| Racers Page 2 Two years later, Brian again won the go-kart race. Pete finished second, which was a moral victory for him. I�d spun out on a turn and almost got hit by Matt when I got out of the car. Some dumpy kid, about twelve, appeared on the rise and yelled at me to stay in the car, which is one of the rules listed in big letters at the start. By the time the kid pushed me free I even lost to the guy who had a pre-schooler sitting in his lap and steering. On the ride back to the house we listened to a little of the Red Sox game on the car radio. That summer the Sox had been playing really well and we thought, �This might be the year!��but we think that every year, only to have our hopes beaten down by the time the first cool evenings begin to arrive at the end of August. One of the reasons that we were leery about Matt�s move to Connecticut is that part of that state is Yankee country. I�m not exactly sure where the line is or if anyone has ever tried to map it, but the people of the southwestern corner of Connecticut feel that they share more in common with New York than New England, and nowhere is this more obvious than in the baseball team they choose to root for. Now of all the sins they could commit, there is hardly one that will cast a person in a dimmer light in the eyes of the other 95% of New England than being a Yankees fan. It is tantamount to treason. Blasphemy even! It�s the main reason why those who live in the other five states of the region consider Connecticut to be the black sheep of the family. As we turned onto Matt�s street, Brian mentioned that he had a softball and a couple of gloves in his trunk, and I immediately agreed to play catch. With no fences around the yard, there was plenty of space for us to spread out and toss the ball. After a bit, we noticed some of the kids�Matt�s nephew John, his nieces Tina and Laura, and Ellie�watching us, and Brian said, �You guys want to play rundown?� I immediately knew that the term �rundown� would be foreign to the youngsters, except for John, who had played Little League, and even he, I was pretty sure, had never played the game as we had when growing up in the old neighborhood. However, it only took seconds to explain and demonstrate the concept of baserunners moving between two bases and, after finding a couple of Frisbees to use as bases, we began. John, of course, was the boldest of the group. He thought that, because he was the oldest, because he was a boy and because he played baseball, he would be able to steal a base without being tagged out. When I tossed the ball softly, on an arc, John ran. Brian caught it and fired it back in plenty of time for me to make the tag. He was a good sport, though, and we didn�t count how many times anybody was tagged out, so he kept running. The girls were more cautious. They waited for an opportunity to run, so I lofted the ball high over Brian�s head so that he had to jog ten or twelve yards behind the base in order to make the catch. This gave the runners enough time to take one, and sometimes two, bases. Ellie turned out to be a good athlete. She ran well and even slid into the base when the tag was close. My biggest concern was protecting the kids� heads from Brian�s throws. He was firing the ball as if we were on a field and the baserunners were adults. I had to step up to make the catch on a number of occasions when the ball was headed for one of the children�s skulls, and twice the ball flew over my head toward the people sitting by the table and the grill. We played for a while, and then Brian reminded me that we had to get going. We were going to see a band that night back in Boston, so we had to take off early enough so that we had time to drive back and then shower and change. As we prepared to leave, I went over to Ellie, who was now ten years old, and had beautiful dirty blonde semi-curly hair to her shoulders and a sweet smile. I put out my hand and said, �You did a good job running. Take care.� �Thanks,� she said. �Bye.� Two years passed. I ventured to Connecticut again for the 4th. This time I drove with Pete and his girlfriend Lisa. Brian had some kind of family gathering, so he couldn�t join us. We went down and got to Matt�s around noon. Everybody liked Lisa, who was visiting for the first time, especially Ellie, who, at twelve, seemed to be keeping a little distance between herself and the younger kids. She seemed more interested in relating to an example of young womanhood�Lisa was a few years younger than Peter and, with her energy and laughter, projected even younger�than in running around with kids. Pete and I helped with the grilling, and everybody ate well. Around three, I felt the go-kart itch and told Pete. �Ah�well�I don�t know. Brian�s not here. It�s not the same. Maybe we�ll skip this year.� I figured that Pete was thinking he should stay with Lisa, but when she heard our discussion she told him to go. He shrugged. �Oh, why don�t we go?� Ellie said to Lisa. �Me and you.� �You like go-karts?� Lisa asked. �Yeah. Plus they have other things. Batting cages, video games, miniature golf. They�ve added a buncha stuff there.� �Oh, sounds like fun,� Lisa said, turning her head to Pete. Matt was in, and he asked Ellie�s mom Kathy if it was OK for her daughter to come along, and she said fine. Of course, John and Tina and Laura wanted to come. The three cousins hopped into their Uncle Matt�s car, but Ellie insisted on coming with us. Lisa sat in the back with her, while I sat shotgun and went on about what a skilled driver I was and how I was going to win the race. �Men,� Lisa said, and I turned to see her shaking her head. Ellie was laughing. �Men what?� I said. �You two think you have a chance against me? Ha! That�ll be the day�� �Keep talking,� Lisa said. ��that�ll be the day I lose to a woman.� And then I looked at Ellie. �Or to a girl!� They laughed, and Ellie�s eyebrows popped up. She looked like she was blushing a little, too. �Well, I have advice for you,� the girl said. �Don�t sing it, bring it!� We all laughed. The go-kart line was longer than in years past. The new attractions at the site seemed to have the desired effect of boosting attendance. We waited, and I talked trash, and most of the others ignored me, but Ellie laughed and came back with her own boasts. She was pissed when I beat her by half a lap, both of us losing to Pete, who claimed his first-ever victory on that track. Ellie wanted to race again, but the line was even longer and we all said that she should save some money for the other games. |