Saturday morning came and brought the expected results. I wasn't as stiff as a board and I even felt rejuvenated. At breakfast Noah and Zeke told their parents what we had plan. I would spend the morning watching videos and tutorial clips they would pull up on their smart-tv in the living room. Then after lunch we would practice in real life at the park. Their parents didn't have any disagreements, especially considering they had houses to show for potential clients and would be gone until dinner.
Their only concern was the twins. "Idle hands are the devils workshop." Mrs. Atkins worried.
I tilted my head in confusion.
"It's from the Bible." Noah told me. "It basically means one who is not occupied, is likely to do evil things and get into trouble."
I nodded. After one week in this house, I'd believe it. The twins reminded me of the cartoon of the Tasmania Devil. Always destroying what was in front of them and causing havoc.
"I'll text Garret to invite them over for pitching practice." Zeke replied.
"Will you? That would be great." She gave him two thumbs up. Noah laughed at his mom as she looked dorky. Even I stifled a laugh. She looked at us. "And you two troublemakers, be good for Zeke. I don't want a replay of last weekend."
Noah rolled his eyes. "Don't worry mom. We won't go to the cages until tomorrow."
She put a hand to her head, exasperated. "That's supposed to make me feel better?"
"Zeke will be with them tomorrow, honey." Mr. Atkins tried to soothe her. "Plus I heard Dave is paying for Noah and Jake, which means extra supervision."
She squinted at him. "Why is Dave paying for them? He wouldn't do something like that."
"He lost a bet with Noah and Jake during the ice bath." He told her.
Her eyes immediately swung back to us. "Another bet? Noah, this is getting out of hand. I'm seriously concern that you might have a gambling problem."
Noah shrugged. "It's only a problem if you're losing."
I burst out laughing. What a typical reply from Noah, the gambling addict.
Noah started to laugh with me. "Sorry mom. That was too funny. I'll cool it on the gambling, I swear."
Mrs. Atkins looked at us laughing. "Well, I'll let it slide for now." She and Mr. Atkins said their goodbyes and left in their respective cars.
Noah wiggles his eyebrows. "I didn't say anything about hustling though."
I shook my head at the thought. What a scam artist. A con man. Nah, gambler still fits best. He's taking another gamble, that his mom won't kill him when she finds out that he lied.
"If you're done eating breakfast, dump your dishes in the sink and move to the living room." Zeke stood up. "I'm going to wake the twins and send them to Garret's."
We went our separate ways. Zeke up the stairs to deal with the twins. And we did what we were told, dumping the dirty dishes in the sink and going to the living room.
Noah turned on the tv as we slouched on the couch, getting comfy. He grabbed an IPad and started to pull up tutorials on YouTube. "We'll start with the basic of the basics. Positioning. Where should you stand and why." We started to watch the video that may have been for elementary school kids.
There was a lot to take in. Depending what kind of batter was up to bat, who was on base and where, I would have many options that I could take. I don't know if I'll be able to keep it all straight.
"Why aren't you taking notes?" Zeke frowned when he walked in half an hour later. "There's no way you'll be able to simply memorize every possibility."
Now he tells me. I looked at Noah, wondering why he didn't say anything. He looked at me sheepishly. "I didn't even think about taking notes. This is mostly common sense to me at this point."
Of course. Since he's played for years. I ran up to our room and grabbed one of my school notebooks with a pencil.
When I came back to the living room, Zeke had commandeered the iPad from Noah. He was creating a playlist of videos I needed to watch and study.
I looked at the total time as it started to add up to over an hour. Then two. Then three. Zeke was ruthless.
He glanced at me. "Make sure you pay careful attention. I'll quiz you at the park this afternoon. Every wrong answer will equal a lap."
Correction. Zeke was merciless.
