Trial and Error by Robert Whitlow

Author:Robert Whitlow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2021-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

As she stood to the side watching the girls finish batting practice, Gracie repeatedly checked her watch. She’d set a peach cobbler to start cooking on timed bake, and it would need to come out of the oven in twenty-five minutes. One of the younger girls hit her second home run of the afternoon.

“Round the bases,” Gracie said to the young power hitter. “I want you to get used to it.”

“That’s what happens when a fastball meets a fast bat!” Heidi called out. The pitcher took off her glove and clapped her hands for her teammate.

“Nice job!” Laura said. “Glad you’re on our team!”

The young player, her face flushed with excitement, trotted over to Gracie.

“If you can hit like that in a real game, I’m going to move you up in the batting order,” Gracie said.

Two batters later, Gracie raised her fingers to her lips and gave a sharp whistle. The girls gathered around her.

“We’re going to knock off a few minutes early,” she said.

“Do you have a date?” Heidi asked.

“No,” Gracie answered. “But I’m going to a friend’s house to eat venison chili and don’t want to be late.”

The mention of venison sparked several remarks. Eating wild game was common for Milton County families. After a minute Gracie called for quiet.

“Okay, let’s pray,” she said.

Team building required many stones, and as she listened to the girls pray, Gracie was thankful for the strength of the spiritual connections forming in the circle. When everyone grew silent for a few moments, Heidi ended the prayer: “Lord, let us become better ballplayers and people. Thank you for all my teammates and especially Coach Blaylock. May she not get sick eating deer meat and enjoy her date. Amen.”

Laura turned to Heidi. “Why did you pray for Coach’s date? Nobody eats venison chili on a date.”

“You’d eat venison chili if Dayton Lancaster asked you to,” Heidi retorted.

“Hey, that’s not—” Laura started.

“Don’t break the unity of the prayer circle,” Gracie cut in.

“Is Heidi right?” Laura demanded. “Are you going on a date?”

Gracie hesitated. “A man my age is going to be there,” she said. “We’re eating at his mother’s house.”

Laura and Heidi glanced at each other. “It’s a date,” they said simultaneously.

* * *

Beatrice opened the door to let Buddy in. “Sorry,” she said, wiping a stray strand of silvery gray hair from her eyes. “I picked up the corn bread from Virginia Clausen an hour ago. It was still hot from the oven. I brought it home and cut off a tiny corner because I couldn’t wait to sample a bite. It’s inedible.”

“Why?” Buddy asked in surprise.

“She must have left out the salt.”

“Couldn’t you sprinkle some on top?”

Beatrice gave Buddy the same look he’d receive if he asked an expert witness a stupid question in a deposition.

“I believe you,” he quickly said. “Do you want me to run down to Crossroads and see if I can buy a pan from them?”

“I wish I’d thought of that,” Beatrice said. “It would have been way easier. I ended up scrambling around to throw together a batch myself.

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