Page 2 of Once Upon A Wish
“I’ll talk to the owners and see what kind of deal I can get you. I assume you don’t want to be benched, right?”
“Exactly. What’s the point of sitting and watching? It would kill me. I don’t want to do that ever again.”
“Then we’ll try to get you paid out, and you can walk away. But promise me that you’ll think about the offers we’ll get. Commercials and print aren’t the type of money you walk away from, you know.”
“Yeah… I just have to… Can we talk about this later?”
“You promise to think about it?”
“Sure. But now, I have to go home and start packing. Sorry, but I have to do this, even if I don’t really want to. Going home with all of this hanging over me just… Well, it doesn’t feel right.”
“Oh, yeah… The high school coach thing. When’s the last time you’ve gone back home?”
“It’s been a… three years. My mom is thrilled, but… Going back home has a lot of…”
“Baggage? It always does, my friend. It always does.”
“You really are a fucking poet, Dan.”
I stopped in front of my Maserati and held my head low. This wouldn’t be my last time coming to the ballpark – but it was the last time I would leave it belonging to something bigger. Being part of a team had always been the lifeblood – the iron in my spine – that camaraderie between brothers had been a touchstone since I was old enough to hold a bat in little league. It was over.
“When you come back, Jax, we can deal with all of this. I’ll let you know when I hear back from the owners. Until then, try to enjoy some down time, and don’t dwell on this. Your life isn’t over, kiddo – it’s just beginning.”
“A new chapter, huh?” I opened my door and pushed down the urge to slam it as hard as I could. “I’m not good at… not knowing, Dan. I’ve had my future planned for so long that now I…”
“Dude… Just go home, and I’ll take care of the rest.”
I shut my door and drove as fast as I could. There wasn’t a reason to be careful any longer.
2
KENNY
“Only one more week, and we’re finally off.” Dan Martindale practically bellowed as he walked into the teacher’s lounge. He got on my nerves. Dan had been teaching at Hardin High for almost twenty years, and when I was his student – I hated him with a passion. Not much had changed except for the fact that we were now colleagues.
“Dan? I have a headache.” Ms. Jenkins shot him a look from the couch that would make most people deflate. Dan just smiled and laughed.
“End of the year tests are not for the faint of heart.”
“Says the person who doesn’t have over two hundred papers to read and grade.” Ms. Jenkins taught English, and she had always been one of my favorite teachers, even if she was a bit prickly. She was well past retirement age, and when she eventually left or died, this school would not be the same. It was already changing quite a bit. I had walked these halls as a student myself and had only graduated six years ago. Most of the staff were the same, but they were all older and on the verge of finally getting their freedom.
This was my first year as a teacher, and it had been incredibly challenging. Not to mention that my dad was the head coach here. Well… that was already changing. Dad had been the head coach at Hardin High since before I was born. He was an institution around here, and the town was already spinning with the loss of him. He wanted to retire at the end of the last spring semester, but the principal talked him into extending his time to get them through one more fall season.
In Hardin, baseball wasn’t just a sport – it was a way of life. Hardin had won ten of the last twenty state championships, and that was almost unheard of. It was all dad. Growing up with a celebrity for a father was complicated. We couldn’t go anywhere in town without people coming over to talk to him about the team and their chances of winning state once again.
I used to feel bad about my lack of athletic ability. It sucked when your father was the head coach, and everyone expected you to be a part of his accomplishments. I preferred numbers. Numbers didn’t strike out like I always did in little league. Numbers didn’t let a ball slide between their legs and make you lose the little league championship. Numbers were exact and perfect. Baseball was messy and full of fouls.
Dad didn’t even blink when I told him that I didn’t want to play sports anymore. He just nodded and asked what it was I wanted to do. I became a mathlete, and by the time I was a sophomore – I was team captain. I still went to all of dad’s games, but having that release of living in my father’s footsteps was gone. I made my own way – in my own way at this school. Dad even came to as many of our events as he could. I knew he was busy, but whenever he was there, it made my heart soar.
“Where’s Harry?” Principal Woodenhall stuck his head in the door and looked around.
“I think he’s in his office.” I swallowed my very dry sandwich. I had run out of mayo and mustard, and honestly, the turkey was past its expiration date. I really needed to go to the store, but after work, all I wanted was to go home and play video games. Being a teacher was exhausting. I hoped I hadn’t been such a little shit when I was a student.
“Kenny? It might be good for you to come with me if you don’t mind. We need to go over Friday’s event. You’re still helping out, aren’t you?”
“Did I have a choice?” I chuckled. I stood up and threw the rest of my lunch in the trashcan. My friend Lisa waved at me from the other side of our table.
“It means a lot to your dad for you to be the chair of his retirement party. I don’t know how we’re going to replace him.” Principal Woodenhall - who now told me to call him Ben, slapped me on the back as the door to the teacher’s lounge shut behind me. “I’ve got some big news that I wanted to share with you. I think that Harry’s gonna be very excited over it, too.”
