The Hitting Zone

The rest of the food came for the others and soon the game had started. The announcement of the starting lineups. There was the national anthem. And then the home team was announced again as they took the field amidst the cheers of the crowd. A little boy yelled, "Play ball!" And the visiting team had their first batter step up to the plate.

Watching a game in person wasn't comparable to watching it on tv. For one, in person, I could constantly hear the crowd. Little side conversations going on behind me and both sides of me. Some chatter wasn't even decipherable. Next, there wasn't any commercials in between the switching of offense and defense. We were able to watch them jog in and the other team jog out.

"Isn't this exciting?" Noah asked as we went into the bottom of the first. The A's were able to have a clean first inning.

"It is." I agreed on different reasons though. Noah was mostly excited about the baseball game itself. Me? I was blown away with how much my life had changed in less than four months. I was at an actual baseball stadium.

"Are we going to cheer for Jeremy when he comes up?" Noah asked.

I noticed that the twins leaned in to hear my answer as well. No matter how much Jeremy did for them or how much he gave, these boys always took my feelings into account first. I laughed. "Aren't we here to cheer for the A's? If he's an A, then we don't have a choice, right?"

"As a fan, you can always hate a player or two on the team." Dave said. Kyle nodded. "You don't have to like all the players. You just can't let others hate on them too."

"Don't make things so difficult for Jake." Zeke slapped Dave on the back of his head. "He said it's to cheer. Don't pick at it."

"Sorry." Dave mumbled.

I smiled at Zeke.

The A's were able to get a person on, letting Jeremy, who was batging fourth, come up with two outs. Noah, who had been wildly clapping for every player, slowed up a little but he didn't make a big deal about it. In fact, the whole Atkins family seems to be taking my feelings into account, and only gave some polite claps. They must not want me to feel pressure.

Jeremy struck out to end the inning.

Noah rolled his eyes and slouched back. "Figures."

I let out a laugh.

"He can't be perfect. It's the MLB." Kyle commented.

Noah snorted, noncommittal.

The game went on. We ate to our hearts content as we watched the A's stack on some runs. Thanks, in part, to Jeremy. He crushed a three-run homer and the crowd stood up in unison as they chanted his name. It was surreal.

By the seventh inning, it got unreasonably cold. I took off the jersey in order to put on my sweatshirt. In the process, Rose Shimizu reappeared with a bag in hand. "Hey all! I'm back with some gifts that Jeremy asked me to give."

"Oh! There's no need!" Mrs. Atkins tried to refuse."We don't want to trouble you. Or him."

"It's no problem at all!" She said cheerfully. She started to pull out smaller plastic bags and passed them out. "Jeremy wanted to make sure you all had his jersey the next time you visit. It took me some time to get his message so I'm sorry I got back so late. Let me know if the sizes are okay."

"We can no longer ignore that Jake's brother is a star." Dave mumbled holding the jersey out. "This is the best game I've ever been to."

"I wonder if we can adopt him along with Jake." Kyle whispered.

Noah still heard. "Don't cave in so easily." He looked at me. "What do you think? Should we keep them?"

Looking at the twins pleading looks, it was kind of hard to refuse. Even Mr. and Mrs. Atkins looked unsure of what to do.

"It's just a gift." Zeke spoke up. "There aren't any strings attached or hidden conditions if you accept it." He looked at Rose. "Thank you."

"Thanks!" The twins said simultaneously, happy that they could keep such a jersey.

Noah still wasn't convinced.

"Wouldn't you wear my jersey if I gave you one when I go pro?" Zeke asked.

Noah nodded immediately. "Of course! But this is different..."

"And if we were fighting, would you still accept?"

Noah nodded a lot slower this time. "But Jeremy isn't you."

"Okay, let me go one step further. I'm a pro. You're my brother. You come to my game with really close friends and I give you and your friends jerseys even though we're fighting. Are you going to deny your friends that happiness?"

Noah shook his head.

"Then why are you asking Jake to?" Zeke sighed. "Sometimes you can be so dense. Too protective that you can't see the bigger picture."

Noah looked to me.

"It would just make things worse if I refused." I smiled lightly and handed him my jersey. "Can you put this in your backpack for me?"

Noah nodded and put mine and his away. Soon the rest of the family made him do the same with theirs.

The game wrapped up around 10:30pm, with the home team winning 10-2. Jeremy had a great game, living up to his moniker of being a star.

We left with the crowd, happy with the win. We got to the car and piled in with Mr. Atkins driving us back. It didn't take long for the twins to both pass out against their respective doors, and Noah closely followed. Even Mrs. Atkins started to doze off up front.

The quiet lasted all the way home. The twins and Noah almost slept walk to their rooms as soon as we got home. I slowly followed.

"Jake. A minute if you're not too tired." Mr. Atkins held me back. Him and Mrs. Atkins stayed downstairs with me. He held out his cellphone. "Jeremy was busy after the game with his work, but he asked that you called him as soon as we got home. What do you think?"

I glanced at Noah's bag that was resting on the hallway floor with all those jerseys. "Yea. I can do that."

Mr. Atkins handed the phone over with Jeremy's contact information already open. "You go ahead. Mary and I will be in the office if you need us, okay?"

I nodded, then pushed the call button. The pair left me alone, giving me space as the phone rang.

"Hello." Jeremy answered after three rings.

"We made it home." I told him.

Jeremy cleared his voice. "Jake. Hi. How was the drive?"

"Not bad. Quiet."

"You didn't sleep on the way home?" He asked, sounding curious.

I couldn't explain myself so I kept it simple. "No."

"Oh." He paused. "How did you like the game? We won."

"I know. I saw. It was a good game. You played well." I tried conversing calmly, but for some reason my heart started to pound.

"Did you like the seats?"

"It was an awesome view."

An awkward silence filled the gaps of our conversation.

Finally I came up with something to say. "Thanks for the jerseys."

"You're welcome." He coughed. "I thought it was only fair that my own brother had a jersey with my name on it."

"And the Atkins?" I asked.

"Uh. I didn't want them to judge me for only getting you something. Plus, I feel like you wouldn't accept it if you were the only one that got it."

"Hmm." I agreed with a hum. "You know..."

He waited patiently.

I worked up the nerve to tell him what's been on my mind all night. "You know, you don't have to spend all this money. I don't want to guilt you into spending money to get into my good graces. I'm not that mad anymore."

"You're not mad?"

"It's too tiresome to be mad all the time." I sighed.

I heard a short chuckle. "Jake. I'm not doing this to 'buy' your forgiveness. I just wanted you to have a good night. A perfect first time experience."

"It was good." I assured him.

He paused. This time it was my turn to wait.

"I want to replace some of your bad memories with happier ones." He declared. "I can't do much about the past, except feel guilty. It's not about forgiveness from you." He sighed. "I just...when I think about my childhood and how much I feared that woman; I can't imagine you going through the same. What makes it worse, is that I had Dad. He may not have been around all the time because of his time in the minors, but you-"

"The past is the past." I told him. "I honestly rather forget. I'm happy now." Happy where I am physically and mentally. "I don't really understand you and Jack. I'm still confused. A little hurt. But no longer angry."

"Jake-"

"I know someone who didn't get the closure they wanted when dealing with their family issues." I told him. "We aren't super close and that's okay. We aren't too distant either."

"Do you think I can close the gap?" He said suddenly.

I frowned. "The gap?"

"To be closer. We can work on it." He said confidently. Then he started to rush. "Alright. It was good to see you. And to have you here. You better get to bed. Goodnight." Then nothing. He hung up.

I looked at the phone. I guess...he didn't want to give me a chance to say no. That felt...kind of good to know.

"Are you done?" Mr. Atkins asked, coming out of the office.

"Yea." I handed him his phone back, still looking at the piece of technology as if it was Jeremy.

"What do you think about getting a phone of your own, Jake?" Mr. Atkins asked.

Startled, I looked up at his face.

Mr. Atkins patted me on the head. "We can talk about it tomorrow. It's late. Why don't you go get some sleep. We have a busy Saturday too."

I did what he suggested, passing out as soon as I laid down on my bed.