Chapter Sixteen
The Rivalry Renewed
Not long after the Beans departed Lefty’s Manor, their baseball game began. It was a contest between two rivals: the Green Beans and the Summer Squashes.
Neil, Jack, Sara, and Maria all played for the Green Beans – or the Green Bean Baseball Machine, as they fondly called their team. Their leader, of course, was Neil’s dad, who they all called Coach. Theirs was a merry band of ball players, whose main priorities were fun, friendship, and enjoying the game that they loved.
The Summer Squashes, on the other hand, were widely regarded as a group of amateur villains within the Hollow Oak Baseball League. This was not entirely fair, seeing how as there were many decent children on the team. They were overshadowed, however, by the presence of a dastardly family: the Cragglemeisters.
There was Jebediah, who threw ferocious fastballs, blinding in their velocity, from his place atop the pitcher’s mound. His brother, Cletus, was usually found behind the plate, catching. The both of them were superb baseball players. They were athletic, gifted, and big… real big.
Their size was in part due to the fact that they had each stayed back a year in school (they were not as gifted in brains as they were in brawn, and they lacked the motivation to study particularly hard). But their size was also largely due to the genetics that they had inherited from their father, Jasper the janitor.
When he was not busy sweeping floors or complaining about children, Jasper served as the coach of his sons’ baseball team. He stood in the dugout of the Summer Squashes, swishing and swooshing with his mahogany broom, gathering wayward clumps of dirt and grass. He couldn’t help but clean, even while he was busy shouting instructions to his players.
Jebediah was currently standing atop the pitcher’s mound, snarling and spitting wads of bubblegum about. His brother, Cletus, was hunkered down behind home plate, donned in catcher’s gear that barely fit upon his ogre-like frame.
Oh, those Cragglemeisters… they were a reprehensible clan, and there could be no denying their influence within the Hollow Oak Baseball League.
It was now the bottom of the final inning, and the Beans were mounting a comeback. They were down by two runs, and the bases were loaded. Maria was at first base, Sara was at second, and Neil crouched at third.
Jack was at the plate, preparing to face Jebediah. He dug his cleats into the batter’s box, bent his knees, and reared his arms back with his trusty baseball bat, Excalibur.
The smells of dirt and freshly cut grass filled his nose, as well as the wafting aroma of pizza that was being baked in the Snack Shack, behind the backstop. Of far less pleasant quality was the scent of garlic on Cletus’ breath, and Jack considered lecturing the catcher on the merits of a fine toothbrush.
Jebediah curled his lip and glowered at Jack. He rotated the baseball inside of his glove, and got ready to pitch.
Jack took a deep breath and focused on the task at hand. As he was preparing to bat, he heard a voice call out from the left side of the baseball field, near the dugout of the Beans.
“Swing for the fences, m’boy!”
Recognizing the voice, and startled by the exuberant cheer, Jack turned his attention toward Lefty. His uncle was leaning over the fence that ran along the same side of the field that the Beans’ dugout was on, down the third baseline.
“Uncle Lefty… you made it!” Jack exclaimed.
“Indeed!” Lefty pointed a finger toward the sky, and said, “Now belt that ball into the stratosphere, Jack!”
“Sweet Sassafras!” Jasper cried from the dugout of the Summer Squashes. “What are you doing here, Lefty?”
“Oh, hello there, Jasper!” Lefty called across the field. He waved his hand in friendly salutation, and his lab coat flipped and flapped around him. “Nice to see you, old friend!”
As they observed this exchange, the Beans swapped quizzical glances with one another. Neil looked to his fellow base runners with inquisition in his eyes, but Maria and Sara could only shrug in return.
How could Lefty and Jasper possibly know each other? Why would their lives have intersected, and what was their history? Whatever the case, it seemed that Jasper was particularly upset by Lefty’s presence.
Jasper growled and muttered under his breath, shaking his broom about. “Jebediah!” he shouted toward the pitcher’s mound, before pointing the broom at Jack. “Strike him out. No mistakes!”
As he leaned against the fence, Lefty chuckled softly and spoke in a quiet voice, more to himself than to anyone else. “Ol’ Jasper. You really haven’t changed much, have you?”
Coach called out from the Green Beans’ dugout. “Aw, come on, Jasper. It’s only a game, lighten up, will ya?”
Chief Fresco, who was the lawman of Hollow Oak, and the father of Sara and Maria, was also in the dugout. He had assumed the position of assistant coach, following the departure of Jack’s father, Mr. Murray.
He stood beside Coach, and offered his two cents, as well. “Just have fun, kids!”
“Disregard what they said, son!” Jasper ordered Jebediah. “Don’t listen to them. This isn’t about fun, it’s about winning. Now, strike him out!”
In response to the command, Jebediah nodded gravely. As he continued to work the ball inside of his glove with his bare hand, he took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and wound up for the first pitch.