The Hitting Zone

Mom was instantly in panic mode seeing us outside her hotel door. "What happened? What’s wrong? Why aren’t you in bed?"

Noah squeezed into the room. "Don’t leave us in the hallway, Mom. People will think we’re causing trouble."

"Are you causing trouble?" Dad asked from the far side of the room, sitting with Grampa on the small couch.

Mom let me and Dave in, and closed the door behind us. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "You kids better not have cooked up some random idea or stunt you want to pull."

"Come on, Mom. Stop being so cranky." Dave guided her to a bed and helped her sit down. "When have we ever made you so worried?"

"Every day of your life." Mom sighed. "Okay. Fine. What’s bringing you boys to our room in the middle of the night?"

"It’s not middle of the night yet." Noah defended. "And if anything, we’re your well-behaved sons. Nothing like the one in Arizona, not sending the slightest news our way."

Mom put her hand to her head. "Get to it, Noah James."

"Kyle had his first minor league start tonight!" Noah went to Dad and showed him his phone. "Look! He’s on the mound. K. Atkins. He didn’t even say anything to anyone. Not to me. Not to Dave. Not to Marie."

Dad took his phone to look. Grampa scooted over and leaned in to see too. Mom wasn’t the exception either. She got off the bed and navigated around the room to lean over Dad’s shoulder.

I decided to take a seat on the bed. We might be here awhile. I pulled out my own phone with the intention to look up the same webpage. A glance at Dave told me he was doing the same.

The room was silent as we watched three small screens. K. Atkins on mound, S. Branch at the plate. The calls on the page were simple. Strike. Strike. Ball. In Play (out).

I let out a sigh of relief.

"He had him cornered." Dave groaned.

Noah just shook his head. "Lost out on that strikeout. Should have thrown another borderline pitch."

"The guy could have swung and connected on a pitch outside the zone." I spoke up.

Noah and Dave nitpicked every pitch and out. Which honestly were minor complaints compared to when Kyle gave up a hit. And another.

"Jesus. Is he even trying?" Noah flopped onto the bed dramatically.

"He’s tiring out. I just know it." Dave shook his head, disappointed. "I told him, his stamina isn’t the same even if he only took a couple weeks off. You go from three hours a day of baseball to three in one week? Yea, you ain’t ready.

"He hasn’t given up a run yet…?" I sounded unsure as I tried to defend him again.

"That’s his only saving grace." Dave muttered.

"It’s hard to tell if you guys are being supportive or combative." Dad sighed.

"I don’t think they’d be so upset if they knew he was pitching beforehand." Grampa pointed out. He yawned before going on. "I also would like to know what he was thinking. Are we the type to keep secrets?"

"We’ll definitely ask what the situation was." Mom said. "Even if we can’t physically watch his games or even see him on a screen, I would like him to keep us up to date with his life. What if he got hurt and we didn’t even know he was playing? I’ll have to talk to him again about sending us daily updates. Even if it’s just what he had to eat for lunch that day."

"I bet if Kyle got hurt, we would never hear the end of it." Noah rolled his eyes. He pushed himself up to a sitting position.

"Better than being the one hurt and never hearing the end of it." Dave said. "I swear, it’s like salt in a wound. I’m too scared to even sprain my ankle. Thankfully, I haven’t had something serious like Tommy John."

"I’m sure nobody would make fun of you if you needed something so serious." Dad assured him.

Noah smirked.

Dave pointed at him. "I just know this brat would have something to say."

"Better take care of your arms then." Noah shrugged, still smiling.

"You didn’t treat Rhys like this." Dave huffed.

"I didn’t know if he’d be okay." Noah explained. "Now that he’s back and better than ever, I don’t have to take it so seriously."

"Double standards."

"Rhys didn’t bully me as a kid."

Dave and Noah kept up the commentary into the late night as we waited for Kyle’s game to end. Kyle got pulled after six innings. He gave up four hits, including a big one for a solo home run. Four strikeouts, no walks. He didn’t get the win though because his team’s offense also scored only one run. They ended up losing in extra innings.

"How long do we give him before calling?" Noah asked, looking to Mom.

Mom looked to Dad. "An hour? Enough time to meet with his coaches and shower?"

Dad checked the time. "It’s 12:30am now, so how about just half an hour?"

"Daddddd." Noah groaned.

"You boys go back to your room at 1am. We either hear from him or we’ll reach out in the morning." Dad said.

"Can I just send him a text now? See if he’s busy?" Noah asked.

"Are you going to send something rude?" Mom asked, squinting.

"I’ll send ’good game’ with a thumbs up emoji." Noah said.

"I think it’s better if I do it." Dave said. "It won’t come off so condescending."

"You’re just as bad." Mom told him before looking to me. "Why don’t you give it a try, Jake?"

I fiddled with my phone as I debated whether to tell them what I had done over half an hour ago. "Well. Actually. I sent him a congratulatory text as soon as he got pulled from the game." I opened the chat with him. "He hasn’t replied."

Just as I said that, my phone rang. Kyle. I clicked answer and put him on speaker. "You called."

Kyle laughed. "Yea, especially when I saw that you’re still awake. You with the other two?"

"We’re all here!" Noah hollered as he hopped onto the bed. "Mom. Dad. Even Grampa is still awake."

"Not for much longer." Grampa grumbled with closed eyes.

"Why are you all together? Isn’t it almost 1am there?" Kyle sounded confused.

"We couldn’t miss it even if you almost made us." Noah said into the phone as I held it up. "I did miss the first inning, but I stand by the fact that it’s your fault."

"It’s not like I did it intentionally." Kyle sounded irritated as we heard a car door closing in the background. "The manager asked me an hour before game time to do a spot start."

"Spot start?" Dave asked. "You? Isn’t that more so when you want a relief guy to start before the main one does the bulk of the innings?"

"Exactly." Kyle answered. "You know that wouldn’t fly for me. I said let me start for real." The car started in the background.

"Kyle, you better not take this phone call on the road." Mom interrupted.

"I switched to bluetooth, Mom, it’s fine." Kyle said. "I’m starving and need to find something that’s still open."

"You didn’t eat before the game?" Mom switched moods real quick.

"My stomach couldn’t handle it." Kyle explained. "As soon as I knew I was pitching, I didn’t eat at all. Scared I was going to throw up."

"Such a Jake move." Dave laughed.

I pushed him with a hand. "Hey."

"I definitely relate to Jake’s jitters now." Kyle said. "Next time shouldn’t be so bad. I’ll have proper notice."

"Yea, you shouldn’t have stressed yourself out like that." Noah jumped back in the conversation. "We saw you had a few guys cornered at two strikes and just couldn’t finish them off."

"This isn’t high school anymore, Noah." Kyle sounded annoyed. "I played against anyone from 18-25. Guys who played four more years than me in a competitive college level."

"You didn’t do half bad, man." Dave tried to comfort him. "Short notice and still did a full start. Next time will be even better. Put this one behind you."

"You did well." Mom corrected Dave’s assessment. "We’re very proud and happy for you. We’ll let you go get yourself some food. Have a good rest and we’ll talk tomorrow."

Noah cleared his throat. "You might want to send Marie a text or give her a call. I think she stayed up to watch you too."

"Yea, I have a text from her. And Rhys." He sighed. "I think I’m just going to a Taco Bell drive thru."

We said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone.

"I’m surprised you didn’t say anything about his dinner choices, Mom." Noah laughed. "I just know you would be all over me if I had said fast food for dinner after a game."

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"Kyle has self-control." Mom said…but not very confidently. "And it’s just an exception. Not his norm. He had a long day, I’m sure." She glanced at Dad.

Dad got up from the couch. "It’s not even been a week. We can cut him some slack. When we talk tomorrow, I’ll ask about his eating habits and schedule. Just to gauge if we have to do some coaching on nutrition."

"He can probably afford a nutritionist with his bonus." Noah scoffed.

"But can he afford a private chef?" Dave asked. "Maybe he needs a home delivery meal plan service."

"That’s an idea." Mom nodded, liking the sound of that. "We could also order him some fruit, straight to his door." She picked up her phone and started to tap. "I’ll place an order from his local grocery store. Wayne, get me his address."

We left their room as Mom started to shop for Kyle from her phone. Dad was right there beside her to help. Grampa looked like he had already fallen asleep on the couch.