Rounding Third (17 page)

    
“I’m fine. Josh’s so-so. He asked me to call you and I have to make this quick,
but he didn’t want you to worry. He’s grounded, but said he’ll try to call
soon.”

    
“Thanks. Tell him I said hi.” Rob wanted to tell Mat a lot more than that, but
didn’t dare. He hung up the phone and went out to run.

The next two weeks were hell without Josh, but
at least he knew where Josh was--stuck at home. Or thought he knew.

Rob found himself back working the fields
more than he had been all summer and when he harvested the first corn of the
season and knew it would be way too much for the family he took the excess to
Greiner’s Market.

“Hey, Bobby,” Frank Greiner said when Rob got
out of the SUV. “Haven’t seen you all summer. Have you grown?”

Rob shrugged. “It’s been a while.”

Frank had always said to call him Frank, but
considering Frank was old enough to be his grandfather, Rob tried to avoid
calling him anything. Frank had known him since before he was born and as close
as their families had been for generations, Frank almost was his grandfather.

“How much are the beans?” a woman shouted.
Rob went to her aid.

It was an hour later when Frank noticed Rob
was still working and said, “Are you still here?”

“They won’t let me leave,” Rob said,
indicating the line of customers that had formed around him.

“I could use you, if you can stay,” Frank
said. “That stupid Vaughn kid quit on me so I’m short-handed.”

“I can stay.” Since age ten, Rob had worked
from time to time at the market.

 “Want a fulltime job?” Frank asked as
he rang up another sale.

“I have one,” Rob answered, not missing a
beat in waiting on his own line of customers.

“You like it?” Frank said, before turning to
the man in front of him. “That will be fourteen-thirty-seven.”

For a moment, thinking about how much he
hated the flooring business, Rob was tempted, but then thought of something
else. “I know someone who is looking.”

“Who?”

“Josh Schlagel.”

“The football star?”

Rob had forgotten how closely Frank followed
the H-burg Hawks. Greiner’s Farm Market always had the full-page ad on the back
of the football programs.

“Yep,” Rob said. “He’s a friend of mine.” At
least Rob hoped they were still friends.

“Hi, Bobby.” Rob looked up to see the next
customer waiting was Mrs. Dominick, Ashley and Clint’s mother. “How are you?”

“Good, and you?” he asked.

“Fine. You’ve changed so much I almost didn’t
recognize you,” she said. “I haven’t seen you in months. Not since you had your
picture in the paper. I guess you’re turning into quite the baseball star.”

*                     
*                     
*                     
*                     
*
   

When Rob opened the wooden screen door of the
house, Meg was waiting. “Where’ve you been all afternoon?”

“Working at Greiner’s.”

“Josh called twice. He said he’d call later
if he could. What’s the deal with that?”

“His parents go to that whacked out church and
have more rules for their kids than you’d believe.”

“No wonder Mat is so weird. I’m amazed Josh
turned out so well.”

“Stop saying Mat’s weird. He’s a nice guy. He
just looks weird. How would you like it if people thought you were weird after
you had an accident and got all scarred up?”

“Sorry.”

“But you’re right. I’m amazed Josh isn’t
weirder than he is given that family’s strangeness.”

“Josh isn’t weird,” she protested.

The phone ringing ended their argument as
they both lunged for it. Rob grabbed it and Meg punched him in the stomach.
“Hey, Josh,” he said. Rob could feel his innards turning to Jell-O at the sound
of the voice he had missed so long. “I’ll take this upstairs. Hang on”

He turned to Meg. “When I get it, hang it up.
And I mean, hang up!” He dashed out of the room and up the stairs. Three hours
later, after ignoring numerous calls to dinner, Rob came back down, smiling for
the first time in weeks.

“What’s up with Josh?” Meg asked.

“He’s un-grounded. And he’s happy I got him a
job. That should help smooth things over with his parents.”

“You got him a job?” his mother asked.

“Yep, at Greiner’s. Frank asked me, but I
figured it wasn’t fair to quit Trent’s with only a few weeks left in the
summer.”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” she replied. “I know
you’re not happy at Trent’s and you get along so well with Frank.”

Rob wondered how she knew he wasn’t happy at
Trent’s since he had never said anything to her about it.

Her husband looked at her and smiled, “Is it
really possible, could our kids actually start acting responsibly?”

*                     
*                     
*                     
*                     
*
   

After his first day of work at the market,
Josh came to the Wardell’s for dinner. He was his usual polite, funny self and
Rob thought things were back to normal. After dinner they went upstairs and
once the door was closed, Rob grabbed at Josh’s shirt to pull it off.

“Don’t,” Josh protested.

“Why not?”

“Your parents might hear.”

“They’re downstairs with the TV on. We’ve done
it before.” Rob again pulled at Josh’s shirt and Josh slapped his hand away.

“What’s wrong?’ Rob asked.

“Why do you have to grab at me like that?”

“Huh? You damn near rape me every time we’re
alone. I just wanted to hold you. I missed you.”

“And I missed you.”

“You’re not acting like it,” Rob said.

“I missed you more than you could know.” Josh
threw himself at Rob and clutched him close.

Rob guided him to the bed and silently held
him for a while. “Do you want to tell me what is going on?”

“I can’t.”

“If you’re embarrassed ‘cause you’ve got
bruises from your dad, it’s okay, I’ve seen them before.”

“Would you do me a favor?” Josh asked.

“Sure, anything.”

“Don’t ask. Stop asking. Just hold me.”

                       
*                     
*                     
*                     
*                     
*
   

After another week of strangeness, life with
Josh soon fell back into its old pattern. He was not only willing to have Rob
touch him, he was giving him every opportunity to do so. Now that he was
working adjacent to the Wardell farmlette he came over almost every evening. He
and Rob could work out and hang out. If Josh had to work Saturday, Rob would
work with him at the farm market and they could still spend the day together.
As school approached, for the first time in his life Rob found himself not
dreading it.

Whether it was the working out or the hard
work, both of them had become taller and more buff over the summer. Rob felt
that now the weight of his lonely world had been lifted from his shoulders he
could finally grow unhindered.

As they lay entwined on Rob’s bed after a
long day at the produce stand, Rob said, “You know, I was thinking, I should go
out for football.”

Josh sat up. “Are you crazy?”

“I just thought, I’ve been working out, put
on some weight...”

“No.”

“It would give us a chance to spend more
time…”

“No.”

“Don’t you think I could handle it?” Rob
asked.

“Football, yes. The football team, no. They’d
kill you. Please don’t.” Josh pinned Rob to the bed. “This is the only tackling
I want you to get.”

They rolled around wrestling on the bed until
they fell off and crashed to the floor laughing.

                                               
22
 
 

Football practice started a week later and
since Josh was off at practice, Rob had volunteered to take Meg back-to-school
shopping.

 “You are such a liar!” Megan yelled at
her brother as she ran in the door of their house ahead of him.

“I’m never taking you anywhere again!” Rob
said as he shoved past his sister.

    
Their mother, who had been listening for the car to pull into the gravel drive,
stood up. “What happened?”

    
“Your daughter,” Rob pointed an accusing finger, “Was trying to pick up the guy
at the Gap!”

    
“I wasn’t trying to pick him up,” Meg replied. “I was just flirting. He was
cute.”

    
“He had to be twenty years old!” Rob taunted.

    
“So?”

    
“You’re fifteen!”

Turning back to his mother he said, “Your
daughter. The slut.” Meg slugged her brother in the stomach.

    
“Josh is going to be jealous.” Rob grinned.

    
She pinned him against the gun cabinet next to the door. “And for the last
time, I do not have a crush on Josh.”

    
“Megan, stop.” The use of her full name and his tone made it clear this was not
going to be their father’s usual injunction to stop teasing. Meg and Rob
stopped laughing. Rob noticed that his parents were in the center of the large
living room--the good couch and chairs reserved for entertaining in between the
informal seating areas facing a fireplace at one end and a TV at the other.

    
Their mother sat back down and pointed to the large footstool halfway between
her and her husband. “Bobby, please sit down,” she said.

           
Meg cast Rob a
whatever you did, it
sounds serious
look.

“I was kidding about her being a slut...” Rob started to
apologize.

    
His father quickly shook his head like a pitcher shaking off the wrong sign.
“Bobby, er, uh, Robert...Rob, there’s no easy way to say this.”

    
“Your mother...well...tell him.” The distraught man looked at his wife.

    
One small antique lamp lit only the immediate vicinity occupied by his parents.
His mother’s glasses lay on the table next to her. Rob now noticed she was
crying as she began softly, “I got a call from Wendy Dominick.” It took him a
moment to register that she meant Ashley and Clint’s mother. “Today, after
practice, Josh...Josh is in the hospital. Wendy said he’s in ‘serious but
stable’ condition. They said he’s going to be okay,” she tried to reassure
him. 

“What happened?” Rob asked.

    
His parents gave each other looks that left Rob feeling that the news he’d just
heard was not the worst news they’d had that evening. Rob’s lungs didn’t seem
to be functioning and he found himself taking small gulps of air.

    
Bob Wardell looked at his son then looked away as he said in a voice that
fought for control with every word, “Clint told his mother there was an
incident in the locker room after practice...”

He didn’t need to hear more. He could guess
the rest. He nodded his head to make the words stop and they did.

His father looked past his son’s head at a
spot on the wall and sighed, “Afterwards, Josh tried to kill himself.”

Rob’s eyes and stomach instantly launched
into a competition as to which would burst first.

“What?” Meg asked. “He’s like Mr. Perfect,
why would he...?

    
Rob’s look at Meg told her to stop talking and she did. Both parents looked at
Rob. He knew why. And they knew why. Rob tried hard to stifle tears and looked
up with the same mask of terror he had seen on the one and only deer he’d ever
had in his sights. He hadn’t had the nerve to fire then, but he knew the look
of impending death. Somehow Rob found the courage to say, “I need to see Josh.”

    
His father shook his head. “Not now.” There was no anger in his voice at all.
It was said matter-of-factly, leaving no room for discussion. “Robert.” There
was another long pause. Saying the name was completely unnecessary since the
son was hanging on every word, but he
repeated it, “Robert.” There was another pause. “Please go...please go
upstairs. Your mother and I...would you please just go upstairs. We’ll talk in
the morning.”

Rob walked towards the stairs but stopped,
turned and said something he rarely said, “I love you guys. Good night.” There
was no response from either parent. He waited a moment then began climbing.

    
He heard Meg’s fast footsteps gaining on him.

    
“Bobby,” she said. “What...” she started to ask, but when he turned to look at
her, she stopped. 

Rob walked the last mile to his room. As he
was closing the door Megan said, “Good night, Bobby.”