{"id":82,"date":"2015-09-01T15:08:20","date_gmt":"2015-09-01T15:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adammarton.com\/robertmarton\/?p=82"},"modified":"2015-09-01T19:51:03","modified_gmt":"2015-09-01T19:51:03","slug":"for-the-home-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/?p=82","title":{"rendered":"For the Home Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the Home Team<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Robert J. Marton<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0When they began dating, Helen expected that J.J. would teach her \u201cthe ropes\u201d about love, romance, and yes, sex.\u00a0 Somehow, at Mayefield High she had gained a reputation for being experienced in these things, but this was largely unearned.\u00a0 She could probably have stopped the rumors, but it was exciting to be thought of in that light.\u00a0 But she knew (or assumed) J.J. had a great deal of sexual experience, so she didn\u2019t want to appear too innocent in his eyes.Her father clearly disliked J.J. on general principles:\u00a0 J.J. was rough, sometimes dirty (from working after school in the auto garage), and was never going to be the educated person George Carson wanted his only daughter (and only child) to become.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a family where no one had previously attended college, George Carson dreamed of Helen attending the state university.\u00a0 Though of little education, George was an avid reader and a man of eclectic knowledge, but he never felt he was as good or as smart as \u201ceducated\u201d men.<\/span><\/p>\n

Helen also loved books.\u00a0 Some of her earliest memories, and happiest times, involved visiting the Mayefield Library with her father.\u00a0 \u00a0He never discouraged her from reading anything she wanted.\u00a0 Reading was an important intellectual activity in itself \u2013 the content was almost secondary.\u00a0 Currently she was working her way through the works of Jane Austen.<\/span><\/p>\n

George unashamedly cultivated Helen\u2019s sense of superiority to her classmates, especially to the boys of Mayefield.\u00a0 Maybe he was hypothetically looking in a mirror at his own life, but he viewed the average Mayefield teenage boy as lacking ambition, drive and basic intelligence.\u00a0 Falling in love with one of them would ruin her (his?) dream of a better and more fulfilling life outside Mayefield.<\/span><\/p>\n

J.J.\u2019s \u201cbad boy\u201d reputation bothered George, but it turned out the reputation was more myth than reality.\u00a0 He had less experience with girls than Helen, or anyone else, thought.\u00a0 He had had a few dates, even a few sexual encounters, but he was just as awkward around girls \u2013especially \u201cgood\u201d girls\u2014as most teenaged boys.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But he set himself apart from his peers by attitude if nothing else.\u00a0 He had a car (old and battered, but it ran most of the time), money in his pocket from his job, and seemingly no parental restrictions; and cared almost nothing for academics.\u00a0 He was one of Mayefield High\u2019s better football and basketball players, and that alone accounted for his attendance \u2013however sporadic\u2014at school.\u00a0 Helen\u00a0<\/span>couldn’t\u00a0disagree with her father\u2019s contention that J.J. lacked ambition, but she found his manner and his attitude exciting, maybe because it contrasted so dramatically with her father\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n

And she was flattered J.J. loved her.\u00a0 They hadn’t slept together yet, but she felt it was coming soon, and she believed she was ready for it.<\/p>\n

He also had a certain vulnerability that Helen found immensely appealing.\u00a0 At times he attempted to expand his world, to move into a realm that he considered \u201cadult\u201d or \u201chigh class,\u201d only to come crashing back to the reality of what his life really was.\u00a0 A visit to an Orioles baseball game in Baltimore represented one of these occasions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On a bright Saturday morning in mid May, J.J. rolled up to Helen\u2019s house in his newly polished Ford.\u00a0 The old car looked almost respectable.\u00a0 He must have stayed up most of the night waxing it.\u00a0 He was in a good mood and seemed ready to take on any new challenge.\u00a0 He worked overtime this week and had some extra money, and was anxious to show his girl a good time. His boss at the garage had gotten tickets for the owner\u2019s box at the stadium and an invitation to a private pre-game luncheon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The ride to the game was pleasant.\u00a0 J.J. talked more than usual, and occasionally whistled.\u00a0 He sat up straighter than usual in the driver\u2019s seat, and seemed almost proud of his almost shiny car.<\/span><\/p>\n

They arrived at the park just in time for lunch.\u00a0 J.J. had special parking privileges for the day and parked in the owner\u2019s lot along side the cars of other invited guests \u2013 mostly Cadillacs, Lincolns, even a few foreign luxury autos like Mercedes and Jaguars.\u00a0 The old Ford \u2013shiny as it was\u2014and its occupants appeared somewhat shabby and out of place.\u00a0 This feeling intensified as they entered the clubhouse restaurant and observed the elegance of the\u00a0<\/span>decor\u00a0and the guests. \u00a0Fine art framed the walls.\u00a0 Both the tables and the people were expensively clothed.\u00a0 The tuxedoed waiters seemed condescending and cold.<\/span><\/p>\n

Helen wanted to leave and find a less imposing place to eat, but J.J.\u00a0<\/span>wouldn’t\u00a0hear of it.\u00a0 He opined much too loudly that this place was no big deal, he had eaten in fancier places, and these waiters better treat him right or he\u2019d \u201cstiff \u2018em\u201d when it came time to leave a tip.\u00a0 He tapped his spoon against an empty glass when he wanted service, and insisted in referring to waiters as \u201cgarcon.\u201d Helen doubted he really knew what the word meant.\u00a0 From her high school French classes, she knew it meant \u201cboy\u201d but was often used for waiters, but she felt it was derogatory.\u00a0 Had J.J. known that, he probably would have shouted it even louder.<\/span><\/p>\n

J.J.\u2019s lack of social grace and the presence of automotive grease under his finger nails became almost obsessively obvious to her, as she imagined they were to all the other diners (who tried not to stare but barely succeeded).<\/p>\n

Helen was excited when they finally went to the box seats to watch the game.\u00a0 She had attended many baseball games with her father, and the first view of the green grass, the noise of the crowd, and the myriad of smells in the ballpark thrilled her.\u00a0 Her father always sat in the cheaper upper deck or bleacher seats, so she looked forward to the prospect of being close to the action and the players.\u00a0 She quietly hummed \u201cTake Me Out to the Ballgame\u201d as they walked down to their seats, remembering that her father always sang the song in the car as they drove to the ball park.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The fans in the owner\u2019s box were only slightly less elegant than in the restaurant, but far more conspicuous in their disapproval of J.J.\u2019s behavior. \u00a0For some reason, J.J. decided not to \u201croot, root, root for the home team,\u201d but to cheer instead for the visiting (and hated) Yankees,<\/p>\n

which was not a popular choice in the home owner\u2019s box.\u00a0 He loudly berated the home team batters and pitchers, and he harassed some other spectators into betting with him on balls and strikes.\u00a0 He lost almost every bet.\u00a0 Helen couldn’t help but notice the snide looks and laughs of those who were easily taking his money.\u00a0 By the fifth inning, he had exhausted all of his overtime earnings, and grabbed Helen and stormed away, shouting loudly that he had been cheated.\u00a0 Who was actually doing the cheating (the players, the umpires, the fans?) wasn’t clear, but J.J. was not taking personal responsibility for his losing streak.<\/p>\n

The good mood and uplifted spirit that J.J. drove in with this morning disappeared by the time they rode home.\u00a0 He brooded all the way, barely speaking. He criticized the other drivers on the road, but he compared his car unfavorably to theirs \u2013 convinced they had done something illegal or underhanded to acquire such great wheels. He slouched in the driver\u2019s seat, seemingly embarrassed to be driving his clunker.<\/p>\n

J.J.\u2019s agitation lessened somewhat as they grew closer to Mayefield; his mood perked up considerably as they entered the town limits.\u00a0 This is where I belong, he said, home sweet home.<\/p>\n

To Helen everything in town looked old, grimy and uninviting.\u00a0 The afternoon sunshine of the ballpark had been brilliant and cloudless, replaced now by a landscape of gray as Mayefield plodded toward dusk. When they reached her house, she said \u201cThanks\u201d without offering J.J. a kiss, said a quick hello to her mother and father, and went straight to her bedroom, where she spent the remainder of the evening quietly reading Jane Austen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(Robert J. Marton)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the Home Team By Robert J. Marton \u00a0When they began dating, Helen expected that J.J. would teach her \u201cthe ropes\u201d about love, romance, and yes, sex.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions\/194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.robertmarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}