The Perils of Travelball

It's a beautiful crisp June morning here in the city as birds begin their daily chant and street cleaners finish their early rounds. School has mercifully come to a close as the halls of the high school echo in their emptiness while Billy sleeps off the night before that culminated in celebration, capping off his first season of Varsity baseball.

The team had had it's ups, and certainly its downs, but these last 2 weeks had been a magical ride in a career filled with "showcases" and "tournaments" in far away places, the stands filled, with empty faces.

He had gotten to play in front of the "homefolk" ( code for parents, family, friends and the like ) and he had thrived, playing his best ball yet, walking thru his neighborhood with his head held high while catching the attention of the cuties nearby :)
This was it! This is why he had spent countless hours and weekends on baseball diamonds strewn throughout the county in his regimented youth.

No sooner did the moment come..........it went. In a weeks time.

"Time to get up Billy! We have to be in San Clemente by noon if you wanna get looked at by that college coach at UCLA", mom bellows out from down the hall as the microwave spins the "breakfast of the day"?

UCLA?? Noon?? As the clock blankly stares 5:00 am, his thoughts try to re-create the week that was......and where he might be, right now.

It started at the Prom, made its way to a few restaurants, floated down a river with "beer tube" in tow, stopped over at a few buddies houses, oh yeah, there was that pool party and Blake diving into a hot tub, a quick visit to the hospital followed by a sun-splashed day at Chrissy field where bikinis and sunglasses were twin flavors of the day.

What was the name of that girl again? How come I have my socks on? What are these in my pocket......receipts?? To where?? All legitimate questions when you have been letting loose for a few days after such a regimented season and a mundane Catholic school life.

The last thing that Billy wants to do if get up....period. But to have to traipse across the state to a dusty ole town in the middle of nowhere to get a few At-Bats against a kid he has never seen is insult to injury. And Billy is injured, he just doesn't know it....

When you run, run, run - it takes away all the fun, fun, fun; and Billy hasn't felt the corners of his mouth perk up while on the diamond in quite some time. He has been to so many places, on so many fields, in so many leagues that he couldn't even pick a favorite one if you asked him, his mind is too full, there are just too many to remember...

He doesn't remember when he watched his favorite team play a whole game - besides the "tidbits" of information he gets while going from one activity to another - whether being a score alert sent to his phone that has 12 texts and way more "posts" and pictures to scroll through, or to catch an inning of a game at a restaurant his family stopped at in a town he has never heard of. Even the Spring Training game he went to with his father in March was cut short in the 7th so they could "beat the traffic" and hustle to the airport and get back to the rat race.

Billy wants to enjoy the moment, enjoy being a junior in High School, enjoy the summer that is sitting right in front of him, he wants to take that girl out to this cool concert in the park this weekend, Billy can't. Billy has to go play ball........again.

Part 2 continued Sunday 6/25..........