The Hitting Zone

Noah shrugged and took the phone to Dad, just a few seats down. "Hey Dad, Jeremy thinks he can help us get tickets?"

Dad was surprised by the sudden phone in his hand, but it only took him a second to adjust. He took Jeremy off speaker and they started to talk. Noah came back to his seat next to me.

"What do you think he can do?" Kyle leaned over to whisper.

I shrugged.

Noah rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The only thing he can do differently than us is throw more money at the problem, right?"

"You don't think Dad didn't try that?" Kyle snorted. "How do you think we got on the waitlist? That is still technically buying a ticket. On the day of. Do you know how expensive that can be?"

"Well don't ask me then." Noah rolled his eyes.

We all kept glancing at Dad. Then he suddenly got up and got in line to talk to the worker at the desk again.

"He's making a move." Noah mumbled. "They must have a plan or at least, an idea."

There was nothing we could do but watch. Dad didn't look impatient in line, casually talking to Jeremy on the phone. Once it was his turn with the worker, it looked liked he put Jeremy on speaker again and lowered the phone. The worker originally was polite and distant, but something must have been said because we saw the surprise in her eyes. She nodded and smiled. Nodded some more. Picked up a landline phone and called someone.

"What's she doing?" Noah mumbled.

"Maybe talking to her coworker or boss?" Kyle whispered. "What if Jeremy is using his status to steal us a couple seats on the next flight?"

"You can't steal seats." Noah rolled his eyes.

The woman hung up and continued to nod at Dad, saying something. Dad had a look of relief. It was like a silent film for us, trying to figure out what was happening. One thing became clear though, Dad was satisfied with the result. He turned to us and smiled.

"Should I go ask what's going on?" Noah suggested.

Kyle shook his head. "No. Don't mess anything up. Who knows what they talked about."

We awkwardly watched Dad and the worker chat a little more, and the line behind him started to grow.

"Attention passengers of flight number 2613 at gate 27." A voice came on the speakers overhead. That was our gate, and that was the next flight to Seattle, Washington. "We have overbooked this flight and are looking for volunteers to take a later flight either tonight or tomorrow. We will provide overnight accommodations and some form of compensation." There was a pause. "We have a family with us today on the waitlist that are traveling for a family emergency so volunteers would be greatly appreciated. The family of five has also offered compensation of their own on top of what we will provide so all interested parties, please proceed to the help desk at gate 27."

Noah grabbed my arm and started to bounce in his seat a little. "That's us! Dad and Jeremy must have offered something big."

"Like what?" Kyle asked, frowning. "Season tickets? A meet and greet? Or just straight cash?"

"It probably depends on what the person wants." Dave spoke up for the first time in awhile. "Who cares. Just let us on the plane please."

We nodded in agreement. It was nice of Jeremy to help us out in this way. Whatever it took to get on the plane and leave the Bay Area. As a group, we watched Dad and the worker at the counter, trying to find out who was in line for help and who was in line to inquire about ticket compensation. I noticed that Dad would still hold up my phone every now and then, speaking like Jeremy was still on the line.

I don't know who said it; probably one of the people to ask about the compensation, but it didn't take long for us to hear Jeremy's name being whispered around us. Dad shook hands with a couple that were talking to him and showed them my phone.

Noah started to get antsy. "It's happening."

He wasn't the only one getting impatient for Dad to return. We all watched eagerly as Dad met with others and shook more hands, and just overall looked thankful. When he came back and handed me my phone, we looked up at him with so much hope.

"We're in." Dad gave us the affirmative and we let out a small cheer. He looked at me. "Jeremy was a big help. I don't know how we can repay him for his help."

"What did he have to agree to?" Kyle asked.

"He came on FaceTime to prove that he was him and then agreed to three different meet and greets that will also have tickets attached. He passed along his agent's phone number for the people to contact and something will be arranged either during spring training or the regular season." Dad explained.

"I would have asked for season tickets." Kyle said.

Dad shook his head. "That's way too expensive."

"Right. That's easily worth tens of thousands." Noah said. "We don't even have season tickets." He nudged me. "Maybe ask Jeremy for season tickets for us."

I shook my head. No way. He just said that was a lot of money.

Noah laughed. "I'm kidding. I like the idea of being a season ticket holder, but we have our own games to worry about. And maybe next summer, we'll start going to visit more colleges or go to other baseball camps."

"You don't want to play softball again?" Dave laughed.

Noah smiled and shook his head. "Nah. That was fun, but it ain't going to make me a better player."

The atmosphere among us really loosened after we secured plane tickets. I had sent Jeremy a text to thank him.

<strong>Jeremy: No problem! Just doing what I can. Fly safe and text me when you land. </strong>

I agreed. Barely an hour later and we started to board the plane. Since our tickets were from different groups of people, we had to split up. Noah and I took a pair of tickets that guaranteed me a window seat while he sat in the middle. Dad and Dave stayed group together, while Kyle volunteered to sit alone.

I put my headphones on, put the volume on high, closed my eyes and tried to relax. Eventually I could hear the flight attendants going over the basic instructions and soon the plane was moving. I wasn't afraid of flying. It's the idea of being up in the air with a hundred plus strangers that made me anxious.

Whether it be from stress or lack of sleep or both, I dozed off before we made it in the air. The flight from San Francisco to Seattle was just barely over two hours so it wasn't long before Noah was nudging me awake during the plane's descent.

We made it.

The plane parked at a terminal and everyone got up to grab their bags from the overhead bins. We eventually got ours and started to leave the plane. We waited for Dad and the twins and then it was off to baggage claim. Not to pick up any extra bags, but to meet Zeke.

He was going to be the one to pick us up. Surprisingly, he wasn't alone.

"Grampa!" Noah took off running. Grampa stood beside Zeke, looking older than the last time we saw him during summer time.