GW.37.i | V86: Dry Veins

Ch.4: The Catch

Après-Denouement
Sept. 26th

- Audio Transcript -

On the weekend, I met with Jaijit at the park. He was running up a slide, letting his feet slip so he could move in place. He turned to me when I approached and let himself casually descend. The sand took his feet like it was hired to do so.

Jaijit:
Look, as good as you were at the game last night, I don't want to date you. I can't be with someone who's actually two people! Like midgets in a trench-coat, or politicians. Then again, if those midgets are sexy...

Dryce:
Jaijit, focus. I'm not asking you for a date.

Jaijit:
Good, cause you? Are one frigid case of cola. I couldn't hickey a drop of life out of your snowy carcass. How are those marks by the way, eh? Lemme see em-

[I slap my own neck.]

Dryce:
They're sore and you're a leech. I just need you to tell me what happened at the game in the second inning.

Jaijit:
The second inning? More like the rest of the night! If coach let me have my Spark, I would have been right there with you...

Dryce:
What did I do? All I remember is a lot of jumping and wood.

Jaijit:
(Grinning.) That's what she said.

Dryce:
Is that your catchphrase?

Jaijit:
A good player has several, ready for any occasion. You want to know what you did from the second to sixth inning?

Dryce:
Yes.

Jaijit grips my shoulders, and with a flame in his eyes, through gritted teeth he tells me with a shaken, breathy voice...

Jaijit:
You were a GOD.

[I cough, covering it with my elbow.]

Jaijit:
Then again, you saw me go on first, and I'm definitely a god at baseball. So you'd be more like the son of a god. An heir of the sun, if you will... whereas I'm more of a fiery ball of destruction incarnate, like Shiva on land, you were sort of like... how shall I say this? A light in the darkness.

Dryce:
A light.

Jaijit:
You were floating, in the sky... hovering for just a brief moment, where time stood still. It made me proud to call you my son. You might not be a very good catcher or pitcher, but you're a hell of an outfielder.

Jaijit gets distracted by a flock of birds, and watches them fly overhead. He just seems to like anything airborne.

Dryo
(Outfielder. That's the one that stands around and waits for something to fly by. Nobody really wants you to catch it, they wanna see the other guy get a home-run. Which you probably never will. The crowd is pretty much always hoping the ball will land in the stands, instead. So you spend all day tryna get balls in your hands, and nobody cares about you. Now that you mention it, that DOES sound like you!)

Dryce
(Then maybe baseball is a stupid metaphor to begin with, because nobody dates like that. I don't want any 'balls' in my hands, at least not without dinner first.)

Dryo
(Hilarious.)

Dryce
(I'm not obsessed with people's bodies like that, and I don't like people based on what's in their pants – I like them based on what's in their hearts. And none of that makes any sense, cause the outfielder can't get a home-run no matter what they do.)