In Between the Lines | Completed

Chapter Five | Easy Street

Vivian Jones

"NO WAY!" Sammie shouts. Du Shin-Il pulls us up to the baseball.

He bounds out of the car and stands in front of the stadium. "Mom, what are we doing here?"

"I thought it might be a nice way for you to stay connected to your roots."

Sammie smiles at me, his dimples sticking out, and I fear a slight mist in my eyes will ruin the moment.

"Miss Jones, Sammie—"

SJ freezes at Du Shin-Il's voice, "It's SJ, Dude. Only Mom can call me Sammie."

"My apologies... SJ, the athletic director is coming out. I'll meet him and act as translator. One moment please."

I nod at him and kneel in front of my son. He looks down at me and I remember just how big he has gotten in the last couple of years.

"Well, how's the surprise so far?"

"This is awesome, Mom. How did you do this?"

"Mr. Du helped me, but for the record it was my idea. Meimei is waiting at home for the arrival of a piano and one of the conditions with this is you practicing your scales and lessons when you get home from practice."

"So, I'll get to play on an actual team?!"

"Yes, you do." I smile. "Now, are you just ignoring what I just said to get out of it or are you just excited to play?"

"Both!" Sammie grins. I roll my eyes at him and kiss his cheek. "Did you bring my glove?"

"I did. I'll only give it to you if you do 20 minutes of scales when we get home though."

"20 minutes? Deal!"

I hand him the bag with his glove and practice uniform concealed in it and Sammie whoops loudly.

Du Shin-Il says our names and nods at us to come over. Sammie jogs over and practically vibrates on his feet as Du Shin-Il introduces the other gentleman beside him. I walk over and our group enters the unfamiliar stadium and heads towards the field.

"So today is just a skills assessment. Batting, throwing, catching, etc. Once they get your skill level figured out, they will assign you to a corresponding team and I'll get the schedule sent over to your mom," Shin-Il translates for us and I nod at him.

"SJ, there's a couple of coaches on the field. Why don't you head over to the locker room and change before heading out there and introduce yourselves. They're fairly fluent in English so I don't think you'll have much of an issue." Du Shin-Il points towards three tall men standing on the pitcher's mound.

SJ nods and motions to Shin-Il for a high five which he accepts before running over to the locker room he had pointed out and quickly changing. I sigh in contentment as Sammie disappears and look back to Du Shin-Il who is watching after Sammie's disappearing back with a look of thoughtfulness.

"Thank you for this, Du Shin-Il."

Du Shin-Il shakes his head momentarily before looking at me.

"Just doing my job."

"Most bosses wouldn't ask their assistants to connect them with a baseball league for their kid's sake."

Du Shin-Il lets out a strained smile, "I think American assistants and Korean assistants might have a cultural gap in that regard then."

"Maybe so, but either way I won't forget this kindness."

I end my statement there, not wanting to embarrass the man by saying anything more. Du Shin-Il was a quiet man and by my guess, modest and humble when it came to receiving praise from others. Especially those as new as me.