Pleasant Plum #7

He should have never been there in the first place. This was my place. My sanctuary and he was violating it with his presence and his baggage. I could recognize him by that dumb-ass popular hat. I needed to think, and here he was, a catalyst churning up memories I had tried so hard to suppress. Bastard.

I trudged up hill, hoping the sound of snow crunching under my boots would startle him away. I imagined him scuttling away like a terrified high school boy and I smiled. I had power now, he didn’t; and his presence belied a vulnerability that I had never thought possible. I tried to prevent the sharks in my mind from attacking with vicious retorts to his infiltration.

He was staring out in to the night at where the blanketed baseball field was. Those were glorious nights for him so long ago.

But it really wasn’t. It seems eons because I had so dramatically changed, and anything that significant must have taken along time. At least that’s what I felt.

He heard my footfall, and turned. All the anger that I was caring slid away as I saw his face. Older, with a well groomed beard that was meant to give him dignity, but only added to his age. Superficially, everything was fine, six years aged sense I last saw him. But his eyes and his presence, here, tonight, with a northeast wind. It hinted at something more.

Him: Hey.

Me: Hey.

Him: How ya’ been, alright I hope?

Me: Yeah. How about you?

Him: Okay, my sister’s having a baby, that’s why I’m back home.

Me: Gottcha, must be nice to be home for Christmas, I had gotten the impression you were never coming back.

Him: Yeah, well things change, don’t they. It’s not that nice. She’s not married, and my Mom doesn’t know whether to be happy or sad about it. The result is Mother’s just kinda mopey. Dealing with two hormonal women, with Dad at work is kinda ruff. But how about you? Shelia said you got a Master’s Degree.

Me: Yeah, I’m teaching now. My teachers were a lifeline for me, I just wanted to return the favor.

Him: Yeah, about high school, I kinda….

Me: Don’t worry about it, I’m over it.

He turned back to look at the field, after a while he said:

Him: K. Sheila and I are getting married.

Me. Yeah, I heard. Congratulations.

Him: Yeah, we are pretty excited about it. Ecstatic I mean. Listen, did you come here in high school?

Me: Yup, watched the games. Those were great games.

Him: South West League Champions my senior year. God that was great.

Me: Sure, sure. Why do you ask?

Him: I thought I saw you as I was playing sometimes.

Me: Yeah, it was safer here for me than in the bleachers.

Him: Yeah, that was probably true.

Me: Sorry, gotta go, I’m freezing my ass of here, and I need to help Mom bake yet tonight.

His presence had startled me-scared me in fact. The person on the hill I was leaving behind seemed quiet. Thoughtful. Something that was never him six years ago. I left him looking at the baseball field should be, the fences coated in ice, and the hard metal batting cages. He was seeking sanctuary, but found it hidden in a layer of snow.