The GHOST and Charlie Dusenberry

PG. 77 TGACD R. ZEIS

DD Dusenberry finished up his breakfast, a heaping bowl of Frosted Flakes, and walked his cereal bowl over to the sink where his mom was washing dishes.

“Mom, did Dad seem a little different to you last night?”

Susan paused in doing her chore. She wanted to give some thought on how to respond to her son’s question. When her husband came home last night from baseball practice he did seem a little “different.” At first, Susan thought Charlie’s behavior was due to a “bad day at the office” mixed in with baseball practice. Normally, Charlie was eager to share his day with his wife as she was eager to share her day’s happenings with him. Not last night. Susan tried to pry details from him but got the impression he was confused by something out of the ordinary. No matter how hard she tried, Susan could not get her husband to open up about what was troubling him.

“Susan, I don’t know what to tell you. In fact,” Charlie had added with a look of puzzlement on his face, “I don’t know how to tell you!”

Confused by his statement, Susan pressed harder but in return got the brush off.

“Susan, leave it alone for now,” he begged. And, she did.

To add to her puzzlement, it wasn’t until DD broke the news that someone had volunteered to help coach the Yankees. Susan would have thought that would be the first thing Charlie would have told her on arriving home last night. He never mentioned it. When she tucked her son into bed last night she learned a little bit about this Mr. Baxter. She was glad that he seemed nice and DD really liked him.

Now DD had validated her concern that something was bothering her husband and it was beyond his dislike for coaching the team.

“Honey, I think your father is dealing with some personal problems and it’s affecting him so that he appears ‘different.’ You need to give him some slack. I’m sure he’ll be back to his normal self soon.”

DD nodded, but he still looked concerned. “OK, Mom. I’ve got to catch my bus.”

Susan gave her son a kiss, handed him his lunch box and walked him to the front door.

“See you later, alligator.”

PG. 78 TGACD R. ZEIS

“Bye, Mom!”

Susan watched at the open door as DD met up with his friend, Grego, at the end of the driveway. Both boys waved at her and then they headed down the street to the bus stop.

Charlie had already left for work and now she was all alone in the house with her thoughts. She finished up in the kitchen and then headed to the bedroom to get herself ready to go to work at the library. As she combed her hair, Susan wondered how long and how hard she should push Charlie to open up to her.

“You are going to pitch Saturday, right?” asked Grego. He and DD had reached the bus stop and joined three other kids waiting for their ride.

“Yup, Dad said I’m up.”

Grego nodded in satisfaction. “Now we have a chance to win one!”

“IF I pitch a good game,” cautioned DD.

“AND, IF we get some hits,” added Grego. “By the way, it was great that we got some help yesterday. What do you think of Mr. Baxter?”

“I think he’ll be great,” DD replied. “There’s something about him…”

Just then their bus turned the corner a block away and the boys cut their conversation off. The children picked up their lunches and backpacks and patiently waited until the bus stopped in front of them and opened the door.

As always, after climbing the stairs into the bus, DD and Grego headed down the aisle to the rear of the bus where they liked to sit. Halfway down the aisle, they were forced to halt. Rising up to block their way was a human wall by the name of Zeph Yarnell.

“Well, if it isn’t two of the losers from the Yankees!” sneered Zeph.

“Get out of the way, Zeph” said DD.

Leaning down, Zeph put his face an inch from DD’s. “I don’t move for losers!”

“You are the loser, Zeph. If you don’t believe me,” replied DD, “just ask anyone here on the bus.”

“What do you think, Zeph,” added Grego. “Should we take a vote?”

PG. 79 TGACD R. ZEIS

The bully was blindsided by this strategy. DD and Grego could see he was trying to figure out what to do and say as he looked around at the other kids seated on the bus. It seemed all of them were watching the drama unfold. A few seconds later, Zeph sat down clearing the aisle.

“We’ll settle this another time, losers!”

Not saying another word, the two friends found their way to the rear of the bus and sat down. Several of the kids turned in their seats to smile at the boys.

Grego leaned close to DD and whispered, “That was a close one.”

DD nodded agreement. “One day he’ll get what’s coming to him.”

Charlie had to admit that baseball practice started out a lot better than he had hoped. Gus had been waiting for everyone to arrive and helped Charlie get started. Practice got even better when Gus volunteered to hit the baseball to the team allowing DD to field popups and throws from his teammates. It also allowed Charlie’s arm to rest.

Things went smoothly until it came time for batting practice. Chris “Beast” Harper was the first to swing a bat. As always, Beast could only hit about one in ten pitches.

“What’s the matter with you?” asked Gus who was standing behind the screen at home plate. “Keep your eye on the ball!”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Baxter,” responded Beast. “I think I’m too big to really get a good swing in.” Gus looked at the large boy and his ample tummy and shook his head.

“Babe Ruth was big too,” Gus offered. “He hit pretty good. You need to try harder. Go out and field some flies. Let someone else hit.”

Beast opened his mouth to say something but changed his mind. Dejected, Beast dropped his bat and walked back to the dugout to get his glove.

“You were a little rough on the boy, Gus,” said Charlie who had joined his father behind the screen.

“Look, Charlie, I’m the one you asked for. I’m the one who knows this game. You don’t know anything about baseball. Let me do this so we can get it over with.”

The rebuke stung Charlie so badly he literally took a step back from his father. Any doubts about who this was disappeared. This was truly his father. “Dad, you may know this

PG. 80 TGACD R. ZEIS

game better than I do. There is no doubt about that, but you can’t treat these children like you did me!”

Gus turned quickly to face Charlie. “Next you’re going to tell me ‘it’s only a game.’ Right? I tried to teach you that baseball is like life itself. There will be good times, there will be bad times. If you work hard at baseball, just like life itself, you will be rewarded with results. You keep trying…and you DON’T quit!” Those last four words were verbal punches.

Anger welled up quickly in Charlie. It was a wave of old anger that had reared up in him when he was a boy. It was an anger that had stayed with him long past the time he had quit playing baseball. Gus had focused on Charlie’s failure at baseball and applied it to everything Charlie tried to do and accomplish. If Charlie got a bad report card, it was because he quit trying and didn’t study hard enough. When Charlie didn’t get accepted to the college he wanted to attend it was because he failed to impress the right people. Charlie even got blamed for quitting when a girlfriend broke up with him. It was a broken record. Charlie had quit baseball, so he would quit on everything else.

“Dad, when I prayed for help it was for someone to take over this team. I wanted someone who loved the game and wanted to help these kids. Instead, it appears I got only one part of my prayer.”

“Charlie, I didn’t volunteer for this. I didn’t want to do this. And yet, here we are.” Gus paused and thought a moment. “So, are you going to quit on me again?”

Charlie wanted to say yes and to walk away from all of this. He wanted to leave this game, leave his father and put it all behind him. Instead, he looked out on the field and saw DD laughing as he fired the ball down to second base. DD loved the game. Charlie would not be his father. “Dad, I won’t quit. But, I will agree on one thing with you.”

“What’s that, Charlie?”

Looking his father in the eye he said, “We need to get this over with.”

Following practice, DD and Grego began their short walk home. Both wanted to talk about what had just happened at practice.

“Mr. Baxter is a little tough on everyone,” said Grego.

“You’re right about that,” agreed DD. “Did you see that Beast and Mitzi were crying a little?”

PG. 81 TGACD R. ZEIS

Grego nodded yes he had. “I didn’t like that at all. We may have practiced better than we ever had today, but Mr. Baxter is a bit rough around the edges. Are you going to ask your dad about this?”

DD thought about that. He remembered how his father had seemed disturbed by something and wasn’t exactly himself. “I’ll have to see about that, Grego. Dad seems to have a lot on his mind.”

As the two boys made their way home, Charlie was putting the baseball equipment into the team’s duffel bag. Gus walked over to drop a couple of baseballs in. “So, will I see you tomorrow?”

Charlie closed up the duffel bag and looked at his father. “Yeah, I’ll be here.”

Gus looked around the field before he responded. “Good. I’ll be here too. I don’t quit.”

“Maybe,” Charlie replied, “you shouldn’t quit on the kids either. I won’t.”

Gus didn’t say a word. He turned away and started to walk towards a mist that had started to form near the pitcher’s mound.