Matthew and the Stone

by Bob Blanton

  “Mom sure thinks you’re getting better. She says you’re picking it up really fast.”

  “I’m trying hard. I work on the drills she gives me every day.”

  “Don’t go serious on me. It won’t be any fun if you get that way.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m in it for the fun.”

  “I think you’re in it for the girls, one girl in particular.”

  Matthew’s ears turned red.

  “I think we’re ready to try out the country club scene for a match. Highlight you to Emily just a little.”

  “You think I’m ready to play her?”

  “Not a chance, we’ll just let her see you on the court. Later we’ll try to set up a game with her and Alex.”

  “Speaking of Alex, how is she?”

  “Fine,” Jason said arching his eyebrows. “We’ve been going to the movies and stuff. She sure has been hanging around with Emily a lot lately.”

  “She has, huh?”

  “Yeah, I think they play tennis at the club three or four times a week. How’s next Thursday or Friday afternoon for the club?”

  “I can’t,” Matthew said with a frown. “I’ve got to work on Thursday, and I’m testing for my black sash on Friday. Sorry.”

  “No problem. Hey I get my driver’s license on Monday. Why don’t we go down to the club on Tuesday? I’ll drive.” Jason was smiling from ear to ear.

  “I forgot you were getting your license. Aren’t you getting a new car, too?”

  “Yep, Dad and I are going to pick it up Saturday. It’s been on order for four months.”

  “Wow, that sounds so cool, a new car. It must be a nice one if you had to order it.”

  “Sure is. It’s a Lexus SC, midnight blue. I think the women are going to really dig me in it.”

  “What’s Alex going to think if you have other women chasing you?”

  “Oh, I guess I’ll have to beat the other ones off, as long as Alex and I are dating that is. But all that extra attention does wonders for one’s ego.”

  “I wish I could just get Emily’s attention. I’ve only seen her that once when we all had lunch together after she got back from Florida.”

  “That’s it? Haven’t you called her to ask her out?”

  “I haven’t had the nerve,” Matthew said kicking at a pebble on the court. “She didn’t sound that interested at lunch.”

  “I guess it can be pretty intimidating.”

  “Yeah, her family’s so rich. They have one of the largest estates in Rancho Santa Fe.”

  “You shouldn’t let that bother you. Emily is definitely not a snob. She might be out of your league, but it’s not because of the money.”

  “Then why?”

  “She’s two years older than you, fool. She’s beautiful, which means she probably dates older guys. I don’t know why you don’t focus on the girls your age.”

  “They’re just kids.”

  “That’s the point. They think you’re something special just because you’re going to be a junior.”

  “Whatever,” Matthew said dismissively. “What time do you want to pick me up?”

  “How about 3:00?”

  “Sure, I’m off work at 2:00, so I’ll be home and ready when you drive up.”

  “Okay, let’s hit the pool.”

  Jason and Matthew raced to the cabanas to change. Meanwhile in Brianna’s room she and five of her friends were huddled around the door to the patio, giggling.

  Brianna stomped her foot. “Quiet or they’ll hear us,” she said. “We’ve got to wait until they’re in the pool or they’ll just go somewhere else.”

  She had Hanna pinned to her with one arm and a hand over the five-year-old’s mouth. Hanna squirmed and wiggled trying to get free.

  “Now Hanna, you promised you’d play along,” Brianna said. “So be quiet, and I’ll take you to the movies tomorrow. Okay?”

  Hanna nodded her head up and down as much as she could within Brianna’s grip.

  Jennifer, the girl on Hanna’s left, peaked through the curtains. “Matthew sure looks good,” she said. “He must have grown three inches since school. Ooh la la!”

  “Shhh,” Brianna hissed, “keep your panties on and stay quiet!”

  “I’m not wearing panties,” Jennifer said giggling, “just my bikini.” The other girls giggled with her.

  About this time Jason and Matthew had finished showering and were running for the pool. Each did a big cannonball dive sending water spewing into the air.

  “All right they’re ours. Mommy said she’d come down to watch Hanna, so they can’t leave or Jason will get into trouble for being a bad sport. Let’s go.”

  With that the six girls headed to the pool with Hanna hurrying to keep up. As they descended on the pool, Jason and Matthew looked up together.

  “Brianna, you didn’t say you were having a pool party,” Jason hollered, slapping his hand on the water in disgust. “Matthew and I have the pool now.”

  “I didn’t know I had to get permission from you to have a party,” Brianna said, her hands on her hips as she spoke. “Mommy said I could, and there’s plenty of room for everybody.”

  The girls all entered the pool on the beach entry, a slow, sloping walk toward the deeper water. Brianna stayed on the side holding Hanna’s hand as they sat with their feet in the water. “I want to go in,” cried Hanna.

  “Just hold your horses,” Brianna said. “Mommy will be down in a minute and then you can play. Okay?”

  Hanna muttered something inaudible and kept whimpering. Some of the bolder girls had worked their way to the deep end, toward Matthew and Jason. They were tossing a beach ball back and forth as they treaded water.

  “Hi, Matt,” Jennifer said making her voice sound sexy. She tossed the beach ball at him.

  Matthew batted it back to her, “Hi yourself,” he said. “Don’t I know you?”

  “Idiot,” Jennifer said, “I live across the street from you.”

  “Oh right, Jennifer,” Matthew said, “you just look different in the water.” Matthew blushed, embarrassed at not having recognized his neighbor as well as being amazed at how good she looked in her string bikini.

  The beach ball came flying back hitting Jennifer on the head. She grabbed it and rushed to punish the offender, giving Matthew a chance to escape. He swam to the other side of the pool.

  “Geez, Jason, what should we do?” Matthew asked as he pulled himself up beside him.

  “We should just play it cool and hang out for a while. What’s the matter?”

  “They’re just thirteen-year olds, what are we supposed to do with them?”

  “Hey, news flash for you, Matt, most of them are fourteen now, and in case you’ve forgotten, you’re just fourteen.”

  “But I’ll be fifteen in a few months. Besides it’s different. Why don’t we split now?”

  “Cause my mom would be all over us for being rude. Matt, just grin and bear it.”

  “I guess I have to.”

  “Lighten up, dude. Not that many guys would complain about six bikini-clad girls jumping around in the pool with him.”

  “They’re just trying to bug us.”

  “I don’t think so. I told you Brianna says her friends think you’re hot stuff.”

  “Well, I’m going to ignore them,” Matthew hopped back into the water.

  “Good luck with that. Just face it, Brianna has you trapped.” Jason kicked a little water into Matthew’s face.

  Matthew smashed the water with both hands sending a wave into Jason’s face. He then dove underwater and swam to the other side of the pool.

  Jason, momentarily dazed, had to look around to find where Matthew had swum. “Hah,” Jason thought, “you’re mine,” and he pushed off the side toward Matthew. He carefully swam toward the side away from the girls, forcing Matthew to swim closer to them in order to avoid him.

  Slowly Jason maneuvered Matthew closer and closer to Brianna’s friends. Jennifer saw what he was doing and prompt
ly arranged a welcoming party for Matthew. As Matthew was focusing on keeping away from Jason, the girls formed a semicircle in the water.

  Jason, seeing the circle form, forced Matthew toward the center of it. Quickly the girls closed the circle trapping Matthew between them. They then started tossing the beach ball over his head and swimming circles around him.

  Matthew couldn’t escape from the circle without bumping into one of the girls. He tried to leap up and bat the beach ball out of the pool, but couldn’t quite reach it.

  “If you want it, come and get it,” Jennifer said, taunting him.

  Matthew wasn’t quite sure what she meant by ‘it’. He just kept bouncing off the bottom and swatting at the ball. As the girls kept adjusting to the ball, they were moving into deeper water. When the water was deep enough, Matthew dove straight down to the bottom of the pool. Looking up he spotted a gap in the water where there were no girls. He launched himself off the bottom of the pool toward the open area of water.

  As he broke the surface, Brianna greeted him. Having been freed of her charge by her mother, she had been watching the events from the pool deck. When she saw Matthew make his break, she simply jumped into the pool where he was surfacing.

  “Hi Matt, what’s the matter?” she asked. “Don’t you like us?”

  “Sure, you’re fine. I just don’t like to be crowded, that’s all.” Matthew swam to the side of the pool and hung his arms out over the pool deck.

  Brianna swam up beside him. “Come on, we’ll put up the net and we can play water volleyball, just a couple of games.”

  “Sure, why not.” Matthew had to admit he had been outmaneuvered. Looking up he saw that Jason had been watching from the pool deck.

  “You sure can dive deep,” Jason said. “I thought one of the girls was going to kick you in the head.”

  “Oh shut up and set up the volleyball net!”

  “Guys!” Mrs. Winthrop said, “Let’s keep it calm there.”

  “Sorry!” Matthew and Jason said in unison.

  Jason and Brianna set the net up over the center of the pool. Brianna divided everyone into two teams. Matthew, Brianna, Jennifer and another girl Matthew didn’t know against Jason and another three of Brianna’s friends.

  “Since Matthew’s tallest, we’ll take the deep end,” Brianna said, giving Jason a mischievous grin.

  Jason glared at her a little and dove into the pool. He motioned to the girls on his team to gather to discuss tactics.

  “Who’s played before?” he asked. All three said that they had. “Any preferences?”

  The tall, thin girl spoke up. “I’m Sara. I like to play at the net,” she said. “Ashley plays volleyball on the school team, so she should start out serving.”

  “Yeah,” Ashley said, “and I’m a great setter, too.”

  “What about you?” Jason asked, nodding to the third girl.

  “I’m Diane,” she said, “I don’t play that much so whatever you want me to do is fine.”

  “Okay, Sara and I’ll play the front line after any serve,” Jason said, “do you want the right or…”

  “Left,” said Sara.

  “And Ashley should play the middle,” Jason continued. “Diane, you play the back line, and make sure you don’t touch anything that’s going out.”

  “Okay,” Diane said, blushing.

  “Are you guys going to play or what?” Brianna yelled as she tossed the volleyball at Jason.

  “I think they must have decided to have a tea party,” Matthew said.

  “We’ll let our play speak for us,” Jason said, “so serve.”

  Jason’s five minutes of preparation soon bore fruit. They won the first game eleven to six. Jennifer, not thinking about volleyball when she selected her bikini, spent most of the time trying to keep her bikini bra covering what it was supposed to. After the loss, Brianna called a little conference.

  “Hey we want to win this game, right?” she said.

  “Yes!” they all said in unison.

  “Then I’ll play setter. Matthew and Alice are our best hitters,” Brianna said. “And Jennifer, why don’t you just cover the back line?”

  “I’ve got a tee-shirt in my bag if you want it,” Matthew said, realizing that Jennifer couldn’t possibly play in the string bikini she was wearing.

  “Oh, that would be great,” Jennifer said with relief.

  Matthew called time and ran to his bag. Grabbing the tee shirt that he was planning to wear on the way home, he threw it at Jennifer. She quickly pulled it over her head, smiling.

  The next game was a lot more competitive. Jennifer could actually play good volleyball when she was able to use both hands. Their little bit of organization paid off and they were actually able to win the game eleven to nine. By the end of the game everyone was exhausted. The girls crawled out onto the deck and lay themselves out on the sun chairs.

  Jennifer took off Matthew’s tee shirt. “Thanks, Matt,” she said. “I hope you didn’t mind.”

  “No problem, Mrs. Winthrop said we had to keep the game G rated.”

  Jennifer blushed and threw the shirt at Matthew, “Boys!” she huffed, then ran over to her friends on the chaise lounges.

  Mrs. Winthrop called to Brianna, “Come watch your sister so I can cool off.”

  Brianna walked over to the shallow end of the pool and took Hanna from her mother. They started to play while Mrs. Winthrop laid her sunglasses on the patio table. Then she came over to the pool ladder next to where Matthew was sitting with his feet dangling in the water and sat down.

  “Hello, Matt. You’re being a good sport with Brianna’s little game.”

  “Trap, you mean.”

  “Well, it wasn’t such a bad trap was it?”

  “No, I guess I had a good time. Did you know about it?”

  “Sure, Brianna told me,” Mrs. Winthrop said. “I thought it would be fun. You know, no matter what situation you find yourself in, you should always have fun.”

  She placed her left foot on the ladder, and grabbing the top of the ladder with her hands she swung herself onto it. With her left side turned toward Matthew, he was able to see part of a birthmark dipping out of the leg of her swimsuit. He couldn’t help staring at it.

  Mrs. Winthrop noticed him staring and said, “It’s my birthmark. It looks just like Italy. Since that’s where I was born, I always tell Carl it’s my passport back each year.” She raised the edge of her swimsuit exposing the entire birthmark.

  “Yeah, it sure does look like Italy,” Matthew gulped for air, his ears turning beet red.

  “Well I hope you enjoyed the lesson today.”

  “You mean the tennis lesson, or the one about having fun?”

  “Both were important lessons,” Mrs. Winthrop said as she pushed herself off the ladder.

  “Hey Jason, I’ve got to go.” Matthew stood up quickly. “I’ll catch you later.”

  “See you on Tuesday,” Jason called out.

  “Bye, Matt,” Brianna yelled from the shallow end.

  “Bye, Matt.”

  “Bye, Matt.”

  Matthew just waved and headed out to change. “Geez, it’s just like the one I saw that first day. No way could it be coincidental. How could I have seen her birthmark?” Matthew thought as he showered off in the outside shower. He went into the cabana and changed clothes. “This is just too weird. What happened that day?” he wondered.

  In The Game

  Tuesday, Matthew was waiting at the curb when Jason pulled up in his new car. Matthew whistled as Jason made a U-turn and pulled up beside him. “Boy, she’s a beauty!” he said, whistling under his breath.

  “Yeah, throw your bag in the back seat and let’s roll,” Jason said as he gunned the engine.

  Matthew tossed his bag alongside Jason’s as he slid into the passenger seat. “Umm, love that new car smell.”

  “Did you get a note from your mom saying you could ride with me?” Jason asked.

  “Right here,” Matthew sai
d, patting the pocket of his shirt.

  Jason laid a little scratch as he pulled away from the curb. “Don’t say anything about that to my mom or I’ll get into trouble,” Jason shouted to Matthew as they roared down the road.

  “Well you’d better slow down while we’re in the residential area,” Matthew said, screaming over the stereo and the whine of the engine, “or you’ll get a ticket and lose your license.”

  Jason downshifted and let the engine wind down. “OK, OK, you’re right, but I wasn’t going that fast,” he said. “I just kept her in low gear so it sounded like I was.”

  They cruised along until they came to the country club. Jason parked the car and they grabbed their gear and went inside.

  Jason had reserved a court for them the week before so they just went straight to it from the car.

  “Okay, you take that side of the net,” Jason said. “We’ll just hit the ball back and forth until we warm up.”

  Matthew hopped over the net and tossed a ball back to Jason. They exchanged slow volleys for a few minutes until they were warm, then Jason motioned Matthew to the net. “Matt, Emily and Alex are on court three over there.”

  “Where? I can’t see them.”

  “You can just see them over that hedge.” Jason pointed to a hedge off to their left. “I checked the schedule yesterday. They should have been playing for about forty minutes now. They have to come by here when they finish. They’ve only got the court for an hour, so it won’t be long.”

  “Great,” Matthew wondered what good that would do.

  “Now, wherever we are in our game we’ll call it a match and see if we can start talking. Hopefully we can talk them into having a soda or a snack with us or something.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Do you want me to serve first?”

  “Sure, go for it,” Jason said as he walked back to set up to receive the serve.

  Matthew won the first game as Jason was just fooling around, lost the next three, then finally Jason let him win another before closing the set out 6-2. They were into the second game of the second set with Jason up 4-1 and the score 40-15. It was game point for Jason when Emily and Alex came walking up. Matthew was set up for the return, but as the girls came by, he turned to say hello. Jason seized that moment to serve an ace down the middle of the court. He ran forward and jumped the net, calling out, “Game, set, match!”