It's Going, Going, Gone!

Chapter Three

"No. No, Benny, no!" I muttered.
I screamed and sat up abruptly, bumping heads with someone. "Ow! What the?"
"First the bat, now this." Benny grumbled.
"Sorry."
"Nightmare?"
"Yeah."
"Squints and Yeah-yeah left to go buy a ball."
"Okay."
I looked around the treehouse to find everyone staring at me in surprise. "You guys were unaware of my night terrors?" I asked.
They shook their heads. "Benny. I told you to tell them." I groaned.
"That's not my thing to talk about." Benny protested.
"It is when I tell you too."
"Why are you so mad at him? You were literally just saying his name in your sleep." Rookie asked.
"Yeah, why?" Ham added.
"She's had nightmares about losing you too, Ham. She's had night terrors about losing all of us." Benny defended me.
"Is it hot in here?" I asked.
"Don't use the heat as an excuse! You're falling hard like a fly ball." Ham teased.
I blushed. "Am not!" I shouted.
For a mere millisecond, I saw hurt flash across Benny's face. Before anyone could point it out, he covered it with a smile. "Come on, guys, let's go to the sandlot. Hurricane, get changed and try not to hit me with anything else." Benny decided.
I grabbed my overnight bag and climbed out of the treehouse before walking inside the Palledorous' house. I walked into the bathroom and put on a black one piece swimsuit before changing into a fresh pair of jeans and a clean baseball t-shirt. I cuffed up my jeans to keep me from stepping on them and tied my shoes before grabbing my glove and walking down the street to the sandlot where all the boys, except for Benny, were groaning about the heat. Eventually, Squints and Yeah-yeah walked up. "Where have you guys been? We've been waiting here forever already." Benny asked them.
"Ah, Squints was pervin' a dish." Yeah-yeah explained, handing Benny the ball.
"Shut-up. I wasn't." Squints argued.
"Yeah-yeah, you were. Your tongue was hangin' out of your head, and you was swoonin'. Oh, Wendy Peffercorn, my darling lover girl."
"We got somethin' just as entertaining, Hurricane was saying Benny's name in her sleep." Ham taunted.
"Ham, you say another word and the lights are gonna go out real quick." I threatened, trying to keep the blush from creeping across my cheeks.
I noticed a soft pink that began to paint Benny's cheeks. No, it certainly couldn't be because of me, right? It must've been the heat. Yeah, that was the answer, the one hundred ten degree heat was to blame, right? Right? Right? "This pop isn't working, Benny. I'm bakin' like a toasted cheeser! It's so hot here!" Ham complained.
"It's 150 degrees out there. You can't play baseball. You have to call it for the day." Squints explained.
"Vote then. Anybody who wants to be a can't-hack-it panty waist who wear's their mama's bra, raise your hand." Benny demanded.
Everyone but me and Benny raised their hands. "Fine. Fine. Fine! Be like that. So what are we gonna do?" Benny concluded.
Yeah-yeah began his weird maniacal laugh he does when he has a plan. Eventually, they shouted, "Scam pool honeys!"
As much as I hated how misogynistic some of the boys could be, I loved swimming, not as much as baseball, but definitely second place. Honestly, I'd play baseball in this weather, but Yeah-yeah has helped keep me grounded for years, so I'll go for him. We walked back to Squints' place and grabbed some towels before walking to the town pool.
We walked behind the place and took off our regular clothes before sliding under the gate. As usual, we barely managed to sneak in Ham, but we did it. Ever since we were seven, Benny would pick me up and throw me in the pool, and that's what he did today. He picked me up bridal style and started running toward the pool. "Benny! Put me down! Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez, put me down!" I shouted.
"Okay."
And with that, Benny took a deep breath and jumped into the pool. When he resurfaced and realized I hadn't come up, he dived down and grabbed me. We resurfaced and each took deep breaths. "Gotcha!" I shouted at Benny.
"Not cool, Hurricane! Don't scare me like that." He shouted in response.
"Sorry. Were you really that worried about me?"
"Yes, you're my best friend. You're the only one that understands that constant need to play. You're the only one that really understands me. I like you, Hurricane. Like, really like you."
"I really like you too, Benny."
We both turned really red, but not from the heat. Suddenly, we heard cheering behind us. "Finally!" Squints threw his hands up. "We've been waiting on this forever! You guys are always together. You guys share this relationship that nobody else can comprehend. You guys are perfect for each other!"
"Quit the sappy stuff. Chicken fight!" Ham shouted.
Benny and I shared a look before I jumped on his shoulders. "Bring it on, Yeah-yeah!" I shouted.
He came over on Bertram's shoulders and we started pushing each other. Eventually, Yeah-yeah fell over. "Haha! Victory is ours!" I shouted.
Then I fell off of Benny's shoulders. I resurfaced spluttering and sneezing water out of my nose. Then I noticed most of the guys staring at Wendy Peffercorn. But Benny was smiling at me, looking at me like I hung the stars in the sky. I blushed and looked away.
Squints was staring at Wendy who was putting on suntan oil, clearly trying to draw attention to herself. But Benny was still looking at me like I was a goddess. "Aw, man." DeNunez said, awestruck.
"Yeah-yeah. Too cruel." Yeah-yeah muttered.
"She don't know what she's doin'." Timmy uttered quietly.
"She don't know what she's doin'." Tommy repeated.
"Yeah, she does. She knows exactly what she's doing." Benny informed them.
"She's got you under a spell. Snap out of it." I said.
"I've swum here every summer of my adult life." Squints pulled his glasses off and wiped them. "And every summer, there she is, lotioning, oiling, oiling, lotioning. Smiling! I can't take this no more! Move!" Squints shouted and began swimming towards the ladder.
He got out of the water and walked towards the diving boards. "What's wrong with him?" Rookie asked.
"What's he doing?" Yeah-yeah questioned.
Slowly, Squints got up on the diving boards and took his glasses off. "Three Summers of this. I think he finally snapped." DeNunez commented.
"I don't know. But that's the deep end, and Squints can't swim."
Squints waved to Wendy. Wendy waved back like the pampered princess she was. Squints plugged his nose and jumped in. We swam for the ladder and watched as Wendy got ready to dive in after poor Squints. We walked over to the ladder at the deep end and we're immediately told to back away by another life guard. We were begging for our friend to pull through as Wendy began mouth-to-mouth. Time seemed to stop as Squints laid there motionlessly.
After six puffs of air, Squints' eyes fluttered open, but he continued laying there. Everyone was confused. He closed his eyes and waited for Wendy to give him a breath of air before kissing her right on the lips, in front of everyone. Tommy closed his eyes as Wendy struggled to get away from our perverted friend.
Wendy grabbed him up and led him out of the pool center, us following close behind. Good old Squints was banned forever that day. And because he was banned, we stayed away too. We ran away and grabbed our towels before running back around the building and putting our clothes on. As we walked away, I saw Wendy make a slitting motion across her throat to Squints.
"Promise me you won't ever do something like that." I asked Benny.
"As you wish." Benny did a fake bow and I punched him in the bicep.
"You're such a dork."
"But I'm your dork."
"Exactly."

***

It was Fourth of July, my favorite day of the year. After playing ball at the sandlot, I didn't even bother to go home, I just practiced taking popflys while I waited for everyone to show up for the night game. I also set up some blankets in the outfield for our annual sleepover. And pet a stray dog that always came around on Fourth of July.
Everyone jogged up to me as fireworks started going off and lighting up the sky. Our team played better on the Fourth of July, well, when they weren't watching the fireworks. I guess they felt like big leaguers, but Benny and I always felt like that.
DeNunez pitched Benny the ball and Benny hit it into the outfield. I groaned as my teammates watched the sky instead of making the plays. I chased down the ball and ran for the infield, I could make this play. Every year, this happened, and every year, I tagged out Benny just before he made it home. And that's exactly what happened tonight.
As the boys made their way to the blankets to watch the fireworks, Benny and I played catch until it was so late we couldn't see a thing. As usual, we fell asleep laying side by side on the grass, just staring at the stars and the moon. It was perfect, playing ball with those I love.

***

Benny rounded second and ran for third as Squints chased down the ball and hit the cutoff. We trapped Benny in a pickle between third and home, but he quickly out paced them and made it home. Then, Phillips' little league baseball biked up. I groaned and stood confidently beside Benny. Everybody hated this team, they were snobbish brats that didn't know right from wrong.
Squints spotted them, "Oh, no!"
Everyone dropped their gloves and walked up to face them. Benny and I each held one of the bats, gripping it tightly. We both had temper problems and if we didn't have something to squeeze, we'd lose it. Knowing me, I'd probably lose it anyway, but I had to try. "Yeah, it's easy when you play with a bunch of rejects and a fat kid, Rodriguez." Phillips said.
"Shut your mouth, Phillips." Benny shouted, grabbing my hand.
"What'd you say, crap face?" Ham shouted.
"I said you shouldn't even be allowed to touch a baseball. Except for Rodriguez, you're all an insult to the game." Phillips responded.
"I bet my batting record is better than yours. And I'm the most unpredictable." I scoffed.
"Come on! We'll take you on right here, right now!" Ham demanded.
We shouted various agreements. "We play on a real diamond, Porter. You ain't good enough to lick the dirt off our cleats." Phillips argued.
"Watch it, jerk."
"Shut-up, idiot!"
"Moron!"
"Scab eater!"
"Butt sniffer!"
"Pus licker!"
"Fart smeller!"
"You eat dog crap for breakfast, geek."
"You mix your Wheaties with your mama's toe jam!"
"You bob for apples it the toilet, and you like it."
"You play ball like a girl!"
"Hamilton Porter!" I shouted, "you don't compliment the enemy!"
Phillips scoffed, "What did you say?"
"You heard me." Ham demanded.
"Tomorrow. Noon. At our field. Be there, buffalo butt breath."
"Count on it, pee drinking crap face!"
The little leaguers began to bike away. I saw a dog that seemed to be waiting for a command. "Go fetch." I tried, pointing at the little leaguers.
The dog began to run after them, I smiled. "Is that Independence?" Benny asked me, referring to the dog.
"If you're asking me if that's the dog that comes around every Fourth of July, then yes, I believe so."