“Play Ball”

He had to remind himself that he’d wanted this. Standing out in the relentless Texas heat, he kept telling himself he’d wanted this. It wasn’t at all the way he’d expected his first day at the Stokes ranch to go. He hadn’t even had time to put his suitcase somewhere-wherever they were going to let him sleep-before he’d been whisked off to play baseball with the seventeen other Stokes in residence.

Nick’s sisters had had a squeal fest over him; lot’s of “he’s so cute!” and “he’s adorable” had pretty much killed any creds he could have faked at being an athlete. They’d all tossed names at him, like he’d remember any of them, and calmly told him he’d be first base because he’d be most likely to screw up. They would have put him in the outfield somewhere, but it was already full of the younger kids. He hadn’t even minded that they all believed he’d mess up; it was probably true. He did, however mind Nick going along with it, giving him that “now come on, Greg” look he used to such advantage.

Baseball wasn’t something he’d played as a kid. He knew the rules, though, and figured he’d get through it okay. It had turned out to be a lot harder than he’d thought.

Now the other side only needed to hit one out of the infield and they’d score the winning run. There was no doubt that they’d hit it toward Greg.

“Greg! Pay attention! You’re killing me, Smalls! You’re killing me!”

Greg figured Nick couldn’t be too worked up if he was quoting movies at him. The Stokes at the plate (he was never going to keep them straight) predictably hit the ball right towards Greg. It bounced once, then right into his mitt. Greg calmly stepped back onto first base and fired the ball across the field to third. Double play, and his side was out of the jam. He couldn’t help a little smirk at the astonished expressions on the various relations around him.

“Nice, Greg.” Nick was playing it off as much as Greg was. It was actually kind of fun.

It didn’t matter how the rest of the game went, he’d made his “bones.” He was accepted and that made it even better.

He’d wanted to come and meet Nick’s family, see what his life had been like. It hadn’t started out like he expected, but it was turning out to be pretty good just the same.