“Great! I’m coming right through there, so I could pick you guys up and everything.”
Bucky flipped the phone shut with a grin. “This is one weird school year.”
Chapter Nine: Bleachers and New Beginnings
It was an overcast afternoon at AT&T Park as the four young men watched the endless baseball action. The park by the Bay was overflowing as San Francisco fans took advantage of the rare chance to see two games for the price of one. The Giants took the first game by an easy 9-1 score, and grabbed two quick runs in the first inning of the second contest.
“Why can’t they play like this all the time?” Dan had his feet propped up on the seat in front of him. The corporate tickets Jeff had come up with were great, close to the field on the third - base side.
“Yo! Hot dog!” Jeff motioned to a vendor. “You guys want one?” Bucky shook his head as he shelled another peanut and teasingly tossed it on Dan’s shoe.
The second game settled into a slow pitchers’ duel as Jeff plied his new friends with questions. “Stone, I hear what you’re saying,” he said at last, “but I don’t see how that can be right. I mean, the coming of the Lord will be like a thief in the night. And that’s the secret rapture, man. One is taken, the other’s left.”
Bucky shook his head. “Maybe,” he conceded. “But to me, it seems like the metaphor of the thief is that his arrival is unexpected. He comes when people aren’t looking for him. It’s not secret – ‘cause, man, the Bible says that when Jesus comes, every eye will see him. The trumpet call will be so loud it’ll raise the dead. It’ll be galactic. But it will be when a lot of people have given up hope and are just living for themselves.”
“Huh.” Jeff ruminated on this for a moment.
Dan shifted around in his seat, grinning at Jeff. “You better watch it, Hilliard,” he put in. “He’ll whup you on this stuff.”
“I ain’t afraid.”
Sam piped in, keeping one eye on the field. “But the way you guys teach it, how does this whole business of the Tribulation work out?”
“Oh, man.” Bucky began laughing. “We start getting into that, Giants better play a triple header.”
The foursome chatted amiably, pausing whenever the San Francisco squad put runners on base. “Come on, Stone.” Dan tugged on Bucky’s jersey. “Time for the seventh - inning stretch. ‘Take me out to the ballgame.’ You know I can sing prettier than you.”
• • • • •
It was a sunburned but happy ride back to Hampton Beach. Sam didn’t have to get back to Pacific College until Monday evening, and the four guys stopped off at Taco Bell for a late supper to celebrate the Giants’ sweep. They’d pretty much talked themselves out of theological questions, Bucky agreed, and they chatted about more trivial things as they devoured the big pile of seven - layer burritos.
“Good luck with your games, man,” Dan told Jeff, shaking hands with the tall senior just before he pulled back onto the road. “Long as you’re not playing us, Stone and I are pulling for your team all the way.”
“We may get each other in the playoffs then.”
The chunky centerfielder waved a fist in Jeff’s face. “Revenge!” He laughed. “And maybe by then Bucky’ll be a starter and he and you can give all of Northern Cal a pitching duel to remember.”
Bucky spotted a note taped to the refrigerator as he slipped into the darkened house on Woodman Avenue. He frowned as he flipped on the kitchen light and glanced at his watch. It was unusual for his parents to already be in bed this early. “Lisa called,” the note said. “9:15. Call back if not too late. Mom.” She’d written a phone number at the bottom of the sheet.
It was 10:00 now, he noted, peeking at his watch a second time. Should he go ahead and call? He fished out his cell phone, trying to be quiet. A moment later Lisa was on the line.
“I hope it’s not too late to call,” he told her.
“Huh uh. It’s OK.”
He hesitated. “Are you OK? What’s up?”
Several seconds went by before she answered, and when she did, it came out sounding tremulous. “I just. . . can I come see you? Or something?”
“Are you OK?” he repeated gently.
A pause. “No. Not really. I’m just . . . all mixed up about everything.”
“My folks have gone to bed already,” Bucky said, lowering his voice. “But I can come over there.”
“Huh uh. I don’t think . . . you know, my mom and stuff.”
“Well, what then?”
“I don’t know.”
He thought hard. “We could meet at the school. Where we were the other day. I don’t think they ever lock it up before midnight.”
“Do you mind?” she said at last, her voice still shaking. “Please?”
“Give me ten minutes, babe.” It was strange how the little word of endearment came out so naturally despite the mixed - up emotions he still had for her.
“OK,” she whispered.
He hung up the phone, feeling quivery inside. What was it now? What was going to happen? Breathing a prayer to God, he scribbled a second note on the back of the first one. He put it where Mom would find it just in case she came downstairs and found him still gone.
The amber lights around the high school were glowing their disapproval as his Toyota crept into the parking lot next to the athletic field. Only one other car occupied it, and Lisa was waiting inside with the doors locked. She eased the door open and stepped out just as he walked over. Without speaking, she slipped into his embrace, burying her face in his chest.
“It’s OK,” he whispered. “Whatever the matter is, God’ll help you. And me too.”
A minute or two went by before she pulled herself free. “Can we just go back over there or somewhere?”
“Sure.” With his arm still around her, Bucky led her over to the same grandstands, now immersed in inky darkness. A distant set of lights illuminated the parking lot with the two lonely cars at the far end.
“How are you feeling about . . . you know, everything that happened to you?” He asked the question gently.
“Bad.” She turned away from him for a moment. “Sometimes I feel even worse now than I did back then.”
“How come?”
“I don’t know.” Her eyes moistened. “I mean, I don’t . . . want Steve anymore. After what happened. But I feel so lonely. And wrong.” She turned to face him. “I screwed up so bad!”
Bucky waited before answering. “Yeah. I guess. But God’s already forgiven you.”
“Has He?” The words came out angrily. “You say that like, ‘Well, no problem! God is love. Blah blah blah. Yippety doo-dah!’ But I swear none of that stuff is true for me.”
He reached over and pulled her closer. “You know me,” he told her. “And I’m telling you, God is there. He loves you as much as he ever did. That stuff with . . . Steve . . . he still loves you. Sure, it was wrong. But it’s done. It’s over, and he forgives you. It’s like it didn’t happen.”
She looked at him, her eyes wet. “But it did happen. You can say all that because it didn’t happen to you.”
A painful thought jabbed its way to the surface of his mind. “But it did happen to me,” he said at last after a moment of stark silence.
“What?”
“It did happen,” he winced. Carefully, remembering with every word, he told her about Hawaii and his experience with Deirdre.
“Well, there you go,” she put in. “You almost did, but you didn’t.”
Bucky hung his head in shame. “Babe, I really don’t think it makes a difference. ‘Cause I was right there. In my mind, it had already happened. I mean, no, not the whole physical thing. But I was ready and willing – and I’m a Christian. I should have been a million miles away from a temptation like that, and I wasn’t. But God forgave me too.” His eyes searched hers, desperate to see any sign that she was hearing what he was saying. “He loves you so much.”
Lisa stared dully down at her shoes, her shoulders sag
ging with the weight. “I’d give anything to have what you . . .”
A sudden noise in the parking lot caused them both to turn to see what it was. They spotted a city patrol car wheeling up next to Bucky’s car, its spotlight flickering across the field. Then a man in uniform got out and slowly began walking toward the bleachers. “Hope we’re not in trouble,” Bucky whispered.
The heavy footsteps crunched as the officer approached. Bucky moved down several levels so the man could see him better. “What’s going on here?” the policeman said.
“We’re just . . . talking. We both go to school here.”
“It’s after hours,” he snapped with authority and beamed a flashlight in Lisa’s direction, taking in the situation. Suddenly the beam fell on Bucky’s face. “Wait a minute. Aren’t you . . . Stone? Bucky Stone?”
“Yeah.” He blushed.
“OK. I helped write up that report on that kid, the ballplayer who was busted for shaving points. A year ago. You helped us with that, didn’t you?”
“Uh huh.”
The officer reflected for a moment, then switched off the powerful beam. “It’s OK, Stone. Take your time. But be out of here by midnight, OK?”
“Sure. Thanks.”
The red taillights disappeared down the access road as he returned to sit next to Lisa. “Where were we?”
“Oh, just crying on each other’s shoulders.” She gave him a wan smile. “You’re so sweet to do this.” All at once tears filled her eyes again. “I never deserved a guy like you.”
“Don’t say that,” he told her. “I always felt so lucky to have you.”
A nearby church chimed 11:00, the bells echoing dolefully in the night air. “So what do I do?” Lisa asked.
“About what?”
“How do I get past all this? It just always pounds at me. ‘You messed up. You gave away your . . . virginity. It’s gone forever, and you can’t get it back.’ Nobody cares. Nobody gives a rip about me anymore.” She slammed her fists down on her knees in anger. “Everything’s so unfair.”
His heart in his throat, he reached over and held both of her fists. “Come on,” he said. “Look at me.”
Lisa turned to face him, her face wet. “OK, I’m looking. Tell me something to fix it all.”
“I can’t dig up some other message,” he told her. “All I got is the one.” Now his own eyes were brimming as he breathed a prayer. “Babe, God loves you and wants you in his family. He does. I swear he does.” He reached out and traced a hand along her face. “And I love you.”
Time seemed to freeze itself in place as the four words hung in the air between them. “Don’t say that,” she whispered. “Bucky, please. Don’t say it if you don’t mean it.”
He hesitated. Did he mean it? He’d asked God to help him reach out to Lisa, to care about her in the right way – in heaven’s way. Did he love her now? Something was certainly welling up in his heart at this very moment. This girl next to him – with the tears in her eyes, the lost look on her face – he felt something, but was it love or a kind of missionary impulse? Or did it matter anymore?
“I love you,” he said again, feeling the validity of the words grow in his heart as he repeated them. Very slowly he pulled her closer and kissed her.
It was a short, tender kiss, kind of a mixed-up gesture, and they both knew it. He pulled back, feeling the wetness on her cheeks. All the memories from the past three years seemed to be in his mind at once: Lisa moving away, the tumultuous relationship with Deirdre, the aborted trip to Seattle, a fizzy - personality redhead named Tracy, plus the vicious ups and downs of holding onto a Christian faith in an American Idol world.
And now Lisa was here again. Was everything he’d hoped for coming true after all? Could he carve out a brand - relationship with her? One that had Jesus at its center? “Bucky . . .” Her eyes were searching his, trying to figure out what was happening.
For a moment he held back, a pause that almost made him ache. And then all at once the reserve broke. He clutched her fiercely, kissing her again and again. Now she returned his kisses, pulling him closer and even closer.
“I love you too,” she repeated, burying her face in his jacket. “I love you.”
Chapter Ten: Just Like That Ethiopian Guy
The next few days at high school were a kind of strange but not unpleasant dream. Lisa now sat next to Bucky and Dan in Mr. Rojas’ government class, and a couple times at lunch Julie joined them to make it a foursome. But despite the intensity of Sunday evening, Bucky could tell things still weren’t like before.
He and Dan talked about it right before the Tuesday afternoon Panther home game. “Well, look, Stone, you know she’s still fragile about . . . God and stuff. That’s what it is.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“I mean, until she decides to become a Christian – born again, the whole works – you’re kind of like three - fourths of a couple.”
It was a dumb analogy, and Bucky couldn’t help but grin despite his frustration. “I didn’t think you knew that much about fractions.”
“Shut up. I got a B+ in that stuff.”
The taller athlete finished lacing up his cleats and stood to his full height. “Well, let me ask you this then, smart guy. Should I be going with her? You know how I made myself that rule about never dating someone who wasn’t a Christian.” Bucky shrugged. “‘Course, I’ve broken that rule about five times already, and look where it’s gotten me.”
Dan shook his head vigorously. “This is different, Stone. You know Lisa’s going to make the right decision. And she needs you to help get her to the finish line.” He picked up his glove. “In the meantime, you and I have a few home runs to hit.”
Bucky did indeed crunch a big three - run homer in the fifth inning to seal the Panther’s fourth win. “That’s more like it,” he grunted to Dan as they trotted off the field. “I guess we’re marvelous athletes except when we’re facing Hilliard on the mound.”
“Yeah, I don’t know what we’re going to do about that. Maybe he’ll go to the mission field in the next month. I could always suggest it to him. I don’t see how he could beat us from Nigeria.”
“Good show, guys.” Coach Demerest clapped each of the athletes on the back as they gathered around for the post - game diagnosis. “No errors, and we left only two on base. That’s clutch hitting.” He glanced over at Bucky. “And you know what they say: good pitching plus three - run homers usually spells a W.”
A murmur of assent went through the locker room as one of the ballplayers right behind Bucky gave him a generous thump of congratulations. “‘Course, we’re on again this Thursday for one of our two night games,” the athletic director continued. “I hear Concord’s been hitting the ball right up against the fences, so be ready for a lot of action. But we’re a good hitting team too, and I sure want to come out of that contest with a 5-1 record.” He clapped his hands together twice. “OK, guys, that’s it.”
Lisa was waiting outside the athletic complex, and they chatted for the few spare minutes Bucky had before driving over to the bank. Dan and Julie gave them a wave as his sporty blue Camaro thundered out of the parking lot. Bucky smiled to himself. Despite the tentative nature of the new relationship, it still felt awfully good.
“What are you smirking about?”
He gave her an innocent look. “Seems to me, back in the good old days, victorious ballplayers always got kissed by the most beautiful women at Hampton Beach High School. Don’t tell me that tradition’s gone glub - glub - glub down the drain.”
Lisa laughed. “Oh, come here.” She gave him a very chaste little peck on the cheek.
“Maybe you’re forgetting I hit a three - run homer,” he reminded.
“Oh.” Another kiss, this one more generous.
“That’s more like it.” A warm glow filled the Toyota as he drove over to First California Bank for the abbreviated ninety-minute shift. The savings institution closed a half hour after he arrived, but there was always th
e posting of deposits to be done and various other clerical duties. He kept thinking about the Thursday night contest – a big game against the varsity squad from Concord. All the teams were good this year, but Concord and Dixon seemed to have the toughest lineups. Jeff Hilliard’s team shared first place with the Panthers at 4-1, and even this early in the season, any loss hurt a lot.
It was noon on game day, and he was having lunch with Dan, when Coach Demerest came up, a worried look on his face. “Stone, got a minute?”
“Sure, Coach.” He shifted on the hard metal bench. “What’s up?”
The older man gave a shake of his graying head. “Dennis tells me his arm is really sore. Even five days after pitching. He iced it a couple of times, but it’s still really tender. Around his elbow.”
Dan swallowed quickly, and blurted out: “Man, that’s bad. He’s on for tonight, ain’t he?”
“Yeah.” The coach looked from one to the other. “And Nunez just pitched two days ago; I can’t put him up again so soon.”
“So what are you saying?”
Coach Demerest looked right at Bucky. “I want you to start tonight,” he said simply. “I know your curve ball is still a work in progress, but if you can keep ahead of hitters with your fastball, and just throw in a few offspeed pitches here and there, I honestly think you could go five innings for us.”
Bucky felt a strange tingle. “Are you serious, Coach?”
“It’s not ideal,” the director admitted. “And, yeah, I could bring up one of our JV pitchers. But their best guy pitched yesterday as well, and I really think we’ve got a shot using you.”
The ballplayer gulped. “I, uh . . . well, sure. Coach. If you think I can do it.”
He felt a real tightness in his gut as he suited up that evening for the crucial road contest. A good-sized contingent of fans was present for the game, and there was an electric zap! as huge floodlights went on at the Concord ballpark. Several players came over to wish him well. “We got your back, Stone,” said Brian, the lanky first baseman. “I know it’s your first start and all.”
Bucky Stone: The Complete Adventure (Volumes 1-10) Page 99
