Out on the Sound

by R. E. Bradshaw

  “Good night sweet girl. Sweet dreams.”

  Decky had just closed her eyes when she thought she heard the doorbell.

  “Good Lord, who in the world is that,” Decky said to Dixie, who for some reason, and totally out of character, did not appear to care that someone was ringing the doorbell.

  Decky stumbled down the spiral staircase to the foyer. Blinking her eyes several times adjusting to the lights she had sworn were turned off, Decky froze in her tracks. There on the other side of the door was Charlie.

  Charlie smiled at Decky and then pantomimed unlocking the door. Decky, still frozen, realized she had been gaping at the woman on the other side of the door for some time, when she snapped out of it and opened the door.

  “I’m sorry. Come in. It took me a minute to recognize you.” Decky stepped back allowing Charlie to pass.

  “I know it’s late, but I wanted to know if you would be at the game tomorrow. Oh, I’m sorry. You must think I’m crazy. My name is …”

  “Charlie. Your name is Charlie. I heard your coach call you that.” Decky was still in a state of shock, recognizing a familiar longing beginning to well up inside.

  “Yes, well, I wanted to make sure you would be there, that’s all.” Charlie looked around, “You have a nice house. Can I see it?” She headed for the spiral staircase, “What’s up here?”

  Decky thought to herself what an odd time to visit, but if Charlie wanted to see the house, she would show it to her. She wasn’t sure of much, but she knew she didn’t want Charlie to leave.

  “It’s the master suite,” she heard herself say, but Charlie was already halfway up the stairs.

  By the time Decky reached the top of the stairs, Charlie was already standing between the French doors that led out onto the balcony. She must have opened them Decky noted.

  Charlie turned to Decky. She was framed in the moonlight with the white curtains blowing around her. Decky thought she looked like an angel.

  “My God, Decky, this is beautiful,” Charlie turned again to look out at the water.

  Without knowing, without caring, Decky stepped up behind Charlie and placed her arms around her waist.

  “You are beautiful,” Decky whispered in Charlie’s ear.

  Slowly, Charlie turned in Decky’s arms until their lips were so close, they could feel each other’s quickening breath.

  Decky woke with a start. Dixie was inches from her, breathing right into her face, and the alarm was blaring. She pushed Dixie away, cut off the alarm and swung her legs out of the bed. Sitting on the side of the bed, she nuzzled Dixie.

  “Girlfriend, I have never had a dream like that. I do believe I am going over to the dark side.” Laughing, she and Dixie headed down the stairs to start the day.

  Chapter Two

  Dixie barked out her last goodbyes as Decky pulled out of the garage. Once the garage door was shut, Decky knew she would promptly cuddle up on the couch and wait for the twins to come. Decky, however, was not so relaxed. She worked out for 20 minutes and soaked in the hot tub for ten, but she still felt tight. It was sexual tension and Decky was by now on familiar terms with it. Although she tried desperately, she could not stop flashes of her dream from playing over and over.

  “God, you need to get laid,” she said to no one and flipped on the CD player. Emmy Lou Harris sang out loud and proud from the speakers. By the time Decky pulled into the parking lot at the fields, she was feeling much better. Brandi walked over to her window just as Decky was helping Emmy Lou finish up.

  “C’est le vie, say the old folks. It goes to show you never can tell.”

  “I don’t know how you listen to that country crap,” Brandi said with a sneer.

  “I don’t know how you can walk around with an earring in your nose, so I guess we’re even.”

  “Well, I see Decky’s feeling chipper this morning,” Mother Margie said, yanking the van door open. “Watch your mouths girls. I got a vanload this morning and more comin’ on that bus there. Seems the Sunday school class would rather praise the lord out here than in church.”

  With that the entire county all-star twelve-year-olds, and a few stragglers, unloaded out of the van and the small church bus that just pulled up. Margie leaned into the open bus doors and said to the man behind the wheel, “Come back and get them about five. I’ll probably have had enough of them by then.”

  “Alright Mother, ya’ll play good now.”

  The bus pulled away as a few of the girls ran by Brandi slapping high fives. One of the twelve year olds was asking Brandi about her nose ring.

  “Oh good Lord, would you look at that Decky. Brandi is playing show and tell. Let me go nip this little thing in the bud right now. Hey you, Ashley…Amber…you…Blondie, com’ere.”

  Mother was off again to lead another child down the right path.

  Decky warmed up, stretched and watched everywhere for a certain little blonde. As the team took the field for the first inning warm up, Decky searched the opposing dugout once again. No Charlie. Decky was happy to see her friend Brenda coming to coach third for the other team. Brenda and Decky had played sports with and against each other all their lives. Brenda was now the softball coach at the local University, where her husband coached baseball.

  “I see Mother Margie brought the cheering squad this morning,” Brenda said as she hugged Decky. “It’s been too long since you’ve been over for a party.”

  Brenda and her husband, Chip, were famous for their seemingly endless summer parties. After any game, a party was going down at BC’s, as it had come to be known. You never knew if it would be three people or three hundred, but it was always legendary.

  “Yes it has. I’ve been staying close to home lately, but I do feel the need for some backyard badminton.” These games were also renowned.

  “Okay, I’ll hold you to that,” Brenda smiled and patted Decky on the back.

  Decky kicked at the dirt, like she was clearing away debris, but what she was really doing was trying to ask a question without giving her emotions away. Finally, she took a deep breath and said; “I saw you had a new centerfielder yesterday.”

  “Oh, yeah, that’s my friend from college, Charlene.”

  “I thought her name was Charlie,” Decky said, and immediately wanted to take it back. She sounded too interested.

  “Well, yeah, we call her Charlie,” Brenda studied Decky with a puzzled look on her face. She shrugged it off and continued, “Charlene, or Charlie and I go way back. She just took a job teaching math at the University. Chip and I are just thrilled to have her back in the gang again. You should come over tonight and meet her. I’m sure you two would hit it off…”

  Decky was stricken. When Brenda said come over tonight and meet her, Decky had stopped breathing. She was still stuck somewhere between reality and a dream, when Brenda grabbed her arm, “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. I just felt a little sick there for a moment. Shouldn’t have eaten that extra piece of bacon, I guess.” Decky moved into defensive position as the first batter took her stance. She was glad to be able to lean down and rest her hands on her knees for a moment.

  Brenda was still looking at Decky with concern at the end of the inning. Luckily, nothing had been hit to the third base side, so no harm done. Decky was just glad to be heading to the dugout when Brenda stopped her.

  “Are you sure you are okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I just need a little water.”

  Brenda looked her up and down, then deciding she was probably overly concerned, she went on, “Well, get in there and get some water and perk up. I really want you to meet Charlie. She had to take her friend to the airport this morning, but she’ll be here later.”

  “Batter up!” Decky heard the umpire say, which was exactly what Decky’s stomach felt like. Thank God, Brenda returned to her dugout and Decky finally reached the water cooler at the end of the bench. She collapsed near Darlene and Brandi who were arguing over some trivial slight perceived by one or th
e other. These two young lesbians were not role models for prospective lesbians, she thought. Decky needed to talk to someone.

  Is this some kind of mid life crisis? Jesus, I’m only thirty-seven. This isn’t mid life already? Did Brenda say “her friend”? What did that mean? Was she the lesbian lover, going back to wherever they came from to get the rest of their stuff? Why leap to that conclusion? It could be a man. A boyfriend. Why didn’t Brenda say boyfriend?

  Decky looked up from the dugout floor, where she had been staring, just in time to see Brandi remove the nose ring and fling it at Darlene.

  “You can take this back, too. I don’t belong to you anymore,” Brandi said, as alligator tears rolled down her face.

  Decky couldn’t help it. She burst out laughing. She knew she shouldn’t, but the image of Darlene leading Brandi through a pasture by her nose ring had flashed in her crazed mind. Decky laughed even louder when Darlene got up and stormed out of the dug out with Brandi hot on her heels. The alligator tears where now streaming down Decky’s own face and try as she might, she could not regain her composure.

  Mother left her post, as third base coach, to see what was going on. “Decky, what in the hell did you do to those girls?”

  There was no way Decky could stop laughing long enough to tell Mother what had just transpired. One of the other girls, who had also found it amusing, relayed the events.

  Mother stared at Decky, who was now gasping for air. “I do believe you have lost your mind, Decky.”

  Decky, finally able to breathe again, gasped out, “I know.”

  To Decky’s relief she did not have to talk to Brenda again, because she had moved over to coach first. The laughter had been exhausting, but somehow cleansing. There were no little blondes named Charlie anywhere in sight. It was a beautiful day and she was playing softball. Soon Decky was in the zone and having a great game.

  Decky was five feet six inches tall, every inch solid muscle. With strawberry blonde short hair, blue eyes and still a hint of freckles underneath tanned skin, she looked much younger than her age. She had the kind of androgynous good looks that turned heads no matter what the gender, and an extremely mischievous boyish charm.

  She had been “strong as an ox” all her life and then someone introduced her to the weight room. Decky never tried to get bigger muscles, just stronger, faster muscles for quickness in the field and thunder in the bat. She swam almost every day, which helped keep her lean and flexible. Decky stepped into the batter’s box in the bottom of the seventh inning, down by one, with a runner on second and two outs.

  Fouling off two pitches, with rockets just outside of the third base line, Decky stepped out of the box and removed the batters helmet, wiping her hair back from her forehead. Brenda was out of her dugout moving the outfielders to shade left field. The right fielder moved over behind the second baseman. Decky grinned and hoped for an outside pitch. Lo and behold, the pitcher threw the perfect pitch to hit to right field, and hit it she did.

  Decky crossed the plate before the ball got back to the infield and the game was over. She felt great. She loved this game.

  After the game, the shaking hands tradition began at home plate. Decky gathered her things and got in line.

  “Good game.” “Nice hit.” On and on through the line, until there she was again.

  Charlie stood at the end of the line, smiling and shaking hands. When Decky arrived at Charlie’s outstretched hand, she actually dropped her bat. Instead of shaking her hand, Decky bent to retrieve the bat.

  “You better hang on to that. I saw that last hit. Very nice.”

  “Thank you,” Decky said, fumbling to gather herself. “See ya’.”

  Decky turned away and headed for the nearest exit. Inside a voice shouted, “See ya’. That’s what you came up with. Why didn’t you shake her hand?” Another scared little voice inside said, “You saw what happened the last time she touched you.” Decky thought, “It’s official. I am losing my mind. I have started answering myself.”

  Decky did not look back. If she had, she would have seen Charlie staring after her.

  #

  Decky’s team run ruled the next opponent. It wasn’t really a fair fight since their best players, the King sisters, were Pentecostal and their mother refused to let them play on Sundays. It was always a problem, but they never went out and found someone to fill in on Sunday. It was like the team took pride in saying, “Yeah, we lost, but if the King sisters had been here, it’d be different.”

  “I guess we’ll never know,” thought Decky.

  She gathered up her things and headed over to watch the end of the game between Brenda’s team and the team from Tidewater. Sitting in the stands, surrounded by so many people she knew, Decky was nervous that someone would see her watching Charlie, so she worked very hard at not looking. When she realized Charlie was coming into the on-deck circle, she excused herself to get a drink, only to stop and watch her from behind the stands. There she remained for the rest of the game.

  The Tidewater girls were big, but slow. These big fields kept the homeruns down and with some really fine defense Brenda’s team pulled it off, sending the giants packing. Now Decky’s team had to play Charlie’s team for the championship.

  Wherever Decky’s head was, it wasn’t on what she was doing. Walking from one field to the other, Decky stepped off the curb wrong and rolled her ankle, the same ankle that had given her troubles all her life. The same ankle that she had taken the brace off, after the second game and had not yet replaced.

  It was decided that Darlene would drive Decky to the hospital emergency room, where they would check to make sure the screws that held Decky’s ankle together were still in place. Darlene was chosen, because she and Brandi were still fighting and it was her turn to sit out. Mother had decided a long time ago that fighting lesbian couples would not be on the field at the same time. It could be dangerous.

  And just like that, Decky was gone from the ballpark, rushed off to the hospital. Decky tried to relax while Darlene drove her SUV like a wild woman.

  “Darlene, you don’t have to speed. I’m not bleeding.”

  “I want to hurry up. There’s a party after the game at BC’s and I got to get there before Brandi gets drunk.”

  Decky closed her eyes and tried not to think about anything. It didn’t help that every time she closed her eyes she saw Charlie standing there in the moonlight.

  After two hours in the emergency room, Decky was finally released with yet another pair of crutches and a promise to stay off her ankle for ten days. The screws were in place, but it was a severe sprain. The pain meds hadn’t taken effect yet. Darlene was waiting, pacing outside the emergency room doors.

  “I thought they were never going to let you out of there. Brandi called and said everybody’s already at BC’s,” Darlene said, breathlessly.

  “Oh, no, Darlene, can’t Brandi come get you at my house? I really don’t feel like going over there.” Decky might as well have been talking to the moon.

  Darlene continued, “Brandi has been drinking already. She said she only had one beer, but I could tell she’s had a lot more than that. I have to get over there, you know what she gets like when we’ve been fighting and I ain’t around to corral her.”

  Decky moaned as she climbed into the passenger seat, saying, “When have you two not been fighting?”

  Darlene got in. She thought about what Decky said and then answered, “I know we fight a lot, but I do love her. She is still real immature and me being two years older means I got to look out for her. She can be real sweet… Relationships with women can be complicated. I guess it’s hard for you to understand, being straight and all.”

  “Okay Darlene, let’s go save your damsel in distress. Off to BC’s,” Decky popped another Loratab and cried out, “the lovelorn and the cripple, to the rescue!”

  #

  Darlene drove slower on the way to BC’s or the meds had kicked in, Decky wasn’t quite sure. Darlene related that the
game had been won with one of Margie’s patented long ball outs, scoring Brandi from third. Decky didn’t really listen. She knew she was heading straight into a mess. A mess she had made for herself. For all she knew the woman had built up some static electricity sliding and the shock was nothing more than that. The attraction was all in her head.

  Decky’s son was not living at home for the first time in seventeen years. Maybe she was just lonely. She could not react, no matter what happened. God, Charlie could be straight or worse, married. She knew absolutely nothing about this woman except her name, she taught math and she could play softball.

  She couldn’t deny that Charlie was attractive. Attractive, hell, it made her twinge inside just thinking about her. There she was, standing in the moonlight again. The abrupt stop jarred her back into reality. Darlene was looking at her when Decky opened her eyes.