove."
On Thursday morning, he found one on sale at Weatherford’s sporting goods for just eleven dollars. He also went over to Farrell’s grocery and arranged to work there two mornings a week and every other Sunday afternoon. That would give him some cash for the dates he hoped to have with Stephanie.
An hour before the first team practice, Stick called. "Hey dude, some of us are going over to the pool for a while and then grab some burgers," he said. "Want to join us?"
"Thanks, but I can’t," Jace answered. "I have to help my mom."
"With what?"
"Her softball team is having its first practice in a little while, and I’m lugging over bats and other stuff for her." Jace grimaced, knowing that while he wasn’t lying, he wasn’t giving the whole truth either.
"Oh, so you’ll already be at Addison Park," Stick continued. "Just come over to the pool when you’re finished." He paused and then added, "You might get lucky and Stephanie will be there without King Kong."
Not a chance, thought Jace, I’ll be with her at the softball diamond. He wanted to wait a little longer before telling Stick about his new summer plans.
"Well, maybe," he said. "Sometimes when I finish one job for my mom, she gives me another one right away."
"What kind of job would she give you with her little girls' baseball team?" Stick asked.
"Softball. She coaches softball," Jace corrected him. "I don’t know, but you know how moms are. They always come up with something." He feared he sounded evasive, even phony.
"Sorry, I got to go," Jace said, before Stick could say anything else. "If I can get away, I’ll see you at the pool."
Forty-five minutes later, Jace, Phoebe, and their mother were at Addison Park, striding toward Diamond Number Two. Jace, wearing cut-off sweatpants and the cleanest t-shirt he could find, had two bats slung over his shoulder and a bag filled with softballs in his hand. His new mitt hung at the end of one of the bats. Martha, with a baseball cap perched on her head, had a clipboard, the team rosters, and two softball gloves — her own and another for any child who happened to show up without one. Phoebe walked behind them, tossing a softball into the air and then trying to catch it, succeeding better than half the time.
Three girls from the team were waiting for them at the diamond. Some quick introductions followed, and then Martha pulled out two softballs from the bag and had Phoebe and the other girls warm up. She gave a ballpoint pen and a roster to Jace and instructed him to check off the names of the other players when they arrived. Jace moved several steps toward the parking lot where Martha had left her station wagon and where cars carrying more Valkyries would soon be pulling in. He checked his watch — five thirty-five p.m. Ten minutes until the practice began; ten minutes until he launched his quest to pry Stephanie away from Carson’s grubby paws.
At five thirty-eight, Angela Simmonds and Charlene Thuong arrived, followed by Nancy Caldini.
"Hi, Jace," Nancy said as she glided by. "What are you doing here?"
"Just helping out," he responded and then walked a few steps away from her to discourage further conversation.
The next five minutes brought several more players along with some parents. A large man wearing khaki shorts and an orange t-shirt came up to Jace.
"Phil Davenport," he said and thrust out his hand. "My daughter Denise is on the team. Do you need any help with the practice today?"
Jace shook Mr. Davenport’s hand, wondering if the man could feel how nervous he was. "I don’t know," he answered as cheerfully as he could and then pointed at his mother. "Go check with my mom over there and see what she says."
When five forty-five arrived, three players were still absent — Erica Fairchild, Lauren, and Tina — along with assistant coach Stephanie. As he stared at the parking lot, Jace felt beads of sweat collecting on his forehead. He wiped them away but could not wipe away the feelings of helplessness and worry that churned around in his stomach.
Where could they be? he wondered. Did they go to the wrong diamond or — worse — decide to drop off the team?
Martha came over to him. "How many girls still aren’t here?" she inquired.
"Three — and the other assistant coach, too," Jace said.
"In five minutes, I’m going to call roll and then get things started," she said. "I want to find out what kind of experience this team has and what their skill levels are."
Jace nodded. Martha gave his arm a squeeze and then headed back to the diamond.
Jace watched his mom for a moment and then shifted his attention to the girls on her team. Some threw softballs back and forth. Two or three watched Mr. Davenport demonstrate how to swing a bat. Despite being preoccupied with Stephanie, Jace couldn’t help but notice what a diverse bunch the girls were. They sported bangs and braids, pigtails and ponytails. There was freckle-faced Angela, pixie-sized Charlene, and athletic-looking Corey. The mix also included Dana with her oversized glasses and Heather with her mouth full of sunflower seeds. And while some, including Phoebe, could still pass for elementary school students, others looked much older.
Suddenly, the sight of two girls approaching from the direction of the pool seized his attention. They were about fifty or sixty yards away. One was taller than the other and carried a bat bag in one hand. Jace held his breath and began to walk toward them. Squinting his eyes, he tried to make out the features of the taller girl. She wore cut-off blue jeans and a green-and-gold sports jersey. A baseball cap hid her features, but her auburn hair stood out. It had to be Stephanie! But it wasn’t. This girl was heavier than Stephanie. Disappointment surged through him. He started to walk back, but the taller girl called out to him.
"Is this where the Valkyries softball team is practicing?" She and the smaller girl kept walking toward him.
"Yes," Jace answered. The two girls stopped just a few feet from him, and for one wild second, he again had the impression of seeing Stephanie before realizing that she wasn’t.
"Oh, good," the taller girl said. "My name is Sylvia Thornapple, and I’m the team’s assistant coach." She put a hand on the smaller girl’s shoulder. "This is my sister Tina. She’s a player on the team. I’m sorry we’re a little late. This is our first time at Addison Park, and we weren’t sure where to go."
Jace gave them a glassy stare. If the girl had smashed a two by four over his head, he wouldn’t have been more dumbfounded. His plans, his hopes, indeed his whole summer seemed to collapse around him.
"No, there must be some mistake," he babbled. "Our assistant coach is Stephanie…Stephanie Thornapple."
Sylvia looked confused. "Stephanie? What would make you think my sister was the assistant coach?"
"The roster says ‘S.J.’ for ‘Stephanie Jane,’ doesn’t it?"
"Or ‘Sylvia Jean.’ I was kind of in a hurry when I filled out the league application, so I just used my initials." She chuckled. "Believe me, Stephanie wouldn’t be caught dead playing softball."
"Yeah, she’s a sissy," chimed in the smaller girl.
For a few seconds, Jace’s brain seemed numb. Despair clawed at his belly like a trapped animal trying to escape.
"Where’s the coach Mrs. Waldron?" Sylvia asked. The question jarred Jace back into reality.
"Over there," he said, pointing toward the diamond. "The woman with the baseball cap. She’s my mom."
"Oh, that’s nice," Sylvia said. "And you are…?"
"Jason, but I go by Jace. I’m an assistant coach, too." His mind still reeled with disappointment, but at least his good manners were starting to kick in. "Come with me and I’ll introduce you."
; "When do we get to play softball?" Tina asked as they walked to where his mother stood.
"Take it easy, kiddo," Sylvia said. "You’ll get your chance."
Martha had been shouting instructions to some of her players on how to field a ground ball, but she stopped when Jace and the girls approached.
"Hello there," she said. "You must be Stephanie. It’s nice to –"
"Uh, no, Mom," Jace interrupted. "This is Sylvia…Sylvia Thornapple. She’s our other assistant coach."
"I see." His mother paused, glanced at him, and then extended her hand to Sylvia, who clasped it firmly.
"Welcome to the Valkyries, Sylvia. I’m glad to have you with us." She looked at the smaller girl. "You must be Tina."
"Yep," Tina said, hopping up and down.
"You’re just in time for the team meeting," Martha said. And with those words, she shouted to the girls tossing softballs around the diamond. "Come over here and make a semicircle in front of me. We need to get started."
While the players hustled in and assembled in front of their coach, a large girl with frizzy red hair came lumbering toward them, lugging a battered mitt.
"Wait for me," she shouted, stumbling into the group.
"Oh, hi, Lauren," Martha said. "Welcome to the team. Take a seat with the others."
Lauren knocked one girl’s hat off and stepped on the fingers of another as she searched for a spot where she could sit.
Jace felt despair gripping his insides once again. This was going to be a long summer.
Chapter Six
Martha started by having each girl introduce herself and explain why she wanted to play softball. Then she asked some questions. Was your family going on a vacation this summer and, if so, when? Could anything else prevent you from coming to games? Did you ever play on a league softball team before and, if so, at what positions? The last question revealed that only four girls ever played in a softball league before. Corey, along with Angela, had been on Martha’s team the previous year. Tina and Denise played in other leagues. Everyone else was new to organized softball. Even among the experienced players, only Corey had ever pitched in competition.
"We’re an inexperienced team," Martha said, "but that doesn’t mean we can’t win some games." She then launched into her standard pep talk, stressing the value of teamwork, competitiveness combined with good sportsmanship, and hard work.
While his mother delivered her "sermon on the mound," Jace looked at Sylvia. She was not as pretty as Stephanie, although the resemblance was clear enough. Her nose, lips, and chin could have been lifted from Stephanie’s face. But perhaps because Sylvia was a few pounds heavier than her sister, she had broader cheeks, which were spotted with a few pimples. Below her cap, her hair came back into a tight bun with two or three loose strands hanging down like pieces of thread. The sports jersey she wore had some holes in it, as did the sneakers on her feet.
To Jace, Sylvia appeared a little unkempt but not unfeminine; enthusiastic but not combative. She seemed to tune in and out of Martha’s speech, and he had the feeling such presentations were not new to her. Sylvia glanced his way once, and a slight smile creased her lips before she refocused on his mother.
"We’re going to work on defensive skills today," Martha said, wrapping up her lecture. "Let’s see how well you can handle grounders, fly balls, and line drives."
"What about hitting?" Lauren asked.
The question sent a shiver down Jace’s back. The thought of Lauren swinging a bat was almost terrifying.
"We’ll try hitting and pitching at our next practice," Martha said.
And we’ll be sure to have an ambulance nearby when Lauren bats, thought Jace.
"Are there any other questions?"
"Yeah," piped up Dana. "What’s a Valkyrie?"
"Good point," said Martha. "Our team colors are purple and white. I didn’t want to call us ‘the Vikings’ but I thought something similar would be neat. Then I remembered reading stories about the Valkyries, the women who rode on flying horses and carried Vikings who’d been killed in battle to heaven. It seemed like a great name."
"So when do we get our horses?" quipped Heather.
Martha chuckled. "Let’s work on softball first."
After dividing her team into two groups, Martha huddled with Jace and Sylvia. "I’ll take my girls into the outfield," she told them. "You two stay here on the diamond."
Jace started to reach for one of the bats he brought, but his mother put a restraining hand on his arm.
"Just toss the girls some fly balls and grounders," she instructed. "Don’t hit anything yet."
Sylvia and Jace gathered up some softballs and took turns lobbing them into the air for the girls to catch. Nothing too high or too hard. But the results were still disappointing. Most of the girls made no effort to move to the ball. Instead, they stood stationary with an outstretched arm, as if hoping that the ball would magically find its way into their glove. One or two even backed away as if the ball might explode if it touched them. The girls didn’t fare much better with grounders. Balls bounced over gloves, went between legs, and ricocheted off knees.
"Keep the ball in front of you," Sylvia shouted. "Even if you can’t catch it, at least keep it where you can see it." She looked toward Martha’s group.
"Coach Waldron, could you please send Tina over here for a minute?" Sylvia yelled.
Martha gave a quick nod. "Tina, go over to your sister," she said. "She needs your help with something."
Tina took off like a little rocket and five seconds later stood in front of Sylvia, pounding her glove.
"Tina, go out by second base," Sylvia instructed her. "I’m going to throw you a grounder, and I want you to show the other girls how to go after it and make the play."
The girl scampered away with her pigtails bouncing. She stopped just to the left of second base, spun around, and hunched down, placing her hands on her knees. "I’m ready," she yelled.
Sylvia picked up a softball and hurled it a good ten feet to Tina’s right. Without hesitating even a second, Tina scooted laterally to meet the ball. She snared it in her mitt and then threw a perfect strike back to her sister.
"That’s the way to do it," Sylvia said, addressing the other players. "Put your legs apart with one leg a little ahead of the other. Then bend over, holding your hands at waist level or just below, but don't rest them on your knees. Move to the ball once it’s been hit, keeping your eye on it at all times."
She repeated the motions Tina had just gone through, simulating a situation where a ground ball was hit to her left. She moved quickly but gracefully to where the imaginary ball was headed, grabbed it, and threw it toward Jace. "Focus on the person you’re throwing the ball to," Sylvia advised. "And follow through with your arm after the ball leaves your hand."
She ran fingers across her forehead to wipe away some perspiration and then motioned to her sister. "Okay, Tina, go on back with Coach Waldron." Tina sprinted away, and Sylvia spoke to her players again.
"Now you try it," she said. "Jace and I will throw you some more ground balls, and I want you to try and do what you just saw Tina do."
The girls tried to imitate Tina. Some succeeded more than others, but all showed improvement by the time practice ended at seven-fifteen.
"Our next practice will be here on this same diamond at ten-thirty on Saturday," Martha told the Valkyries before dismissing them. "We have a lot of work to do in the next two weeks."
After Jace and Sylvia passed out the team roster and schedule of games, Martha formed the girls into a tight circle. Each player extended an arm toward the center and placed a hand on top of a teammate's hand.
"On the count of three, shout ‘Valkyries’ as loud as you can," Martha directed. The girls complied — a little raggedly, Jace thought — before heading off in different directions.
"Nice work," Martha said to Sylvia, after she and Jace had collected all the stray softballs and put them back in the bag. "I liked the demonstration you d
id with your sister."
"Tina made all-star at shortstop in the Arlington league last year," Sylvia said. "She’s a great little player."
Tina, who stood just a few feet away, ignored the compliment but spoke up just the same.
"I’m hungry."
"Me, too," said Sylvia. "Let’s go over to the pool and find Stephanie."
The mere mention of that name caused Jace’s heart to jump. It also put an idea in his head.
"Why not invite Stephanie to watch the next practice?" he said.
Sylvia shrugged. "I doubt she’ll want to come."
"Just ask her," he persisted. "You never know."
Sylvia didn’t say anything, but looked at Jace with something like hope in her eyes.
"Anyway, tell her Jace Waldron said ‘hi.’"
"All right, I will," Sylvia responded.
Tina came up to her and began yanking on her arm. "Let’s go," she said. "I’m dying of hunger."
"We need to go, too," said Martha. "See you Saturday, Sylvia. And thanks again for your help."
Jace picked up the bag of softballs and the two bats and headed toward the parking lot. Martha and Phoebe followed behind. Just before they reached Martha’s station wagon, a familiar voice rang out.
"Hey, Jace!" Stick shouted from about thirty yards away. He wore dark green swimming trunks and carried a beach towel over his bare shoulder. His light brown hair was still damp and stuck to his forehead. Jace broke away from his mother and sister to meet him.
"Don’t take too long," Martha warned, pulling out her car keys. "We need to get dinner."
"Okay," Jace replied without looking back. He approached Stick and saw the frown on his friend’s face.
"Where were you?" Stick almost shouted, tossing up his hands in frustration. "You missed a great chance to make time with Stephanie. She was there at the pool without Carson, and you could’ve –"
"Yeah, I know she was there," Jace interrupted.
"So what gives?"
"I thought she would be at Addison Park, helping coach my mother’s softball team."