A Trade For Good (16 page)

“Nope,” he said and quickly planted
his butt on the cold aluminum seat.

“This okay with you Melle?” Sera asked
her second child who was looking around and fidgeting.

“Mommy, umm,” Melle twisted her hair
with her finger, “is it alright if I go sit over there?” she asked
pointing, “I just saw Tiff, with her mom and dad.”

Sera smiled, knowing Melle would be
bored to tears staying with them, and P.D.’s plans obviously, were
to sulk and make it miserable for everyone. “Sure baby, I’ll be
here if you need me. Remember,” Sera added waving a finger to her
daughter, “buddy system. You don’t go anywhere without telling
someone or without a buddy. No bathroom visits without a friend.
Got it?”

“Yes mommy, I know that.
You tell me
every
time…” Melle put a lot of emphasis on the word
‘every’.

“Okay, good to know you’ve been
listening. So go now!” She pushed her daughter away and sat down
next to P.D..

P.D. scooted a foot away from his mom
and continued texting or doing whatever he was doing when Sera and
Melle were talking.

Sera looked around and tried not to
feel sorry for herself. Wait until all four are teens! P.D.
couldn’t get far enough away, and Melle was cheerfully running off
to someone else’s family, who were a lot more entertaining than her
own. Charlie was in the dugout somewhere, and Emma… well, it was
better to leave Emma be.

Sera scanned the area and hoped she’d
be able to see Charlie from where she was sitting. It was obvious
Peter had no desire to be with others and was hating every minute
of this family outing. She had to tread carefully with him. He was
at a super tough age, and tough things happened at the worst
possible time for him. Deb was right, she should consider therapy
for him, but even broaching the subject now was risky business. He
hated his dad, but her relationship with him was also turning
fragile.

Sera saw two guys coming her way and
hoped they didn’t ask her to join them. Now that they were closer,
she saw that one of them was the guy she had tried to avoid
earlier. Today was continuing to suck.

“Hi again,” Brian said, “You remember
Randy, don’t you?”

“Sure. Hi Randy.”

“Mind if we sit?” Randy
asked.

“Well, uh,” Sera answered as P.D. shot
her a ‘don’t even think of it’ look. She wished she could shoot
something back that said ‘I am with you kid on this one’, but gave
a lame “Okay,” instead.

The men sat on either side of her
making P.D. have to move again, but this time it was not by
choice.

“This is my son, uh…
Daniel.
” She had
hesitated, but got it right. No use alienating P.D. any more by
using his deadbeat dad’s name.

Brian laughed, but didn’t even say hi
to Peter. “What, too many kids to remember their names?”

Not worth a response, Sera thought, so
instead, “When are they starting to play?” she asked both or none
of the two jerks on either side.

“They were waiting for someone, but I
think they’re about to start.”

“Good, this is exciting,” Sera smiled,
“their first game! I hope they don’t keep score though so they can
all win.”

“Well where’s the fun then? They got
to learn sometime?” Brian answered.

“Yes, but they’re four and five year
olds. They should just have fun.” Sera hated competition for kids.
It seemed it was more for the parent’s sake than for the
kids.

Case in point, Randy answered, “If
they don’t keep score, how will they know who won?”

Oh, he must be the bright one of the
two…

“
That’s the whole point, it
doesn’t really matter if they are learning and just have fun.” They
were harder to talk to than her four kids, including Emma who
didn’t talk.

“I want them to keep score
so everyone will know
my
son is the one who beat all their butts!” Brian
laughed and elbowed P.D., who moved another foot away from
them.

“What sport do you play, sport?” Randy
asked a very uninterested P.D..

“I don’t,” P.D. answered and went back
to his iPhone.

“Single mom is gonna make a pansy out
of you!” Both men guffawed.

Sera sat upright when she heard
‘single mom’. What had they heard? Is that why they were here? This
was a game she wasn’t willing to play. Besides, how dare they talk
to P.D. that way? The poor kid turned bright red and dug his head
deeper into his phone.

“Pansy? I’m sorry; I
thought I heard you call my son a
pansy
.” Sera was having a really hard
time staying in her seat and not hitting someone.

“Well, if you keep standing up for
him, he’ll be a queer someday too!” Brian laughed.

“P.D., let’s go sit over there,” Sera
pointed to the general direction of anywhere but here. “This area
is starting to smell. Doubt it’s the bathrooms, they’re on the
other side.” P.D. got up, grabbed the cooler, and smiled at his
mother before looking at the guys who were still sitting down and
adding, “Eww mom, it does stink here.”

“I thought she said his name was
Daniel,” they laughed, “so it’s true she doesn’t even know her kids
names. Pops them out too fast to remember!”

Sera and P.D. couldn’t get away fast
enough. They walked past where Melle was sitting, and Sera pointed
to where she was heading. Melle waved her away instead of over.
Interesting. So all was settled, off they went to find new
seats.

Sera saw that P.D. was steaming. He
had heard the entire exchange and that last bit about popping kids
out; not something a thirteen year old wants to even think about,
especially when they’re talking about his mother. Sera looked at
him and said, “You want to talk about assholes? Those two are more
like ass craters!” P.D. smiled and his pace quickened; he almost
skipped at that one.

They were halfway down to
an empty spot with other families when Sera heard her name being
called out. It was a man’s voice she didn’t identify at first, and
thought
great… another one!
She was just about to turn the other way when she
heard her name again. Shielding her eyes with her hand to see where
the voice was coming from, Sera saw it was Mitch, sitting on the
bleachers with Trish and a couple of kids.

Sera beamed. Mitch was like an oasis
right now. What were they doing here?

Mitch and Trish waved them over and
then Mitch ran down to help Sera with Emma. They left the cooler
down near the field, and Mitch turned to P.D. to introduce
himself.

”Hi, I’m Mitch. I work with your mom.
Would you like to join us?”

Mitch hadn’t even glanced at Sera when
he asked, and Sera loved it. She loved Mitch! What a great guy. She
almost threw her arms around him to thank him, but that would have
been just weird.

Trish helped pull a sleeping Emma out
– still in her carrier – by unsnapping the carrier from the
stroller. Trish looked up at Sera and mouthed ‘She’s
gorgeous!’

Trish looked over to Mitch and pointed
to Emma, “I want one of these!” she squealed.

Sera laughed and told them both,
“Watch what you ask for,” and P.D. laughed.

Sera went on to do the introductions
of Daniel and Emma, and explained Melle was sitting with a
friend.

Trish introduced her eight
and twelve year old daughters. The girls were just as stunning as
their mother was, and
tall…
The oldest looked like she could be fifteen or
sixteen, and was absolutely beautiful.

Sera saw that P.D. had also noticed,
because he put his phone away in his pocket and was very cool about
it all. Pansy, my ass!

The game had just started and they all
quickly shifted their attention to the field. Trish pointed to her
son, Austin, and Sera pointed to Charlie, who was sitting on a
bench with the two kids he had been told to stand next to when they
arrived.

It was funny to watch the kids. There
were so many errors, a few tantrums, a couple of minor injuries,
and random tears. However, it would have been a lot more fun had
Charlie been playing.

Sera turned to Trish and asked, “Do
they make sure all of the kids play in every game?”

Trish looked at Sera suddenly
realizing Charlie had been sitting out the entire time, “They’re
supposed to. Our coach makes sure they all go out or he gets hell
from us parents. Has Charlie played before?”

“No, this is his first season and
first game. The coach thinks I’m invisible. I’ve tried to ask how
Charlie’s doing, but…”

“Mitch,” Trish put her hand on her
husband’s knee and squeezed, “go to the dugout and see what’s up
with Charlie and why he’s not playing.”

Sera looked uncomfortably over at
Mitch who also looked a little uncomfortable.

Mitch got up to leave and Trish
explained, “If you haven’t noticed, this is a man’s world. That’s
why there are wars and famine. If we ruled, we would be hugging and
apologizing even if we didn’t do anything, and we’d be sharing a
big table with food for anyone who was hungry. If you go to the
dugout, they will ignore you and piss you off. If Mitch goes, they
might actually listen. It sucks, but that’s the way it
is.”

“Don’t you go giving my employee any
women’s lib ideas now!”

Sera turned and saw Jeff sit down next
to her. She flushed, and it suddenly started getting warmer in the
sun.

“I… uh… I didn’t know you were coming.
You didn’t say…”

Jeff smiled, “I don’t have to tell you
everything, but you should have told me.”

Sera laughed at him,
“Really?”

Jeff leaned over to give his sister
and the two girls a kiss, raised his hands defensively when he saw
Emma, and said, “Hey Daniel. How’s it going?”

P.D. had been talking to Jeff’s niece
and turned a light shade of pink. Jeff winked at him and turned to
his sister, “Where’s your man?”

“Talking some sense into Charlie’s
coach.” Trish answered.

“Oh,” Jeff looked confused. Then he
turned to Sera and asked, “Has he been sitting it out?”

“Yes, but not sure if he’ll be calling
him in. This is Charlie’s first game. Not sure how it
works.”

“Who’s the coach?”

Sera thought for a second and said
they call him Coach Mike, I think his name is Michael Casey.” Trish
and Jeff exchanged a look Sera could not figure out.

“What?!” Sera looked from one to the
other very confused.

“Let’s just say he shouldn’t be
coaching four and five year olds.” Trish said. “We had him for the
two older girls for a short time and we hated him. If you weren’t
really good, he’d bench you.” Trish realized what she said, and
added “Sorry.”

“Hey Daniel,” Jeff called out, “do you
want to take a walk with me to check on Charlie?”

P.D. hesitated, looked at the pretty
girl next to him, and decided going to check on his younger brother
might earn him some points. “Sure, be right back.” He told the girl
who had already pulled out her iPod.

When Jeff and P.D. got there, Mitch
was on his knees giving Charlie some pointers. It looked like
Charlie was about to go play.

“Hey Charlie, how are you doing? Don’t
you look sharp in that uniform,” Jeff told a very happy
Charlie.

“P.D., they’re gonna let me pway,”
Charlie beamed. “Coach said there wasn’t woom before, but he made
woom for me now.”

P.D. looked up at Mitch and then to
his brother, “That’s great squirt. The game will finally get
interesting now.”

The coach called out to Charlie and
made no eye contact with Mitch or Jeff. At least Charlie would
play.

The three ‘men’ walked back to the
bleachers to some very proud and happy women.

Sera was the first to speak, “Thank
you so, so much. I had no idea how this worked Mitch, but Trish
explained this stupid man code thing, so I’m glad you went to
talk.”

Mitch looked at his wife smiling and
said, “I bet she did. Anyway, the coach said it somehow got past
him…”

“I bet it did…” Trish rolled her
eyes.

As predicted by P.D., the game did get
more interesting. Charlie was awful, and the coach and a few other
dads were not happy. Poor Charlie! The good thing was that Charlie
was having fun and didn’t seem to notice or care how bad he
was.

It was half time, so Sera brought out
the juice boxes and snacks for the kids. She was handing them out
when Randy came up to her and asked, “Who taught your son to play?
You or your baby daughter?”

Sera’s head snapped up and she was
about to say something when Jeff replied, “I did.”

Jeff towered over Randy who was
probably only 5’6 or 5’7. He looked a tad bit intimidating and the
look he gave Randy was even worse.

“Oh, well I hope you keep teaching
him, cause he’s got a lot to learn.” Randy turned to leave, but
Jeff stopped him.