Barbara L. Clanton - Out of Left Field

by Barbara L. Clanton

  Marlee took another practice swing in the ondeck circle. Her mother, bundled up in the stands, gave her two thumbs up for encouragement. Marlee nodded and headed toward the plate. She put her hand up and asked the umpire for time to get set in the batter’s box. She anchored her right foot in the box and stretched her bat across the plate to make sure she was the proper distance away. She then brought her left foot in and bent her knees. She took one practice swing that signaled to the umpire she was ready for the pitch.

  She could hear the Cougar fans yelling for her. Lisa’s voice was always loudest. “C’mon Marlee. Smack it outta here, #3.” Her coach clapped her hands and reminded Marlee about the release point. Marlee heard her mother yell encouragement from the stands. She wasn’t sure about Jeri. She couldn’t worry about that right now. She focused on Christy.

  Watch the release. She watched the release all right. Another Christy Loveland rocket roared straight for her head. Marlee saw it coming, but could not react fast enough this time. A thunderclap ripped through her skull followed quickly by searing pain in her shoulder. She knew she’d been hit and was on the ground.

  Pain pounded through her brain. She heard someone moaning and through the din heard voices shouting weird things like “Yer out!” and “Keep her helmet on.” She couldn’t figure out what was going on and struggled to open her eyes. White-hot pain drove them closed again. “Call 9-1-1,” was the last thing she heard.

  Chapter Eleven

  Wounded

  MARLEE WOKE UP when she heard her mother’s voice.

  “Marlee?” Her mother eased open her daughter’s bedroom door. “I hope you’re up for company. Jeri and Lisa are on their way over.”

  “Sure, Mom. C’mon in.” Marlee attempted to sit up in her bed. “Ooh.” She winced.

  “Shoulder?”

  “Yeah. And my head aches a little.” She lay back down.

  Her mother walked to the window and pulled up the shade. “Does that bother you?”

  “No, it’s nice.”

  The late Saturday afternoon sunlight cheered up the room considerably. Marlee had slept through the morning and into the late afternoon. She was a little disoriented. She opened her eyes wide and blinked a few times in an attempt to wake up.

  “How about if I open the window, too? We could use some fresh air.”

  Her mother opened the window a few inches and then sat on the edge of the bed. Marlee filled her lungs with the fresh air in an attempt to shake the cobwebs from her head. The fresh air and the prospect of company perked up her spirits.

  Her mother pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, a familiar gesture. “I must have been your bad luck charm, yesterday. The first game I come to this year and look what happens.”

  Less than twenty-four hours earlier Marlee had been whisked away from Sandstoner Fields in an ambulance and taken to East Valley Hospital. The emergency room doctor diagnosed her with a mild concussion and a mild shoulder sprain. The doctor kept her overnight for observation, to make sure there was no abnormal swelling in her brain, but Marlee was glad she could go home early Saturday morning. The hospital was kind of scary and the whole place smelled like sick people. Thankfully they let her mother stay in the room with her overnight. Although she was sixteen years old, almost seventeen, she needed her mother.

  “Mom, I feel fine. The doctor said it’s just a mild concussion.”

  “And a shoulder sprain. I’m just glad you only had to stay one night in that nasty hospital, but I’ve got you home now and that’s where you’re staying for a while. Oh, and,” a hint of a smile appeared at the corners of her mouth, “I’m supposed to observe you for signs of weird behavior.”

  Marlee smiled, too. “How are you gonna tell, Mom?” They both laughed.

  “They didn’t know what they were asking, did they?” She pulled the covers tighter around Marlee.

  “Mom, you don’t have to tuck me in.”

  “Oh, I know, sweetie. Instinct, I guess. Well, Jeri and Lisa should be here any minute so let me go downstairs and unlock the kitchen door.” Marlee’s mother grabbed her big toe through the blanket and gave it an affectionate squeeze.

  “Mom?” Her mother turned around and leaned against the doorjamb. “I don’t think you were bad luck. Maybe I have, like, a guardian angel and he made sure you were there. ’Cause I got hurt.”

  “Maybe.” Her mother smiled, but Marlee could see tears well up in her eyes. “Maybe it was Daddy.”

  “Yeah, maybe.”

  A few minutes after Marlee’s mother went back downstairs, Marlee heard Jeri’s Mustang pull into the gravel driveway. She tried to sit up again, but this time the pain in her head wouldn’t allow it. And with her arm and shoulder tightly bound with a body wrap, she couldn’t get any leverage to sit up.

  She ran fingers through her short hair in an attempt to make herself presentable. Using her left hand felt awkward, but she guessed she’d have to get used to doing a lot of things left-handed now that her entire right side was tied down and useless.

  Marlee swallowed hard trying to calm her nerves. After all, she and Jeri hadn’t been speaking. They had met in Mrs. Taylor’s algebra class in middle school. Marlee was in seventh grade and Jeri was in eighth grade. They hit if off immediately. And once they discovered their mutual love, more like obsession, for softball, their friendship was sealed. Marlee hoped she could salvage some of that friendship after she revealed her secret. A secret that she had begun to accept for herself.

  “Marlee?” Jeri opened the door fully.

  “Did we win?”

  Jeri and Lisa burst into laughter as they fell over each other trying to get in the door.

  “Oh, she’s okay.” Jeri exchanged a look with Lisa. “And we were worried.”

  Lisa plopped into the recliner. “Yeah, we won.”

  Jeri sat on the edge of the bed. “When Christy got thrown out of the game—”

  “Thrown out?” Marlee looked at her friends in disbelief.

  “Oh, yeah,” Lisa said. “As soon as the ball hit you, the umpire yelled, ‘You’re out! You’re out of this game!’”

  “Oh, my God,” Marlee said. “I heard that. I thought he was calling me out. I was so confused. Then what happened?”

  Jeri took up the tale. “Well, Coach put Kerry in to run for you, seeing as you couldn’t do it, slacking off going for a joyride in an ambulance.” Jeri rolled her eyes. “Then East Valley put in their back-up pitcher. I forgot her name.”

  Lisa broke in, “Mary something-or-other. But then I was up to bat with Kerry on first base.”

  “Yeah, and Lisa hits one to Susie in left field—” Lisa objected to Jeri’s version of the story so Jeri modified it. “Okay. Okay. Lisa hits it in the gap between left and center. But Susie, girl, she didn’t even run hard after it. Kerry practically scored by the time Susie picked up the ball at the fence. And then you know what Susie did?”

  “What?”

  “When Susie picked up the ball, she lobbed it to second base. Second base! Lisa was running to third. Susie knows better than that. But, anyway, Kerry pitched in the bottom of the ninth and held them off so we won the game one to nothing.”

  Marlee smiled at Jeri’s enthusiasm. This was the Jeri she knew. Her heart was split at that moment. Her heart rejoiced that Jeri was back to her old self, but her heart ached over needing to tell Jeri “the truth.” Her heart also ached over Susie’s part in their win.

  “Did she do it on purpose?” Marlee wondered out loud.

  “Who? Susie or Christy?” Jeri asked with derision.

  “Yeah, really,” Marlee agreed. Marlee had meant Susie, but she let Jeri think she meant Christy. “I can’t figure out why Christy would throw at me. What did I ever do to her?”

  Lisa pulled at the ends of her long braid. “Easy. She was jealous.”

  “Yeah, you were pitching a better game than she was,” Jeri added.

  “I guess.” Marlee shrugged, but instantly regretted the movement.

&nb
sp; Jeri softened her voice and asked, “So, are you okay? What did the doctor say?”

  Marlee told them about the mild concussion and shoulder sprain. “And, and this really sucks, I can’t play ball for at least a week, maybe more.”

  Her friends gasped.

  “Oh, my God. A week?” Lisa slammed the foot rest back into place and sat bolt upright in the recliner. “How are you gonna stand it? Geez, how am I gonna stand it? We have games on Tuesday and Friday.”

  “C’mon, you know she has to get better,” Jeri reprimanded. “She has to get strong to kick some Panther butt in the playoff game in a couple of weeks.”

  Lisa groaned. “Yeah, but we have to win all our games between now and then for that to happen. Because you know they aren’t going to suspend Christy All-County-Ace-Pitcher Loveland. And with her, they’ll win the rest of their games.”

  Marlee groaned, too, as she realized the gravity of the situation.

  Jeri patted Marlee’s good hand. “Don’t worry about it, Marlee. You need to focus on getting better. Kerry is a pretty good pitcher, you know. She’s learned from the best. You.”

  Marlee blushed. “Thanks. And yeah, she’s a good kid. It’s hard to be on varsity as a freshman, though.”

  Lisa said, “Hey, you and I did it, right? She’ll be all right. I’ll take care of her. Geez, I can’t believe it. An entire week.”

  “Or more, if I don’t get better.”

  “Trying to depress me, eh?” Lisa sulked. “But listen, before I forget. Sam called me this morning. She seemed so eager and your mom said it was okay. She and Susie are coming by today.”

  Marlee smiled when she heard that Susie was coming to see her. She tried to sound nonchalant even though her heart began to do flip-flops. “That’s fine.” And she also couldn’t help wonder why the East Valley second baseman was so eager to come over, too. I guess we’re friends now.

  “Ooh, I hear a car.” Lisa jumped up to look out the window. “Ooh, I see Sam. I’ll go down and meet them.” She bounded out of the room and stomped down the stairs.

  “What was that all about?” Marlee cocked her head to one side.

  “You got me. She’s been weird all morning. So, how is your head?”

  “I don’t know. It hurts a little, I guess. You know, I don’t even remember the ambulance ride that well. All I knew is that my head hurt and the driver hit every single bump on the way. I didn’t even realize I had hurt my shoulder until way later.”

  Jeri grabbed her friend’s hand. “Marlee, I’m so sorry I got mad at you on the bus yesterday. And then you got hit in the head and just lay there on the ground not moving. Oh, my God.”

  “I’m okay. Really. And look, our fight was my fault. I should have talked to you about it sooner. Susie and I are becoming friends, and I didn’t tell you. But you’ll always be my best friend.” She heard Susie and Sam in the kitchen talking with Lisa and her mother. “And I need to tell you something. I need to tell you the truth.” Marlee struggled to sit up.

  Jeri helped her sit up, but said, “Shhh, it’ll keep. Don’t worry. Calm down.” A worried laugh escaped. “And besides, they’ll be here in about twenty seconds.”

  Marlee closed her eyes for a moment. The struggle to sit up had drained her of energy. She took a deep breath and said, “I promise you. No more secrets. I swear.”

  Jeri nodded. “Okay.”

  They heard Lisa, Susie and Sam quietly make their way up the stairs.

  Lisa opened Marlee’s bedroom door and held it open for Sam and Susie. Sam came in first. She looked at Marlee and stuck out her lower lip in a boo-boo face.

  “Hey, P,” Sam said.

  Marlee smiled. “Hey, 2. You look nice.”

  Sam looked stunning. She wore tight white jeans with a salmon silk shirt tied snugly at her waist and a matching scarf.

  “Oh,” Sam stammered and turned crimson. “Uh, thanks. I just threw this together.” She winked at Marlee. Marlee smiled again, not quite understanding the wink. She braced herself to look at Susie and was surprised to find that Susie looked almost as pale as she did.

  “So, how’s your head?” Sam asked.

  “Okay, I guess. They took a CAT scan of my head but didn’t find anything.” Marlee waited a split-second and then laughed.

  It took another second, but the other girls finally picked up on the joke and laughed with her.

  “You’re funny.” Sam shook her head. “Didn’t find anything.” She turned to Lisa and said, “She’s funny. You didn’t tell me she was so funny.”

  Lisa shrugged, smiled, and reintroduced Sam to Jeri. Jeri stood up and shook her hand. The three of them wandered toward the open window, instinctively seeming to know to let Susie greet Marlee privately. Susie sat on the edge of the bed in the spot that Jeri had just vacated.

  Susie smiled shyly and mouthed the word, “Hi.” Her hair hung loose over her shoulders. Marlee liked this softer side of Susie. “How are you, Marlee?” She looked at Marlee tenderly.

  Marlee looked at Susie and got warm all over. Susie wore a pair of black jeans, a white tank top that showed every curve, and an unbuttoned forest green shirt, probably her father’s, on top. The dark green in the shirt brought out Susie’s milk chocolate eyes. Marlee melted in the softness conveyed in those eyes. Marlee desperately wanted to grab her hand, but didn’t. She couldn’t. Not with the other girls in the room.

  “I’ve had better days, but I’m okay. Can’t play ball for a week, but I can go to school. How’s that for a bad joke?” Marlee laughed, but cut her laugh short when she noticed a one-inch gash under Susie's left eye. Susie had tried to hide it with makeup. “What happened to you?” Marlee reached toward Susie’s face, but Susie pulled away just out of reach.

  “I know.” Susie touched the cut on her cheek. “We sure look a pair, don’t we?”

  Marlee pursed her lips together and glanced at her three friends on the far side of the room. She sensed that she and Susie had a modicum of privacy so she looked directly at Susie and said softly, “You didn’t answer my question.” She reached for Susie’s hand and held it in both of her own.

  Susie lowered her voice so the others wouldn’t hear. “Me? I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about.”

  Lisa said, a little too loudly, “Listen, we’re gonna wait downstairs.”

  Marlee quickly let go of Susie’s hand as they approached.

  Lisa said, “Hope you’re feeling better, Marlee.” She looked toward Sam and Jeri and nodded them toward the door. “Let’s go outside, eh?” Both Sam and Jeri nodded.

  “Bye, Marlee,” Sam said. “Feel better.”

  Jeri added, “Yeah, feel better. Call me later if you’re up to it. I’ll be home tonight and at the restaurant tomorrow.”

  “Okay, I will. Thanks.”

  Marlee listened to her friends clomp their way down the back stairs. And her mother thought she was noisy on those stairs. She heard Lisa ask Sam, “So, do you like bowling?” Marlee and Susie smiled.

  Ah, they were finally alone. Marlee sighed when she saw Susie smile. Marlee watched different emotions swirl behind Susie’s eyes, but she couldn’t read any of them. She just wanted Susie to kiss her, even if it hurt her shoulder or her head. But something in Susie’s demeanor was off. Marlee verbalized what must have been on both their minds. “Some great weekend for us, wasn’t it?”

  “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

  “I guess.”

  “Christy got tossed from the game, you know.”

  “I heard. Jeri thinks Christy beaned me on purpose.” It wasn’t a question. It wasn’t an accusation. It was a simple statement, a baited fishhook.

  “Marlee. Let’s not talk about—”

  It must have been the concussion talking, because Marlee snapped, “No, you never want to talk about her. Why is that?”

  Susie recoiled as if burned and sprang to her feet. She fled to the window and kept her back to Marlee. Marlee’s room was so quiet she could hear the rustle of the curtai
ns blowing in the window. She could also hear Lisa and Sam talking excitedly about something in the driveway, though she couldn’t quite make out the words. She looked at Susie’s back. Susie kept her head down as if interested in the braided rug on Marlee’s bedroom floor.

  “Susie? What’s going on?”

  Susie’s shoulders sagged noticeably at Marlee’s question. The only thing Marlee could do was watch helplessly from her bed as Susie covered her face with both hands.

  “Susie?” Marlee struggled to get up.

  Susie turned. “Marlee, no! Stay in bed.” Susie’s eyes were moist and red-rimmed. She was obviously crying. She moved toward Marlee, but stopped short and sat on the edge of the recliner. She looked at the floor.

  “What, Susie? You’re scaring me.”

  “Marlee,” Susie started. “I...”

  Susie looked up but didn’t look at Marlee. She locked her gaze on Marlee’s batting trophy across the room. She got up and pulled it off the shelf. “Marlee,” she said again. “I’m really sorry.” She put the trophy back and stood facing the bookshelf. “Marlee, this is all my fault.” Her voice cracked. She noticeably struggled to keep herself under control.

  “Susie, what are you talking about?” Marlee tried to get up again, but found she didn’t have the strength. She shut her eyes for a moment so the world would stop spinning and pleaded, “Susie, come here.” She patted the bed.

  Obviously struggling with emotion, Susie turned to face Marlee. “She just gets angry sometimes. This,” Susie touched the gash under her eye, “was an accident. She doesn’t know how strong she is, but she shouldn’t take it out on you, too.”

  Even though she already knew the answer, she wanted to hear Susie say it. “Who? Who gets mad, Susie?”

  Silence.

  “Susie, who gets mad?”

  “Christy.”

  “Why? Why does Christy get mad? What aren’t you telling me?”