162 Planning (1/2)

The soup plantation was heaven. Or at least as close as I could get without dying. I was able to try every soup, including ones I've never had before. The adults talked about having Mr. Duncan and Dr. Moore over for dinner in order to talk about Sunday night's game plan with meeting with the school board. The twins talked about pitching techniques. Noah was attempting to bargain with Zeke, trying get this afternoon practice either postponed or totally cancelled. I happily enjoyed the atmosphere around the family, satisfied with the food.

After lunch, Mr. and Mrs. Atkins headed home, while us boys went straight to the park. Zeke took us to the same park as before a couple weeks ago. We placed our bags down, and got out the necessary gear, then began to warmup.

After sufficiently stretching and warming up the muscles, we got into position. Or at least, Noah and I did. Zeke took a small bucket of baseballs, a bat, and stood near home plate. He declared the twins as stand ins. One was to be the first baseman, and the other had to be the runner so we could properly work on turning double plays.

Then we started to practice. Zeke would take turns hitting grounders to me and Noah in order to keep us on our toes. The twins had to take turns being the runner, since they would get tired after 15 or so sprints. I really got the hang of fielding the ball quickly to Noah as he stood on second, then he would throw to first. Even after a collision with Kyle, noah popped up without a problem and just kicked dirt at his brother, laughing.

The hard part came when it was Noah's turn to throw to me, and I was to throw to first. I didn't realize how awkward I was before when throwing from second to first. After a few, I was able to find good positioning so I didn't have to turn at weird angles to get the ball to first.

”You're looking much more natural.” Noah complimented at the end of it all, as we packed up our bags. ”It's hard to believe that you haven't played real baseball. Your talent is on par with Zeke's.”

I glanced at Zeke, who was already heading to the family car. ”I don't know about that. He's really tall and can hit homers. I struggle getting the ball to the outfield.” I looked back at Noah. ”You guys are all naturally tall so that would help with your baseball potential.”

Noah nodded, then he looked unsure. ”Can I ask how tall your mom is?”

I froze for a second.

”It's okay if you don't want to talk about her. I just figured you can predict your final height when looking at your parents.” Noah explained.

”It's fine.” I told him. Then held my hand up just a little above his 5'6”. ”She's a bit taller than you. Maybe and inch or two.”

”5'7” to 5'8”? That's pretty tall for a woman.”

I snorted. ”Your mom is six foot.”

Noah laughed. ”Yea. We got pretty good genes. But you know, as long as your dad is taller than your mom, you should be at least her height!”

I laughed. ”Genes don't always work like that. I could have all recessive genes and be this short for the rest of my life.”

Noah narrowed his eyes. ”So being short would be a recessive gene for you? You know how tall your dad is?”

I swallowed hard. Then looked around to make sure Zeke and the twins weren't close enough to hear. ”It's been years. I was really little when he left. Three or four. It's a vague memory. But he was taller than my mom for sure.”

Noah patted my shoulder. ”Don't worry, I won't let anyone take you away. Especially not someone who had left you before.” I sighed with relief. ”Hey...do you ever wonder why he left you though? Was your mom not crazy back then?”