Stranded at Third (GAME TIME SERIES)

by Blue Stour

  “You understand, Jimmy?” Kade said before he joked with the 12-year-old catcher. “Your fielder did the right thing by getting the ball back in, immediately. You probably would’ve caught it though, right?”

  Kade had a tremendous sense of humor toward the players. He talked and joked with them throughout the games. He never took it too seriously and treated any aspect of the officiating profession as a fun privilege, not a painful requirement. Coaches knew they were going to get a consistently called game with Kade behind the dish.

  “You ready to go, Jimmy? Batter?” Kade asked the pre-teens standing nearest to him before pointing to the pitcher and yelling.

  “PLAY BALL!”

  Like the players and coaches, the spectators usually noticed his command of the game, as well. Men appreciated his knowledge and easy-going nature. Women, well, Kade was just easy on their eyes for them. When needed, he could turn on his charm in an instant.

  At 35, Kade stayed in better condition than most men a decade younger. He rode his exercise bike between fifteen and twenty-five miles every day. The 6’ 1”, 220-pound baseball-lifer also did a lot of ab work to keep tight and toned.

  It was his distinctive green eyes, however, that almost always caught the attention of most women immediately. There was something about the shade of green a girl could get lost in. The man felt no shame in using them to assist him in getting what he wanted, outside of baseball.

  The game ran pretty smoothly, until the end. Even then, it was no big deal to Kade because he knew he was correct. The spectators, as usual, thought they knew better. With bases loaded and two out in the bottom-half of the last inning, the drama unfolded.

  The fielding team brought in a new pitcher to end the game. Watching him warm up, Kade was amazed at how hard the kid was throwing the ball. As the left-handed pitcher stepped on the pitching rubber, the spectators were as excited as if they were at Game Seven of the World Series.

  “PLAY BALL!” Kade screamed as he pointed to the flame-thrower.

  After two balls and two strikes were thrown, the pitcher looked into the catcher. After nodding, he stepped back with his right foot, pivoted on his left, and raised his right knee, uncorking a wicked curve ball—unfair for twelve-year-olds to be able to throw so effectively.

  Expecting a fastball, the left-handed batter raised his right knee, almost immediately. As the pitch neared, the he stepped toward the outer-edge of the batter’s box with his right foot.

  For some unknown reason, he took a full swing with the ball headed straight toward his chest. Thinking a fastball was on the way, he missed badly. Instead of the ball hitting his aluminum bat, the ball hit him on the forearm.

  Jumping up and down, his excitement shielded what-had-to-be a sore arm. The youngster dropped his bat and headed to first with the home-town fans cheering wildly.

  “TIME!”

  Kade screamed from behind the catcher. He ripped off his mask, he stepped toward the field as confident as ever.

  “The pitch did hit the batter, but he also swung the bat. Therefore, that’s strike three; batter’s out. That’s game!”

  “NO! NO! NO!” The coach screamed as he came running from his dugout. “He gets first base!”

  “Coach, please listen!” Kade calmly interrupted as the coach reached him. “He did get hit, but the rule clearly state that if he swings the bat and it hits him, it’s just a strike. Since he had two strikes, already, he’s out; that’s third out; ball game, coach. Sorry, but that’s the rule.”

  What more could the angry coach say to the explanation? As usual, Kade described the situation, quoted the correct rule, and then explained the rule; it was textbook. Coach Whoeverhewas simply turned his back and shook his head. Disgustingly, the coach walked back to his angry twelve-year-old team in the dugout.

  As Kade left through a gate on the opposite side of the field, he heard silence followed by all sorts of grunts and groans. As was typical, they were undoubtedly saying the loss was the umpire’s fault; that’s the usual excuse.

  Even though the rule was cut-and-dry, Kade hurriedly got The Hell Outta Dodge! With a bunch of angry parents behind the backstop, he quietly hurried to his car. Even though he was right, most parents and fans usually had no idea about the actual rules.

  “Hey ump,” an elderly woman yelled toward Kade as he was getting into his car, “that was the right call; good job, son.”

  Chapter 14

  “Are you sure you were right, ump?”

  Unlocking his door, he heard a voice and undoubtedly knew he recognized it.

  That was the same voice that he sometimes heard in the middle of the night as he slept. Occasionally, he thought he heard it elsewhere. Unfortunately, it always ended up being another figment of his imagination. Afraid this was another one of those moments; he almost didn’t look, but he couldn’t ignore it, neither.

  Uncertain, he looked in the direction of the sound. Still, he saw no one. Therefore, he shrugged it off as yet another Ghost Voice of Michelle.

  Suddenly, he noticed a woman had stepped off of the bleachers. Kade’s boisterous laughter in what could-have-been a tense situation forced his mouth to curve into that smile that had worked its magic on so many women over the years.

  “THE Kade Toney?” She asked as she was about ten feet away with Kade looking as if he had actually seen a ghost. “How are you? How long has it been?”

  Sporting a smile, despite the angry spectators, Kade instantly forgot all of his troubles. Instead, he only focused on the approaching memories. He knew it had been years but the time had been more-than-kind to her.

  His former high school girlfriend looked better than he had remembered. Long brunette hair draped over her shoulders and those eyes. Yep, those big brown eyes that had looked at him at one time like he had hung the moon. At 35 and a miserable marriage later, Kade had ever stopped missing that look.

  His former wife had never looked at him the way Michelle had, nor did any other female. Hell, he had never looked at anyone the way he looked at Michelle, either.

  “Wow! Michelle!” The pleasantly surprised man forced the words to escape from his beaming smile. “I can’t believe this. Why are you here? How long’s it been? What the hell are you doing here?”

  At that moment, a young boy came sprinting from the losing-dugout’s side. It was the same kid who struck out to end the game. Unaffected by the loss, the boy seemed to be in high spirits, calling out to his mom until he saw who was at the other end of her conversation.

  “Mom, Mom, Mom, M . . . Oh!”

  He quieted his pleas as he abruptly stopped running when he reached her side and noticed her conversation partner.

  “This is Kade, honey,” she explained to her disapproving son. “He’s an old friend of mine. We grew up together.”

  “Buddy,” Kade began explaining. “I know you’re mad at me, and I don’t blame you. But, the rulebook says if you swing the bat at the ball and it hits you, it’s a strike. There was nothing I could do, really.”

  “Yeah, OK,” the 10-year old who was playing up for his age in the 12-U division said before turning his attention to his mother. “Can I go home with Juan? You’ll have to pick me up tonight, though.”

  “Yeah. Did his mom say it was fine?” she happily approved. “I’ll come pick you up at Juan’s at 7:00; be ready!”

  As the little star ran off, Michelle stepped closer to Kade’s car, leaning on the passenger side of the roof.

  “Eleven years, Kade,” she answered the question she rhetorically asked before the little man came along. “I’ve seen you once in fourteen years and haven’t seen you in eleven years. K.T. is ten. It’s been about eleven years, Kade. Last time I saw you, you were home from U.S.A. at Christmas break, I believe for Nana’s funeral. . . . Anything look peculiar about K.T.?”

  Michell
e found it hard to believe that he hadn’t even noticed, yet. He was a guy, though.

  Like a deer in the headlights, Kade’s smile, however, instantly straightened. In shock, he reflected about how the kid did have deep green eyes, just like him. He had long black hair hanging out of his cap, just like he used to have. Also, the boy had hit frozen ropes every time that he batted, except the last, just like he used to do.

  “Michelle, are you saying . . .” he awkwardly mumbled.

  He really didn’t even have to ask when he pictured K.T.’s face again in his mind.

  “Yeah, Kade,” she interrupted. “K.T., watch his attitude, his demeanor, his mannerisms, his athleticism. Everything about him, there’s no denying. Like father like son.”

  She waited for a response--at that point, any response. Over a decade years alone with her son, she hadn’t expected that to change but some recognition would have been nice.

  Kade stood over the driver’s side of his roof; his hands were still cemented to the top of the car. His eyes remained wide-while his jaw was clenched tightly. To have a bombshell like that dropped on him left him completely speechless.

  Ten years old, and he had no idea the boy had even existed. How had he been a father to a boy who was his spitting image and never known?

  “I don’t want anything from you, so you can relax,” Michelle tried calming his obvious uneasiness. “You wanted to chase your baseball dream, so I wasn’t about to interfere; he’s my responsibility, not yours. The one time you were home and we hooked up. . . when we left the dance floor . . . I have to go. Great to see you again! Bye, old friend.”

  She had no choice but to flee. The last thing overly proud single mother wanted was to break down in front of the man she had loved for so many years. She first loved him as a boy then as he grew into a young man. The same man whose child she had carried for nine months. The same man who was off living his dream as she raised their child, alone.

  Somehow, she hadn’t felt anything negative when she looked at him. Michelle saw only what could’ve been and that brought on the sadness, not anger.

  Still speechless, Kade silently watched her turn to go to her vehicle. Like a statue, he couldn’t make a sound as she left; he wanted to, but nothing would come out. Still in his complete umpire attire, his mind raced more than it ever had.

  He had a son?

  Not just a son but one that was the spitting image of him. Apparently, not only the olive skin, green eyes and black hair but everything else, as well; K.T. was all him.

  He watched as she got into her car. Wanting to scream at Michelle to stop; he couldn’t. As Kade saw her taillights brighten when she backed up, Michelle put her car into drive and sped away.

  He watched her car disappear as it traveled down the two-lane back road. Statuesque, he saw her fade into the daylight. However, his eyes remained glued for three or four minutes to the exact spot that he had seen her vehicle practically dissolve into the air.

  There was a time about fifteen years ago when they had everything. Michelle and Kade were attached at the hip, it seemed. But when he raced off to chase his dream of professional baseball, he sacrificed their love. A marriage, dozens of random sexual encounters, and a plenty of booze later, Kade realized what an enormous mistake he had made so many years ago.

  He thought about it often; however, he wanted the best for Michelle; he honestly felt that she deserved better.

  Still, Michelle’s face ran through his head on many occasions when it shouldn’t have. Kade had woken up to find his thoughts of her presence nothing but yet another dream quite a few times over the past decade.

  As he reflected on her, their son, and life in general, his mesmerized stare slowly turned into a smile. Finally, he was able to speak.

  “I love you, Michelle,” Kade mumbled to himself at a barely-audible level.

  Chapter 15

  For the next two days, Kade couldn’t help but think of Michelle and his son; that still sounded so odd in his head. He spent every minute of every hour reminiscing about what it would have been like raising his son with the only woman he ever truly loved in his life. But, the way he left her . . .

  He hadn’t gotten to teach K.T. to ride a bike, tie his shoes, throw a ball, swing a bat—even though Kade knew he somehow had a hand in his noticeable ability. While he was chasing his dream, he missed a true, just unknown dream.

  Michelle had pleasantly popped back into his life on Monday. The thought of her made Tuesday’s game almost impossible. He stood behind the plate trying to keep track of balls, strike, outs, watch for balks, missed bases, fair and foul balls, and more. All the while, Michelle and K.T. were haunting his mind. Not that Michelle wandering around in his head was anything new, but when his son was added to the mix he couldn’t concentrate on anything else no matter how hard he tried.

  Then, his game nearly 48 hours later found him living with nothing but continuous regret. As he parked his car and got out to change into his gear, the thought of Michelle and K.T. would not leave him alone.

  He knew he had to find her, find him, hell, find them both—his family. Kade had missed so much already. There was no way he wanted to miss more.

  “Hey again, Kade Toney,” he heard her voice softly echo from beside him as he was reaching into his trunk for his umping attire.

  Looking to his left, the car passing by him on the way to the ball field was stopped in the middle of the road with the passenger window down. Michelle was leaning over and doing the talking; K.T. was leaning back as to not interfere from his passenger seat, obviously oblivious that Kade was his father.

  “You playing, buddy?” Kade asked K.T. as the little man gave an annoyed nod. “I’ll be down there in a few.”

  “Okay, Kader,” Michelle said as she started to drive off towards the field.

  “Wait!” Kade interrupted. “After the game, how about me, you, and K.T. go get some pizza?”

  Hesitantly, she told him she’d let him know after the game. In the midst of her talking, he interrupted, again.

  “Wait! Aren’t you married or something, Michelle?” he stopped her to ask.

  For a moment he felt his heart drop when she looked at him like she was reluctant to answer.

  Would life be that fucking cruel?

  Silently, praying that she wasn’t, he waited for her to answer. He wasn’t enjoying the hesitant look on her face. Kade knew he’d deal with it if Michelle was married but he sure-as-shit didn’t want to have to deal with it.

  Truth?

  Kade knew he had messed it up all those years ago. He was hoping that this was another chance with her and his child, though. That hope was enough to keep him breathing as he waited.

  To his astonishment she confirmed that she was single, which had to mean available. He just hoped she’d agree to go out after the game.

  Apparently it took some coaxing of K.T., but Michelle agreed to go eat. The three of them went for pizza. What began as dinner at an isolated pizza joint quickly turned into another shot at love.

  “So, what does K.T. stand for?” Kade curiously asked Kane at the dinner table.

  “Kane Tucker,” K.T. and Michelle answered in unison before Kade and Michelle shared an eye-locked laugh, something they hadn’t experienced in ages.

  “So, Kane, or K.T., which do you prefer?” Kade asked the young man. “Just kinda strange that you have K.T. initials; those are mine, buddy. What do you eat on your pie?”

  Maintaining constant eye contact as he talked with K.T., Michelle was impressed. Not knowing how it would go between father and son, she had been nervous the whole game.

  She never took her eyes off of Kade as he proudly stared at his son. Now in his middle thirties, he looked as good as he did when they were kids; no, he looked better. The gray peeking just above his ears through his black hair was in
credibly sexy for some reason. Not to mention the fact his goatee had begun to gray as well.

  “Either is fine,” K.T. replied. “Mom says you used to play pro baseball?”

  Kade was stoked; she had actually talked to her son about him. At least if he couldn’t be there in person the fact that she spoke of him to their son mattered. His ear-to-ear smile showed how enthused he was to talk about it.

  “Yeah, K.T., I was a first-round draft pick by the Cubs,” he replied. “I spent a couple of seasons in the minors, and the day before I was flying to Chicago to start for the Cubs, I shredded my knee and ended my career in AAA baseball.”

  For a brief instant, Kade regretfully recalled how his dream shredded to bits. At that time, though, it all seemed like a distant memory of trivial importance. A much more important memory had waltzed back into his life and brought an even loftier dream with her; he felt he had some control over this.

  “That stinks,” the youngster said with a frown. “But you seem okay now when you ump?”

  “Yeah, I’m a ton better, now; that was over ten years ago. I still can’t sprint full-speed. Thankfully, I have all of my mobility except for the running thing. It doesn’t interfere with my umpiring.”

  “Mom said you set all kinds of records in high school and college,” the curious little leaguer pressed forward, completely unaware that his slight hero worship was towards his father.

  “Yeah, I had a few,” Kade modestly replied. “But, hey, I’ve seen you hit the heck out of the ball. I just wish I could’ve had the talent it looks like you possess.”

  For the first time during their conversation, K.T. turned his head to the left and shot his mom a rare-confident glance as if to say, “Wow! Did you hear that?”

  Michelle looked at her son and smiled even more proudly than K.T. was glowing. Then, she refocused her eyes on Kade’s green eyes staring right back at her; just like old times, they were making her melt. The fact that this man who broke her heart so many years ago still had that power upset her as much as it excited her.