C3Kat

Nash groaned. His shoulders, back and arms were killing him. The workout in the batting cage had been more than he anticipated. To make matters worse, he had gotten a new sports cream because he heard that it really worked. Unfortunately, it didn’t. Just to top it off, it smelled like Ben Gay and turned his hands orange.

He hoisted the Louisville Slugger onto his shoulder as he stood in the corner of the dugout. Joe stepped up beside him, yelling encouragement at Ronnie as he stepped up to the plate. Then he caught the look on Nash’s face, eyed the bat warily, then moved out of range.

Everyone jumped when a sudden blast of “Dire Wolf” ripped through the air. Harvey frantically started hitting switches on the unfamiliar boom box until he was finally able to get the sound down just in time to hear the umpire call “Strike three!”

Everyone turned around and looked at Harvey accusingly. Ronnie was their last hope of scoring a run. “Sorry. Sorry! It was an accident.”

“Alright,” Nash sighed as he looked at his exhausted team. “Let’s hit the field guys and let’s see if we can keep the runs down in single digits.” He picked up his glove and walked over to Joe who continued to eye him with caution. “And you.” He pointed an accusing finger. “If you ever make a bet with Father Mike again...”

“Don’t worry.” He held up his hands in surrender. “It won’t happen again,” he promised, then looked over at the other team. “Who would have guessed that a monastery would have a triple A softball team?”

Nash shook his head. “Bubba, there’s one thing you haven’t considered. They have THE head coach on their team.”

Joe had to think about that for a minute. “Oh yeah.”

A sudden piercing scream ripped through the air, drawing everyone’s attention to right field where Pepe was shrieking. “Snake! Snake!” he wailed, grabbing Evan and practically crawling up his back when he came to help.

Harvey ran over to see if he could catch the snake before anyone decided to dispose of it permanently. He could just make the head coming up out of the grass and his eyes narrowed. The snake looked like a tiny white lily. He took another step closer, then sighed heavily when he finally recognized the birch branch.

Nash turned back to Joe with an unwavering glare. “Never again.”

Joe glanced out into the field where Pepe was now skipping around with the threatening birch branch. “I’ve got to agree with you on this one bubba.”