Waiting It Out - Benny Rodriguez - Book 1

Dream

Benny's pov:

After me and Lily went out for an early dinner at Rino's, we came back to my house.

We watched a movie in my room and she ended up falling asleep on my bed.

Did I stare at her for a good 10 minutes? Without a doubt.

I'm actually still looking at her. I know it's creepy but, we're almost a couple anyway. There will come a time in the somewhat-near future when I'll do it on the regular.

I'm laying in bed when my furniture starts to shake.

I hear cheering from my closet and jump off the bed.

"Who's there?" I ask and the door opens. 

Babe Ruth comes out in black and white.

"Don't go pee in your pants, kid." he says walking out. He kinda sounds like he just came out of an old TV. "I'm just here to give you a hand."

"But you're-"

"Dead?" he finishes for me. "Legends never die, kid." he says me as he turns from black and white into color and closes the closet door.

"But you're really him." I look back at a black and white picture of him I have on my wall. "You're the Babe." He nods. "The Sultan of Swat. The King of Crash."

"And a hundred other dopey names." he says. "Forget about that stuff, kid. We ain't got much time. I'm here cause you're in some kind of a pickle, right?"

"Yeah."

"A baseball with my John Hancock on it went over a fence, and you can't get it back, right?"

"Yeah, right." How the hell does he know all of this?

"Then just hop over there and get it." he tells me and starts walking back towards the closet.

"Wait, wait!" I run up to him before he opens the door. "I can't."

"Can't what?"

"I can't go into that backyard."

"Why not?"

"There's a beast back there."

He takes out his cigar before asking, "What kind?"

"A giant gorilla-dog thing that ate one kid already." I tell him, adding on the last part so it doesn't sound stupid.

"And you're afriad of this "beast"?" he asks me. I nod. "What about her?" he asks, pointing to my bed.

I look back at Lily's sleeping figure, then turn back to him. "What about her?"

"She's not scared of it is she? I know she's dying for an excuse to hop over there, anyway."

I look back at her again and consider the idea. 

"No way. I can't send her over there." I tell him.

I wouldn't be able to funtion if something happened to her.

"Sit down, kid." he tells me, pushing me to my bed. I carefully sit down without disrupting Lily. He grabs one of my baseball cards before sitting down on a chair I have in my room. "Let me tell you something, kid. Everybody gets one chance to do something great. Most people never take the chance, either cause they're too scared, or they don't recognize it when it spits on their shoes. Now you're friend here, has a shot. She could hop over that fence, get the ball, and become a neighborhood legend. A woman girls will look up to one day. We both know there's not much of a future for women in baseball. She won't be able to play for the Cubs or the Yankees. I'm not telling you to send her over there, I'm asking you to let her." He stands and looks back at the baseball card he picked up. "Henry Aaron. I don't know why, but can I have this, kid?"

"Sure, yeah."

"Thanks." he says and shoves it into his back pocket.

"Wait. You're saying she should hop over that fence and pickle The Beast?"

"Think about that, kid. I'll see you later." he tells me as he turns black and white and goes back into the closet.

I look back at Lily and lay down next to her before falling asleep.

Or I guess... waking up.