been
Autumn’s friend, but lately he’d realized a greater excitement
beginning to take over whenever she and his sister got together to
play, which is why he’d blown off going to the beach with Billy and
his parents that morning and, to his sister’s surprise, had
suggested baseball instead.
He wanted nothing more than to hit the ball
coming toward him. He intended to hit the ball so hard that the
leather cover simply peeled away, leaving only the ball’s core
sailing toward the other end of the yard, over Callie’s head and
into the adjoining woods. She would have no choice but to be
impressed. Rearing back, he prepared to swing.
As the ball approached the plate, he lunged
forward, putting all he had into the swing as the bat and the ball
crossed the plate at the exact same moment but one inch apart. Just
as the previous pitch had done, the ball struck the hockey net
backstop with a soft swoosh as the momentum of the swinging bat
compromised his balance and dropped him to his knees. Female
laughter erupted from the outfield, replacing Jonathan’s previous
confidence with adolescent embarrassment.
“My turn,” Callie yelled between laughs as
she sprinted toward the plate.
Embarrassed by his failure, Jonathan didn’t
say a word, simply dropping the bat in exchange for his glove. He
couldn’t explain how he felt. Hell, he couldn’t explain how he’d
been feeling for the past year. Instead, he chose to avoid eye
contact with the source of his confusion and jogged out to the
mound to take the place of his sister who was currently trotting to
the outfield.
“Right here,” Callie poked as she slammed
the bat into the plate, just as her unknown admirer had done
moments earlier.
Refocusing his attention away from his
confusing, early teen emotions and back on the task at hand,
Jonathan stepped back, preparing to deliver a perfect strike.
Displaying perfect form, just as his father had taught him, he
kicked his leg high into the air, lunging forward and released the
ball with all the strength he could muster.
The ball erupted out of his hand as Callie
prepared to swing. Shifting her weight to her back leg, she pushed
forward, toward the approaching ball. The sound of the metal bat
striking the spinning leather was almost inaudible as the baseball
instantly changed course. Within a millisecond, the leather orb was
sailing over his head and moments later, his sister’s as it broke
the wooded barrier and continued its airborne journey deep within
the distant woods.
He was devastated. The very thing that he’d
intended to do, to impress his unaware love, had just been done to
him and now she was rounding the loosely laid out bases in an
almost ballet like dance as her closest friend scurried off into
the woods to retrieve what would momentarily become an embarrassing
home run.
*****
He didn’t have to admit it. Jason was sure that his
worried look was all the evidence Derek needed to understand just
how nervous he was about this improperly planned and dangerous
test. Or, at least it would have been if his friend hadn’t spent
the last ten minutes consumed by the dangerous task of connecting
the device to the two-hundred-twenty kilovolt transformer that
Jason continued to admire from afar.
“And you’re sure that the device can handle
this much power?”
“Again, yes,” Derek reassured his nervous
friend for what was probably the fifth time since they’d set foot
inside the gate. “The charge only passes through the case for a
brief nanosecond before we're gone. It’s this place that I’m
more concerned with,” Derek displayed a half worried grin as he
took a quick look around at the multimillion dollar equipment
surrounding them.
“Why, what’s going to happen after we’re
gone?”
“Likely, nothing,” Derek reassured as he
connected the last of the spider web of wires to the large
equipment and then to the case. “If anything, the sudden surge will
probably just trip the breakers,
Autumn’s friend, but lately he’d realized a greater excitement
beginning to take over whenever she and his sister got together to
play, which is why he’d blown off going to the beach with Billy and
his parents that morning and, to his sister’s surprise, had
suggested baseball instead.
He wanted nothing more than to hit the ball
coming toward him. He intended to hit the ball so hard that the
leather cover simply peeled away, leaving only the ball’s core
sailing toward the other end of the yard, over Callie’s head and
into the adjoining woods. She would have no choice but to be
impressed. Rearing back, he prepared to swing.
As the ball approached the plate, he lunged
forward, putting all he had into the swing as the bat and the ball
crossed the plate at the exact same moment but one inch apart. Just
as the previous pitch had done, the ball struck the hockey net
backstop with a soft swoosh as the momentum of the swinging bat
compromised his balance and dropped him to his knees. Female
laughter erupted from the outfield, replacing Jonathan’s previous
confidence with adolescent embarrassment.
“My turn,” Callie yelled between laughs as
she sprinted toward the plate.
Embarrassed by his failure, Jonathan didn’t
say a word, simply dropping the bat in exchange for his glove. He
couldn’t explain how he felt. Hell, he couldn’t explain how he’d
been feeling for the past year. Instead, he chose to avoid eye
contact with the source of his confusion and jogged out to the
mound to take the place of his sister who was currently trotting to
the outfield.
“Right here,” Callie poked as she slammed
the bat into the plate, just as her unknown admirer had done
moments earlier.
Refocusing his attention away from his
confusing, early teen emotions and back on the task at hand,
Jonathan stepped back, preparing to deliver a perfect strike.
Displaying perfect form, just as his father had taught him, he
kicked his leg high into the air, lunging forward and released the
ball with all the strength he could muster.
The ball erupted out of his hand as Callie
prepared to swing. Shifting her weight to her back leg, she pushed
forward, toward the approaching ball. The sound of the metal bat
striking the spinning leather was almost inaudible as the baseball
instantly changed course. Within a millisecond, the leather orb was
sailing over his head and moments later, his sister’s as it broke
the wooded barrier and continued its airborne journey deep within
the distant woods.
He was devastated. The very thing that he’d
intended to do, to impress his unaware love, had just been done to
him and now she was rounding the loosely laid out bases in an
almost ballet like dance as her closest friend scurried off into
the woods to retrieve what would momentarily become an embarrassing
home run.
*****
He didn’t have to admit it. Jason was sure that his
worried look was all the evidence Derek needed to understand just
how nervous he was about this improperly planned and dangerous
test. Or, at least it would have been if his friend hadn’t spent
the last ten minutes consumed by the dangerous task of connecting
the device to the two-hundred-twenty kilovolt transformer that
Jason continued to admire from afar.
“And you’re sure that the device can handle
this much power?”
“Again, yes,” Derek reassured his nervous
friend for what was probably the fifth time since they’d set foot
inside the gate. “The charge only passes through the case for a
brief nanosecond before we're gone. It’s this place that I’m
more concerned with,” Derek displayed a half worried grin as he
took a quick look around at the multimillion dollar equipment
surrounding them.
“Why, what’s going to happen after we’re
gone?”
“Likely, nothing,” Derek reassured as he
connected the last of the spider web of wires to the large
equipment and then to the case. “If anything, the sudden surge will
probably just trip the breakers,
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