Thought You Should Know

The Guest with Baseball

"So Morgan how's pitchin' coming along?" Grace asked Morgan.
"It's going good ma'am," Morgan says.
We were having dinner after the boys came home from baseball workouts. It was the usual, Morgan comes home for dinner and eats with us, the boys talk about baseball non stop, and stuff their faces with food. I'll tell you what, Morgan was probably the only person at this table except me, Grace and dad.
"That's good," Grace says. "I heard Tennessee was lookin' at you."
"Well," Morgan chuckles. "I don't think I'm good enough for 'em."
"I know I am," Jaylen says under his breath.
"That's a lie," Jayden says slamming his fork on the table.
"Boys," Grace says in a stern tone. "Can yall...just quit we have a guest."
"Please do that's all yall talk about is baseball," I said under my breath.
"Shut up Knee," Jaylen says.
"Shut up Sticker," I said back.
Me and Jaylen were going back and forth until Grace just stopped it all.
"You know what? No more baseball for the rest of dinner," Grace says and the boys groaned.
"You heard Grace there's more to life than baseball," Dad sighs.
"So how was everyone's day?" Grace asked. "Nia let's start with you."
"Her day was probably good since she has Morgan sitting here," Jaylen mumbled and I kicked him under the table.
Jaylen grabbed his leg and groaned in pain and I had a satisfied smirk on my face.
"It was good, I caught up on all my assignments," I said with a smile.
"Well that's good," Grace says. "You ready for softball?"
"I sure am," I said.
"I heard Taylor Miller, the girl that pitches like crazy transferin' to one of those fancy private schools," Dad says. "So don't worry about her pitchin' crazy at your foot."
"That's good, you know Lacy's trying out for pitcher," I said.
"Eh she's fine in outfield. We might have a transfer comin' along."
"Who?"
"It's a suprise Nia James, can't tell you everything," Dad chuckled.
"What uh bass you playin' this year Nia?" Morgan asked me hesitantly.
I was taken aback by the question and was a little surprised he even spoke to me.
"Same position as always," I say. "Second base."
"Do you want to be a pitcher?" He asked me.
"She pitched one time and was throwin' them balls high to the sky," Jaylen says and I kicked him in his leg again.
He groaned in pain again and let out a cry.
"Not really," I sighed. "It's boring. I just don't have an interest in it."
"You're good in the infield we just need batting practice," Dad says.
"Well I do need help when I pitch and I can throw it at the batter," Morgan says. "You interested?"
"She will be if one of the boys gets hurt," Dad says. "She'll take up on the offer."
I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
"Issue Nia?" Dad asked me.
"No sir," I said and gave him a fake smile.
"Good," he says. "I guess we'll have a little batting session on Saturday afternoon."

Here comes Saturday. The day I've been dreading since that dinner conversation. On Saturday after noon, me, Jaylen, and Jayden all piled up our equipment in Dad's truck and went to go pick up Morgan. When we arrived at Morgan's place, we saw him getting scolded by his own dad. We could hear him going off on Morgan about something. Morgan just hung his head down in shame until my dad rolled down the window and said something.
"Hey Mike," Dad calls out to the man. "We'll work on his pitching technique. He's gettin' better he's almost there."
"Thank you, because I don't know why I have a son who sucks at the damn shit," Mike laughs.
He pats Morgan on the back and walks inside the house. Morgan jogs over to the truck and hops in slamming the trucks door.
"Hey," Morgan greets everyone.
"Hey afterwards Grace is cookin'," Dad says. "More than welcome to come Morgan."
"I guess," he mumbled.
"How long are we gon' be out here?" I asked Dad.
"Eh, a couple hours," he says. "You know the usual."

"He pitches good," I say to Jayden as we watched Morgan pitch.
Me and Jayden were in the dug out watching from afar as Morgan was pitching and Jaylen was catching for Morgan. He was pitching very well and I was in awe. After every pitch, Dad was encouraging and complimenting Morgan whether he did good or bad.
But to make matters worse Morgan's dad was there critiquing every pitch he pitched.
"God what's his problem?" I leaned over asking Jayden.
"His dad's an ass," he says quietly.
"Why? Morgan's a good pitcher," I say.
"Yeah but in his daddy's eyes Morgan's the worst pitcher that ever walked on this Earth," Jayden says.
"Why is he like that?" I asked him.
"Morgan's daddy used to be a good pitcher back in high school but got injured during college ball. So, he had Morgan to fill in his own footsteps."
"DAMMIT MORGAN THAT WAS A BAD PITCH! DO YOU NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR DAMN FUTURE BOY?" Morgan's Dad yelled.
Morgan tossed down his glove angrily and walked off the pitcher mound.
"Morgan," Dad called after him but Morgan shooed him away.
Dad gave up and jogged over to Morgan's dad to have a little talk with him.
"I'll get him," I said.
I jogged after Morgan but he was nowhere to be found. I saw a thicket of woods and ran into there. I called Morgan's name a couple times but no response.
"Morgan!" I called.
"I'm right here," he says and I jumped.
"You scared the shit out of me," I said clutching my heart a little.
He just chuckled and scooted over to make room for me to sit. I sat beside him always.
"Why don't you come on back-"
"Nope," he declines quickly. "Gotta wait a couple minutes so I can cool down and so my dad can cool down too."
"Understandable," I say nodding.
"I wish my momma was here to calm him down," Morgan says. "She'd just calm him down a lot."
"Same way with my momma," I say.
"At least you have a momma," Morgan says.
"My momma died when I was eight," I said.
"Oh shit," Morgan says. "I'm sorry."
"No it's fine," I said. "Be lucky our mommas are here in spirit."
"How'd your momma die?" Morgan asked me. "No offense."
"No offense taken. She died in a real bad car accident. How about yours?"
"She was real sick. Like cancer or somethin'. Doctors couldn't cure it."
"I'm sorry to hear that," I said and rubbed him on his shoulder.
"You know my momma knew Grace," Morgan says. "They were real good friends."
"I know," I said. "Grace tells me a lot of stories about your momma."
"Really?" Morgan chuckled.
"Yes sounds like your momma was fun."
"That's actually great. Grace was like another momma to me."
"Yeah. It's crazy because my momma middle name was Grace. That's how I always knew my momma was with me," I said.
Me and Morgan just talked about random things to make him seem more calm. Finally, we decided to head back to the field and continue practicing.
"Thanks Nia," he says and gave me a hug.
He smelt of strong cologne and I wanted to hold him for ever. He smelt so good oh my gosh.
"You can let go now," he chuckled.
"Oh right," I say slightly embarrassed. "Sorry."