Page 48 of The Battery
I pursed my lips together and shook my head. “You’re skipping too many meals. You need to keep your strength up.” I felt the slow spiral of anger force my vision into a long, red tunnel. “Eat.”
“Leonidas,” he spoke, like the authority he was in my youth, the one I fought so hard against in all my misplaced rage. “Don’t ruin the meal.”
I shoved my chair back. I couldn’t direct anger at him. I had to place it elsewhere. “If you’re not gonnafuckin’eat…”
I was through the archway and into the kitchen where I made an abrupt right turn into the hallway. I didn’t want to go outsideso I sought the privacy of the living room off of the foyer. But I came to a sudden stop.
“No, no, Cody, don’t go after him,” I heard my uncle say. Then the rubber-footed scooting of Cody’s chair. “You gotta let him go when he gets like that.”
The shame of eavesdropping—in my own home—did not eclipse my curiosity. I stayed in the hallway.
“Trust me,” Uncle Andy continued, “you stop him from walking away like that and he will unleash verbalhellon you.”
“Ah. Yes. I’ve been on the receiving end of that once.”
I swallowed and felt my chest cave in. I squeezed my eyes shut and dropped my head.Damn it.
“Nasty, ain’t it?” No response from Cody, but I could picture him looking sad and shaking his head. If Uncle Andy knew my exact words to Cody that night, he would have rained his own kind of hell on me. “Has he apologized yet?”
A snort from Cody. “No. Definitely not.”
“That’s a shame. He will, kid, all right? He will.” I heard a throaty chuckle bubble out of my uncle. “He’s like a continuum, yeah? Space and time. That’s what he needs.”
“I’m not very patient, unfortunately.”
“Yeah, butheis,” my uncle said. “There’s some good complements there. Look, Cody, he’ll come around. I promise you. And my family doesn’t make promises lightly, okay? It’s a very serious thing when we say that. So I—hey, look at me when I’m saying this—I promise you that Leo will come around. All right?”
“Yessir.”
“Well, all right. Help me up, now. I’m worn out. How’s the food?”
“It’s good, sir.”
“Good. Still can’t believe my nephew made it far enough in life that he has a personalchef.”
I heard the shuffling of the walker. I knew I should go to help but a voice inside said that it was a good thing Cody was experiencing this without me. A piece of me existed, that I kept tucked away from him, that he should see.
This is one of my crosses. To understand me, you need to understand my burdens.
Later, Cody found me in the living room. I was sitting on the couch, leaning forward with my elbows braced against my knees.
He didn’t say anything as he sat beside me.
So I put my arm around him and leaned back into the couch with him. He reached up and held my hand that was draped around him.
No words were spoken. None needed.
Cody dropped his head onto my shoulder, and I leaned mine atop his.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Cody
Third and finalgame with the Brawlers. We won the first, lost the second, and now at the bottom of the sixth, we were tied, two and two. Leo had played exceptionally against his old team and I wanted to join him in the dugout after every inning during the first two games. I kept my distance, though I did pop over from time to time to give him words of encouragement. Classic Spartan that he was, he only regarded me with that cool gaze of his and nodded. Though admittedly I detected the hint of a twinkle in those greens when I appeared. I could have been making that up, but after spending the All-Star Break with him, I felt I understood him better.
Game three started at 10am, earlier than usual. Afterward, we’d hop on a flight to Ottawa for two games against the Diamonds. I wouldn’t be playing those, so I put as much effort as I could into this one against the Brawlers. My goal this time around was to demonstrate my ability to remain levelheaded, even in the face of Quinn, King Dickwad.
I had learned to compartmentalize. The trick wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. Standing on the mound, after our requisite fist bump, I could toggle between one view of Leo and another. Almost like those fancy military goggles I saw on a documentary that switch between night vision and thermal imaging. In one view, I saw Leo for the calm, collected, fierce competitor behind whom I could throw all my trust. On the other, the recalcitrant but hurting man whose stymied emotions caused irrational anger at himself for events beyond his control.The latter would not do while we played. In quiet moments alone, absolutely.
