"Teammates, The Universal Bond"
by Bob Weissman
Copyright ©2001
ISBN: 0-87714-718-3 eBook edition
ISBN: 0-87714-475-3 PB edition
All rights reserved by Denlinger's Publishers, including the right to reproduce this electronic book, or portions thereof, in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
THE AUTHOR
Bob Weissman was born and raised in the New York City area. His interest in sports goes back to his days playing sandlot baseball and watching the Mets, Yankees, Jets and Giants. After college, Bob spent ten years in the Army as a communication officer. In the service, he played on and coached numerous sports teams, including coaching a group of women officers to a post flag football championship. His interest in girls athletics intensified while coaching many of his daughter's youth sports teams.
Bob, author of Katie, The Square Shouldered Girl, works today as a marketing executive for a fortune 100 company, and lives with his family less than a ten-minute drive from the beautiful Potomac River, in suburban Maryland.
THE BOOK
Hi! My name is Katie Calhoun and you might remember me from the book, Katie The Square Shouldered Girl. Unlike last year, I am no longer the outsider in my own school. I am now the star pitcher on our softball team, and one of Pickering Academy's most popular girls. But my perfect world doesn't stay perfect for very long. Arriving at Pickering is a spoiled rotten, angry young lady, who is determined to make all our lives miserable. But to make matters worse, our principal and softball coach comes up with a plan to straighten out this horror, and it involves all the members of my family. Join my friends and me as we learn the real importance of families. That no matter how tough our problems appear, when people work as a team they can overcome anything. How your teammates are more than just your friends, but your extended family. That being a teammate is a bond that never breaks, and only strengthens with each challenge.
Introduction
Katie was sitting in the back of the station wagon, mindlessly staring into space. Her father Jeff was driving the family home after their vacation at Jeckyl Island, Georgia. It was the first time Katie had been back in Georgia, since they moved last year to Potomac, Maryland. Seeing the tall pine trees with the hanging Spanish moss made her happy and sad at the same time. Katie missed the South. Savannah was her real home, and she missed it terribly. Maryland was great, an underrated state, and she loved her life in Potomac. Her friends, her school and her house were terrific, but they could not totally replace her sweet Georgia memories. Katie loved hearing the familiar southern accents, being able to order grits and hush puppies in any restaurant, and watching the world go by at a slower pace. Katie loved Coastal Georgia, but mostly she loved remembering when her family was not scattered by activities and distance. Summer vacation was great except for how little Katie saw of her beloved big brother. Rory, sleeping next to her, and taking up more than his share of the back seat, played summer league baseball in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He changed a lot over the summer, becoming manlier. He had to shave every day and went from a tall skinny kid into a real hunk. Rory's changes were not only in the way he looked, but also what he was looking for. Playing catch or boogie boarding with his sister was secondary to his interest in the girls on the beach. Katie knew their relationship was changed forever and this upset her. Her dad also seemed different to Katie. For the first time Katie noticed how poorly he dressed. How unhip he was, and how little he knew about what was going on in the world. I can't believe that he never even heard of the Spice Girls, she thought. Katie was really happy about the fact that he was running every day. Her bookworm father, became a workout fanatic, after a health scare last spring. The old couch potato was running ten-mile road races and reading about carbo-loading! I just wish he would let up about rap music. He won't even let me buy CDs, with my own money, she thought. At least Mom hadn't changed. She was still the same lady who can do anything. Of course I can't tell her that, my image.
Katie also changed this summer, growing four inches and not gained an ounce. She started to be a little self conscious about her body. She noticed that guys on the beach were watching her. That never happened before, and it made her both uneasy and excited. No boy other than JP had every noticed her. She thought about her friend's brother, JP, and the time they spent together this summer, at his pool with her best friend Sydney. Katie thought about the nights the whole family spent fishing off the dock, and wondered if life would ever be the same. They sat around a bonfire, laughed and joked, like the old days in Savannah.
Jeff was driving up the boring piece of road known as Interstate 95, passing the endless amount of stupid road signs for some place "south of the border". "I bet the kids wish we were flying instead of driving today, huh Lily?" Jeff stated.
"There is nothing in this world more boring than the drive from Georgia to North Carolina," answered Lily. "Who writes these stupid road signs, and why would anyone visit a place that advertises for 100 miles in all directions?"
"Well, at least the kids are asleep," Jeff said.
"I am not!" retorted Katie.
"I am sorry Katie, I didn't know you were awake," responded Jeff.
"That's Ok, Rory doesn't even know I'm alive. He totally ignores me," Katie snapped.
"Honey, didn't you have a good time at the beach?" asked Lily.
"It was OK. Mom does he have to go to that school in Maine? Don't they play baseball in Maryland?" Katie asked. Rory was a top-notch amateur pitcher. Drafted in the third round by the Colorado Rockies, he wanted to skip college and play pro ball. The entire family, with the help of Katie's principal, talked him out of signing with the Rockies and playing college baseball.
"Katie at least he is going to College! Had he signed that pro contract, he would be out riding buses in the minor leagues. That would have been worse!" Answered Jeff.
"I don't care! He's leaving and he's been gone all summer!" She snapped. She then pulled on her headphones and turned up the volume on her CD player so loud, that her parents could hear the music.
Lily looked at Jeff and laughed. "Well this week will certainly be entertaining."
At that moment Rory woke up from his slumber. "Hey Dad, I'm starving. When are we going to stop and get something to eat?" He asked.
"All you think about is your stomach," Katie yelled with the headphones still on her head.
"Hey, what's eating you? You've been pissed at me for days. What did I do?" asked Rory.
"You're leaving me and you don't care! I am becoming an only child, and you can't take you mind off the bikinis at the beach!" Katie screamed at her brother.
As the kids fought at an ever increasing volume, both parents smiled and thought the same thing. My goodness, the kids are growing up awfully fast. Jeff decided that before world war three started in the car, he would head for the nearest roadside restaurant and feed the beasts.
"Jeff, do you ever wonder what life would have been like without children?" asked Lily.
"Boring, very boring," responded Jeff pulling into a restaurant that advertised food, hot and quick.
Later that evening, after two more stops, five fights, and an endless amount of bickering, Jeff Calhoun pulled into their two car garage. He started to wake his family from their long sleep, but decided to leave them alone and enjoy the moment. Jeff was the only person awake the last two hundred miles. That gave him a chance to just relax and listen to a newly acquired passion, talk radio. This trip was critical to his family, he thought. He realized that their family vacations would never be the same. Rory had become a man and Katie was growing up. She would have to learn to live without her big brother. Lily, whose life has been centered on both kids, would also have to adjust. The Calhoun family was permanently altered, and he hoped that the week in their native Georgia, would smooth out the bumps.
All summer they had been running in different directions. Katie's swimming took up every weekend. They never had so many swim meets in Georgia, and for the first time, Katie lost consistently. Maryland has some of the finest swimmers in the world, and between summer league and long course, she was always wet, eating or heading into a shower. Rory playing in the Cape Cod league was rough on her. She wanted her brother to herself and the decision to have Rory play ball all summer in New England was difficult. However hard it was on Katie, Jeff knew it was the right decision. All his speeches about college, instead of pro baseball, did little to convince Rory to go to school. But in the first week, the players in that league convinced him that his parents, Katie, and her old principal were right. "Rory, there is always someone better than you; it's like peeling an onion. You can only be the best in the world, for a very short time. So take your time getting there," stated Mr. Wilson. Katie school principal and softball coach. For the first time Rory pitched against people almost as good as him, proving Mr. Wilson right. The night after his first start, he called his dad and asked if the scholarship to Maine was still available. Without question, Jeff never had a better phone call. Lily woke up and looked at Jeff sitting quietly behind the wheel, and wondered what was going on. "How long have we been sitting in the garage?" she asked.
"About ten minutes. I was enjoying the quiet," he replied.
"Well, time to unload. Did you have a good trip?" Lily asked.
"You know it is a shame the kids have to grow up, and we have to grow old," Jeff replied.
"Speak for yourself Mr. Calhoun. I am aging like fine wine! Now move your butt, and let's get these kids unpacked."
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