Coach Reynolds found the cardboard box set in front of his office door, and immediately knew what he was dealing with. He grinned as he bent down and picked it up, only to find Gorey standing beside him when he rose back up. He yelped at her sight, which made her chuckle.
"Is that what I think it is?" Gorey asked, as Reynolds unlocked his door and she followed him inside. "I believe it is, it's either that or the head of someone I love," Reynolds said as he set the box down on his desk, "now I need a knife and-" He looked to Gorey who was now holding a switchblade out to him. He hesitated for a moment, his eyes darting between the knife and her before he slowly reached out and took the knife from her, jabbed it into the top of the box and started to cut. "You know you're scary," he said as she nodded. "Indeed I am," she replied. The box didn't take too long to open, and once he was able to pull the flaps away and reach inside, the biggest grin broke out across his face. Reynolds pulled the uniform out and unfolded it, showing it off to Gorey, who almost smiled, her arms folded as she stood beside him and nodded again. "They're gonna love it," Gorey said. "God I hope so," Reynolds said, "kid deserves it." *** "Do you wanna come over this weekend?" Tyler asked as he and Hawley were sitting at a picnic table just outside the cafeteria that afternoon for lunch; Tyler pulled open his sandwich bag and continued, "I was gonna go bowling if you're interested, or maybe play minigolf." "I'd prefer not to spend my weekends doing anything sports related," Hawley said, sipping from her juice pouch. "I understand that, it's just that that's the kind of thing my dad is okay with paying for, so it's often what I'll do, and I thought it'd be neat to have a friend along for a change," Tyler said. Just then Reynolds and Gorey approached the table, and the kids looked up at them. "Kiddo, have I got a surprise for you," Reynolds said, his hands behind his back, "this was actually her idea," he said motioning to Gorey before adding, "but I went ahead and did it and it came today, and I just thought you'd be pleased as punch to have this." With that, he whipped the uniform out from behind his back and held it out in front of them. Hawley's eyes almost couldn't believe what they were seeing. It had her full name "Ellie Hawley" on the back, along with her number and the team name on the front. She felt like she wanted to cry. "...I...I can't take this home," she said as he pushed it into her hands and knelt down to her level. "That's fine, I'll do it with my laundry at the apartment," Reynolds said, "I just...I thought you deserved something nice, something that made you feel like you. I'm sorry if I overstepped some kind of boundary or something but-" But before he could even finish his sentence, she'd thrown her arms around him, squeezing him tight, trying not to cry. Surprised, but not put off, he smiled and patted her back. He was nothing if not happy to make his favorite player feel good about themselves. After Reynolds and Gorey walked away, Hawley sat there with Tyler and admired her new uniform, running her hands up and down the material, smiling the whole time. This was the greatest gift she'd ever been given. And it'd lead to the worst thing Reynolds would ever experience. *** After practice that day, Hawley stayed behind as usual to help Reynolds and Gorey clean up material and stuff. Reynolds had the door to the storage shed open as Hawley gathered things and placed them into the wheelbarrow which Gorey then pushed to the shed. As she lugged the wheelbarrow into the shed, Hawley stopped at the door and looked at Reynolds. "Can I ask you a question?" Hawley asked. "Of course," Reynolds said as he pulled his cigarette pack from his shirt pocket and lighting one, placing it between his lips. "Why do you care so much about me feeling comfortable? Why would you do this for me?" Hawley asked. "Because I know what it's like to play into someones perception of me, to pretend to be someone I'm not," Reynolds said, "and everyone deserves to feel like themselves, even if only momentarily and even if only once in a while. Eventually you'll be able to be whoever you want whenever you want, but til then it's important to have that peace of mind where you can take it." Hawley nodded and touched her uniform, looking down at it and smiling again. She felt so appreciative of an adult taking not just an interest in her, but going to these lengths to make her comfortable. "Did your parents ever do anything like that for you?" Hawley asked. "Of course not," Reynolds said, "I mean, don't get me wrong, my folks weren't uncaring assholes, they fulfilled their parental duties; feeding me, clothing me, housing me, but that was about it. They bought me birthday gifts, christmas gifts, whatever, but it wasn't like this. They never really bothered to learn much about me, and I wasn't much too interested in telling them about me, so it all evened out." Hawley started picking at her hair and chewed her lip. "Do you think it's good, to have that level of disconnect between yourself and your parents?" she asked. "I...think it's necessary. I mean, don't get me wrong, it'd be fuckin' great if everyone was best friends with their parents, but the problem is the parents who wind up being best friend material are often immature themselves and barely parenting, so. I think it's important and necessary to have a little bit of that disconnect, even when you like your folks like I do. In your situation, I totally understand not being remotely interested in a relationship with your father." Gorey sat the wheelbarrow by the wall inside the shed and looked back at them as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. "My mom got me this job and I don't know what I'd do without her," she said, "but that's just me." "That's sweet," Hawley said, making Gorey smile. "You're a loser," Reynolds said. "I learn from the best," Gorey said as she walked past them, as Reynolds smirked and then realized he'd been insulted. "Hey!" he called after her, the shed door shutting behind them. *** Reynolds was sitting in his apartment that night and sipping a beer while waiting for his microwave dinner to finish. He looked over at the table and sighed, watching Gorey as she unwrapped a piece of candy after piece of candy and eating them. "What?" she asked as she noticed him watching her. "Nothin'," he said, shrugging, "I just was looking around. Don't you have anything better to do than sit around my apartment and eat my candy?" "Do I look like I have anything better to do?" Gorey asked, making Reynolds laugh a little; she waited a moment, finished chewing then said, "I think what you did was really nice, for what it's worth." "It was your idea," Reynolds said, "Couldn't have done it without your input." Gorey blushed as Reynold's microwave beeped and he pressed the button to swing the door open. He reached inside and pulled the bowl out, just as someone knocked on the door. He sighed, set his bowl down and headed to answer the door. As he pulled the door open, he found Hawley standing on his porch, crying, with her backpack torn over her shoulder. "Wh...what are you doing here?" Reynolds asked, "What happened?" "I forgot to give you my uniform," she whispered, looking at her feet, "and my dad found it, and..." She couldn't even bring herself to finish the sentence. Reynolds knelt down and put his hand on her shoulder, then moved her face upward and noticed a large bruise on her face just under her eye, and felt his blood begin to boil. He brought her inside the apartment, took her into the kitchen and sat her down at the table then went to get his jacket and pulled it on. He looked at Gorey as she touched Hawley's hand. "Are you okay?" Gorey asked, sounding genuinely concerned, but Hawley didn't respond; Gorey looked at Reynolds and asked, "Where are you going?" "To be a parent," Reynolds said sternly as he shut the front door behind him. *** Reynolds pulled up to Hawley's house and got out of the car. As he headed angrily up the walkway he heard something crashing inside the house. He hesitated for a moment, and then he continued and knocked firmly on the door. Nobody answered. He knocked again and finally the door opened and Hawley's father Ed stood there, looking fuming. Reynolds tried to pretend like he didn't notice, but he couldn't help but be surprised by the mans girth and muscle. Reynolds adjusted his tie and sighed. "Hello," Reynolds said, "I'm John Reynolds, the baseball coach at the school." "Oh, so it's your fault then?" Ed asked, surprising Reynolds again with his abrasiveness. "Depends what you mean, but most certainly everything is my fault," Reynolds said, "But I'd prefer to have specifics before I'm accused." "You order the uniforms, don't you?" Ed asked, "Which means you ordered the uniform for my son? The one I found at the bottom of his backpack? The one with a fuckin' girls name on it?" "Yeah, yeah that's my fault, sure, absolutely, I'll take credit for that," Reynolds said, his boldness surprising Ed, who clearly hadn't expected him to be brave about this; Reynolds then continued, "and I understand you being surprised and perhaps even unhappy about it, and you have every right to feel how you want, but what you don't have a right to do is beat the shit out of your kid for who they are." This seemed to piss Ed off, as he clenched his fists and grit his teeth, stepping out onto the porch. "You think just cause you spend time with kids that you have any right to tell me how to raise mine?" Ed asked. "I think I have the right because I'm a parent myself," Reynolds said, "and I think beating your child is wrong, especially for something they cannot control. It'd be like beating a child because they happen to have a developmental disability." "This is something they're choosing!" "The fuck it is," Reynolds said, laughing, "Trust me, as someone who lived and worked in LA for most of my life, I can tell when someone is pretending to be someone else. I spent a good majority of my life around actors, and boy howdy lemme tell you those people are pretending." "Tell me, do you have a son or a daughter?" "I have a teenage daughter." "So you don't know what it's like to think about your lineage dying out because your child decides to be a different gender, so maybe you shouldn't be running your mouth." "Your lineage doesn't end simply because your child isn't who you assumed they were," Reynolds said, "You know what ends a lineage? A child who kills themselves because their parent won't fucking accept them for the person they are. That's the end of a lineage." This finally did it. Ed raised his hand and landed his fist in Reynolds jaw, throwing him to the lawn. He had never been punched that bad, and he certainly couldn't have expected it to be that rough. Reynolds groaned and rolled onto his back, massaging his jaw. "Christ, that's a hell of a hook," Reynolds said as Ed walked up to him and reached his hand out, helping Reynolds up. "You took that like a champ, I gotta say," Ed said, "I'm sorry, I just lose control of my anger sometimes and-" And without hesitation, Reynolds hit Ed back, making him stumble and fall onto his ass on the porch. Reynolds screamed and rubbed his knuckles, clearly in pain from hitting a man that large. "There," Reynolds finally said, "Now we're even." Reynolds then turned, walked back down the walkway and got into his car, started it up and pulled away, leaving Ed on the front porch, shocked he'd been hit back. Reynolds drive back to his apartment, but along the way he stopped and got himself an ice cream cone. He ate it in the parking lot of the ice cream parlor, and then drove home. When he arrived, he found Hawley asleep on the couch, and he pulled the quilt up over her more and smiled at the sight. As he entered the kitchen, he found Gorey sitting at the kitchen table, eating out of a bowl, and she stopped and the two stared at one another. "...are you eating my microwave dinner?" Reynolds asked and after a moment Gorey slowly shook her head. "Are you okay? What happened to your jaw?" she asked, standing up and approaching him, reaching out for his jaw and adding, "do you need some help or-" "No, Janice, I don't need any help," Reynolds said as he turned and bumped into her, their faces an inch apart; his eyes were teary and he couldn't look her in the eye as his lip trembled, "...I just...I wanted to do something nice, I wanted to make up for everything I ever did wrong, and I just...I can't seem to do anything right, and I just wanted one fucking kid in my life to be treated right." "Her problems aren't because of you, John," Gorey said, pushing her bangs from her face and biting her lip, "I think what you're trying to do is right but...but you can't...you can't base your entire self worth on a singular person. If people did that, then my mom would hate me because I've effectively ruined her life." "How could you ever a ruin a persons life?" Reynolds said, "all you do is make things better." Gorey blushed and looked at the floor as Reynolds looked away from her and cleared his throat. "I should get going," Gorey said, "...do you want me to bring coffee and donuts to school tomorrow?" "...yeah, sure," Reynolds said, the two of them stopping at the front door as she pulled her jacket on and they looked at one another. "...goodnight John," Gorey said, as she felt his hand on hers on the door and neither wanted to move. "Goodnight Janice," he said softly. He watched her walk down the staircase and get into her car and pull away. As she drove towards her mothers home, she just couldn't hate but hate herself. She wanted him to kiss her. She hated admitting, but she wanted him to grab her and kiss her like in those cheesy romantic comedies her mom watched on TV, but she wanted it nonetheless. Reynolds, meanwhile, pulled his recliner next to the couch and pulled his jacket over his body as he put the TV on mute and rested in the chair next to Hawley. After a little bit, he heard her shift on the couch and look up at him, and he smiled. "...what time is it?" she asked. "It's late, go back to sleep, I'm right here," Reynolds said, and she nodded, put her head back down on the arm of the couch and went back to resting. Reynolds stood up, walked to his bedroom and came back with a pillow and slid it under her head. As he was knelt there, she suddenly hugged him around the neck, surprising him. "Thank you," she whispered. "...yeah, anytime," he said. Reynolds and Hawley went to sleep in the living room, and the next morning, when she woke up, he had already made her a full breakfast and then after breakfast, he braided her hair and when she seemed surprised by this, he stated that he'd done it for his daughter, and so he still knew what to do. He then drove them to school and watched Hawley walk to her first class. He then headed to the teachers lounge, where he found Gorey sitting at the table with a box of donuts and coffee, just as she said she would be. He sat down and picked up a donut and bit into it, looking at her. "...is she okay?" Gorey asked. "She's alright, yeah," Reynolds said, "Uh, I'm sorry if I made things weird." "It's alright," Gorey said, smirking, "I like weird." Reynolds smirked back. Even with his jaw throbbing, and even with his knuckles sore...life was good.
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GRAVE INNINGS is about A funeral home that has sponsored a local little league, the coach who is a disgraced reality show host, a young transgirl and the odd family they create for one another. Archives
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