Fun Things and Heartstrings

Prompt: Write a story about summer love.

Fun Things and Heartstrings

“You throw like a girl!”, I said to her disgustedly.

“I am a girl, you bonehead.”

Playing catch with Maripat is such a joy for me. And yes, even if she is a girl she is quite the ball player. I have known Maripat now for almost two years. This summer though is turning out to be something really special. She lives across the street from me in a rental house. Her father travels for a living so I am hoping they never move again. Sometimes I wonder if I had spoken too soon when she gets on my case like now.

“You know what your problem is Billy? You catch like a girl! Now go get the ball or I am going home.”

I spurted out at her, “Yeah, go play with your Barbies and your dreamy Ken dolls. I, on the other hand, will find a way to improve on my catching.”

“Oh Billy, you are such a chump with a capital C_H_U_M_P. Throwing a ball at the garage door isn’t going to get you to the major leagues. Come on. Go get the ball and I’ll still play catch.”

“Thank you, Maripat. I know I am a champ. I knew this when I first picked up a baseball for the first time.” Maripat just shook her head and rolled her eyes at me.

We played catch until our parents called us in for dinner. I made sure I threw and caught the ball like the champ she said I was. I was really hoping she would ask me over for dinner. They were having a favorite of mine, hamburgers and cheesy macaroni. Unfortunately, that never happened on that particular day.

School was out and summer was upon us in full gear. I could smell the grass, dust and pollen between my sneezes. Aa, choo! Aa, choo! It was going to be a fine day. The sun was blistering hot. It would be a fabulous day to toss a few baseballs. Grabbing my baseball glove and ball I headed over to Maripat’s house to ask her to play catch. Her mom said she was in the backyard dipping into a wading pool with her little sister, Marigold. She told me to go home and put on my swimsuit to join them.

As I walked out of her house, I whispered to myself, “Oh man, why did she have to go and spoil it all? You can’t catch a ball with a leather glove in a pool. The glove will shrink and my ball will get waterlogged. Anyway, I guess it will help me stay cool on this very hot day.”

I went home and changed. I quickly blew up a small inflatable pool ring that barely fit around my waste. I donned a pair of flip flops and scurried across the hot asphalt of the street. Once I entered her backyard, I saw Marigold sitting in the middle of the pool splashing like a little duck. Then over in the far corner of the pool, I saw Maripat stepping over the side to enter it. Something incredible happened when I saw her.

I felt achy all over my body. I looked at Maripat. She was wearing a very tight one-piece bathing suit. Her body contours were stunning. Suffice it to say she was precocious for her age of twelve. I was hypnotized by the vision of her in that wet bathing suit. She looked at me smiling from ear to ear. I think she knew she had impacted me because of the tent that appeared in my suit. Feeling my body was doing something I had not been accustomed to, I moved the pool ring further down my waste covering my excitement.

“Hello Billy. I am so glad you came over to splash around with us. I have some sunscreen. Would you put it on my back. I can’t reach my middle portion. Oh, and Billy you can put the pool ring away if you want.”

My teeth were chattering, but not because of the water. I had not stepped into the pool yet. I said to her, “I would be very happy to put some sunscreen on you. Did you want to sit at the picnic table for me to rub your back? About the pool ring, I have to leave it on. I don’t know how to swim, and I don’t want your momma to rescue me if I start to drown,” I lied. For the rest of the day, I never moved the pool ring from that spot.

Her body was relaxed as I put that sunscreen on her back. It felt smooth and warm from the sun. She cooed like one of those pigeons I see in the park. I was really sweating now and feeling a lot of discomfort below the pool ring. I told Maripat I had to jump into the pool to cool off.

The three of us that day had a great time splashing and tickling one another in the pool for the entire day. It was good, clean fun; nothing more. My skin looked like shriveled raisins. That day forward I began to feel something really special about Maripat and not just the achy feeling I felt earlier. My heart was trying to say something to me. I don’t think it was heartburn from the taco I ate at lunch that day.

When pool playtime was over, Maripat and I sat at the picnic table talking about a lot of things. The whole time we were talking Marigold sat on the green grass picking dandelions and baking like a little clam. I asked her if she was excited to graduate middle school next year. She had a bigger idea. Her hope was meeting a dreamy guy one day. They would get married and have eight kids. Inwardly, I hoped the dreamy guy was me, but I would protest at eight kids. She wanted to go to college and be an engineer. I asked her what kind of trains she would operate. She smiled at me saying electrical. The idiot in me did not realize she meant electrical engineer. Deep in my heart I knew one day she would graduate with that degree, maybe even magna cum laude at Oxford. Eventually, she asked me about my dreams and aspirations. The only thing at that moment entering my brain was “to play baseball.” Stupid me never said what I was feeling in my heart for her.

After our pool event, Maripat and I made plans for the next day. She had heard one of those traveling carnivals was in town for the weekend. She asked me to join her on the opening night. She and Her family were planning to go together. I told her I was all in, but I’d have to get clearance from my mom and dad.

But she exclaimed, “Oh you can bring them too! It will be a great time for our families!”

I paused a moment to think this through. Would it be better just to have myself go? I could be alone with her. Yet, her parents might keep an ever-watchful eye upon the two of us. If I could get my parents to go, they could keep her parents busy and then the two of us could do the rides and games together. I was the only child, but there was still the issue of her sister Marigold. “Eh, I’ll figure it out,” I inwardly said.

I looked into Maripat’s beautiful big brown eyes. “Let me convince my parents this is a must festival they need to attend.” Both of our parents did not allow us to have cell phones until after we graduated eighth grade. I told Maripat I would call her on her parents’ landline in the evening. Later in the day I whined so much to my dad that I broke his patience resulting in him and mom going. He even agreed to pay for all my rides. Yippee! Yippee!

The night of the carnival Marigold was fussy, so Maripat’s parents decided to take her sister along with them. My dad shoved a wad of bills into my pocket so I knew he and my mom would be out of the picture. Maripat and I would be alone together to wander the busy alleys of the carnival. It was a taste of heaven to be with her. Two twelve-year-olds alone and together, male and female, what could possibly go wrong? When I looked at her, I got chills. My heart ached to hold her hand. We departed the company of our parents.

“Maripat, there seems to be a lot of people here tonight. Please let me hold your hand so we both don’t get lost. If we do, let’s get lost together,” I seriously said.

“Of course, Billy, I would not want Mr. Stranger Danger to kidnap my star baseball hero, she said whimsically. I ate it up and gave her a big teethy smile.

We played some ring toss games. She won for me a small cupid doll. My aim was a bit off tonight so Maripat got nothing. I could tell she did not mind. She was happy to be with me. There was a merry-go-round. I was hoping we would bypass it but she insisted on giving it a twirl.

“I want to sit on that pony, Billy. Help me up,” she asked.

Maripat was gorgeous, but she was no light weight. As I hoisted her up to the pony, I grunted and expelled some gas. Thankfully, I was down wind of her. We twirled on that thing at length. We knew our turn was over when the operator of the ride demanded we get off and don’t return to the ride this night.

We tried our hand at ringing a bell high up on a pole by hitting a puck with a wooden hammer. I tried six times. It cost me fifty cents for each attempt. I never got it. Maripat grabbed the hammer and with one whack she rung the bell. You would think I would be embarrassed but I announced to the onlookers,

“This is my gal! She is amazing! She is going to be a great train operator and a mom with eight children one day.”

I looked over at Maripat. Her cheeks were bright red. I may have over done it with the comments. We moved on to the food court. I had two dollars left.

“Hey Maripat, let’s get some ice cream. What is your favorite flavor? Do you like sprinkles,” I asked her.

“Billy, I want whatever flavor you like. Yes, I like sprinkles, but I want you to sprinkle my ice cream,” she said in a cutesy, soft way.

Her reference about the sprinkles flew over my thick head when I indifferently said only, “Ok.”

Sitting at one of the booths’ tables, we fed our own ice cream to each other, interlocking our arms and having the ice cream drip all over us. We laughed the whole time. The festival was closing soon and we made our way back to our parents. When they saw the two of us covered in sprinkles and spots of ice cream, both dads said, “We don’t want to know.” On the other hand, the moms quipped, “Oh the two of them are adorable.” Later that night I asked my mom if she was feeling ok.

Before we had met with up with our parents, we made secret plans to go to the movie theater the following week. I had exhausted my money from my dad but Maripat said she had some money from her parents for babysitting her sister, Marigold. The movie we would see was a heart throb, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. I was beginning to think I was the beast in our relationship. Well, I was fine with it because Maripat really is my beauty.

I could hardly wait. During the time leading up to the movie, we made plans and excuses to get out of the house. Plus, we made an excuse to cover us in the eventuality we were busted. The night quickly came and despite our planning efforts and desire to see the movie the unexpected happened. Maripat’s parents required her to baby sit for Marigold because her father had a formal business dinner party. Spouses were included. Her father said he would provide a movie or two and popcorn for her.

Maripat was not thrilled. When she told me she was virtually in tears. Because I am an enigma of utter optimism, I said to her,

“Maripat, this is a golden opportunity for the both of us to be together. After you put Marigold to bed, we can snuggle on the couch and watch the movies you selected. Plus, I love popcorn! It will be awesome, just the two of us.”

Maripat was thrilled I had made that suggestion. Her father’s movie selections, however, were not the greatest. He picked Cinderella and The Little Mermaid. I was hoping he might have picked something a bit macho like The Field of Dreams or the Natural but he did not know I was coming over. When I arrived, Marigold was still up playing with her dolls and tea set. Maripat tried to get her to bed but she was so stubborn and would not go. I suggested we have a tea party together. After an hour, Marigold was still stubborn as ever.

I asked, “How about we make some popcorn together?”

Maripat responded, “Marigold, do you want some popcorn? We can eat it at the tea party and then I’ll tuck you in, ok?”

Marigold nodded her head. Her tea party lasted another hour. She was so tired she fell asleep in the popcorn bowl knocking it over. The popcorn scattered everywhere. It took Maripat and I another hour to clean it up. By that time, I had to skedaddle out of the house like I was never there. My impression of the evening was Marigold has an intense dislike of me and does not want to share Maripat with anybody, especially me. Maripat and I could not even watch the movies.

After the popcorn fiasco at her house, the summer was rapidly coming to a close. We tried to spend alone time, but our parents kept delegating chores to us as the summer continued. The weather did not cooperate as well. Any pool parties were out as the weather uncharacteristically got cold, like fall temperatures. So, we clandestinely met at the grocery store when we did errands for our moms. Thankfully, since both families attended the same church, we were able to sit together on Sundays. We appreciated the fact that both parents were cool and allowed us to hold hands together. School and fall were a few weeks away. The leaves on the trees were beginning to change to a lighter greenish yellow. Summer sadly was ending and I had not told Maripat how I felt about her. In fact, we had yet to even kiss.

And the tragedy of tragedies hit me! I had to hear this from her father on a Friday of all things. He said, “Boy, you best say your goodbyes to Maripat because we are moving first thing Monday morning. Don’t have a forwarding address just yet. Maybe Maripat will send it to you once we get settled. Anyway, it was nice knowing you and thanks for being such a good friend to her.”

I gulped so hard that my throat hurt for a week after she was gone. My stomach was tied up in knots. I went home and sulked for the rest of the day. On Saturday I called her, but her mom said she was too busy to hang out or even talk. I begged with her mom to let me see her tomorrow at church.

So, on the last Sunday before her family moved away, the two of us went to church one final time alone without our parents. We were sitting in the last pew in the back. I turned to Maripat saying, “Maripat, you create the best version of myself. I play better baseball with you when you are by my side. When I am with you, the stars in the sky shine brighter, the flowers smell sweeter.”

She looked at me with tears in her eyes saying, “I will always miss you, Billy, my baseball player. I will look for your name among the greatest of the great baseball stars.” She reached across my body placing her arms around my neck. Then it happened. She gave a tender kiss on my lips. A long, long kiss. Did I say a very long, long kiss? I froze like a statute.

“Maripat, you pulled all my heartstrings out and no one can ever fix me. Please write to me.”

The we heard the Pastor read: “My days are over. My hopes have disappeared. My heart’s desires are broken.” (1)

And he said, “My grief is beyond healing; my heart is broken.” (2)

He finished with “Three things will last forever-faith, hope, and love-and the greatest of these is love” (3)

God’s heartstrings were pulling on me as well. I knew God would be with us. I rested with the hope one day she would write to me. I had faith she cared deeply for me. Though we never said it, we both could feel the love we had for one another.

-END-

Job 17:11, NLT

Jeremiah 8:18, NLT

1 Corinthians 13:15, NLT

NLT=New Living Translation

Author: Pete Gautchier

Acknowledgement: Rreedsyprompts.com