The husbands gathered together in a prayer circle, and Laverna took the lord’s name in vain. She also took the lord’s name and combined it with all the permutations of obscure sex acts she could think of. “JESUS CLEVELAND STEAMER! JESUS FELCHING CHRIST!” Rachel was impressed that her mother knew about felching, as it was something she had only heard about from her gay friends in Missoula.
By the sixth inning, the Methodists were up by fourteen, and the praying grew more fervent, the muttering lost to the blast of AC/DC. The rain returned, and the husbands prayed even harder, as Red Mabel’s white T-shirt soaked through. Red Mabel believed in Jesus as much as she believed in brassieres.
Shyanne Fitchett left to make the bus for the track meet, and in the last inning, Rachel found herself on deck. Diane transformed a base hit into a double, as the Methodist on first base was captivated by Red Mabel’s breasts.
“WAIT FOR YOUR PITCH!” Laverna cupped her hands like a megaphone, but Della swung and missed each time. Laverna threw an empty beer can in frustration, nearly striking Ginger, who was used to her coach’s tantrums. Ginger removed her expensive sunglasses and rolled her eyes, wiped away the drop of Bud Light with the tail of her T-shirt. As Rachel left the dugout, Black Mabel’s father and brother shouted the chorus, fists pumping in the air.
Calmly, Rachel grabbed the bat from Della and marched to the plate. She reminded herself that this was just softball. She had survived much worse. She liked the bat, the weight of it calibrated perfectly. It felt like a weapon. There was no chatter from her team, no words of encouragement. Even Diane was silent.
Rachel had yet to hit a ball, despite the hours she spent practicing with the Chief. The pitcher perspired heavily, and she wiped the mix of rain and sweat from her face with the front of her shirt.
The first pitch was a strike. Rachel watched as it flew past. The second was a ball, so far out of the strike zone that it nearly struck Bucky in the throat.
At that moment, there was a commotion in the outfield, as three white-tailed deer came bolting from the forest, chased by the brown dog. The deer ducked through a curled-up piece of the chain-link fence, galloping into center field.
The pitcher was not aware of the deer, and threw the ball before Bucky could call a time-out.
Rachel noticed that the outfield and second base were completely distracted, watching the deer in awe. Perhaps they thought the deer were some sort of miracle, sent to remedy Red Mabel’s immorality.
Rachel had completed enough personal inventories to know that she thrived on chaos. She kept her eye on the ball, and swung like the Chief had instructed.
She made contact with the pitch, weak contact, and the ball rolled slowly past the pitcher and right past the abandoned second base, sending Diane running to third.
Rachel was amazed she had hit the ball, and forgot to run.
Laverna screamed at her daughter, and Red Mabel jumped up and down in the dirt, and pointed at first base. Their words were lost in the music, and Rachel only ran after Bucky broke the rules and nudged her from the plate.
The Methodists collected themselves and threw out Rachel at first. Diane wisely stayed at third.
Rachel could hear Jake cheering for her. When she walked into the dugout, Laverna and Red Mabel refused to congratulate her, even though she had finally done something softball-like.
She hit the ball.
The coach of the Methodists consulted with Bucky, and Laverna put a quick stop to their protestations that the deer were grounds for a delay of game. Not that it mattered. Ronda struck out, and the game was over.
Gold
The next night was Sunday, and it was a special occasion. Jake was allowed to sleep over at Rachel’s. He planned on skipping school the next day, which only seemed to fuel the decadence of the occasion. Bert had left for five days of a men’s retreat with the church. Apparently, Jake was not considered a man, not considered at all, really. He took no umbrage at the lack of invitation, thankful he would not have to attend church day care. Rachel had a free Monday, as she had switched with Tish, who needed one of her weekend shifts to go find her husband, who had left town with Black Mabel.
After a trip to the video store in Ellis, they ate popcorn, drank Shirley Temples, and clutched each other as they watched Kathy Bates in Misery.
He slept on the couch, happily.
Rachel made oatmeal in the morning, and they ate it slowly outside on the front porch, so Jake could put off returning home for as long as possible.
A day of rain revealed a ragged version of a rock garden. The beds followed the entire length of the fence, framed by jagged pieces of shale that Frank had hauled there and sunk into the ground. Each bed was three feet wide, and Rachel told Jake that she assumed this was just more of his bachelor landscaping, a hillbilly Stonehenge covered in snow and then the slog of dead leaves.