Emily’s World: Better Than the Majors
Completed: 5/17/05
Rating: G
Summary: Emily’s first t-ball game.
Author’s Notes: This story is a little different in that it switches from Josh’s POV to Donna’s to CJ’s. But seeing as how there was no way any of them would miss Emily’s first game, it seemed to be the way to go. Ninth in the "Emily's World" series.
“This is a big day, Em.”
She looks up at me from her Fruity Pebbles and smiles. “You already said that, three times,” she says with a full mouth.
“I did?” She nods while shoving a huge spoonful of cereal in her mouth, dripping milk down her pajama top. “Well… it is. It’s a big day.”
She wipes her mouth with the back of her hands and giggles. “That’s four times now.”
“You don’t have to count, you know,” I whine.
She pats my hand. “It’s ok, Daddy. I know you’re excited, Mommy told me.”
I raise my eyebrows. “She did?” She just meant about the game, right?
“Yeah. She said you’d bounce around like Tigger.”
“I don’t bounce like Tigger,” I say emphatically.
“You bounced last week on your and Mommy’s anniversitary. ”
I chew the Fruity Pebbles in my mouth and look at her. “I did?”
She smiles at me again. “You always bounce when you and Mommy go out on dates.”
“I do?”
“Yeah. And when you buy her things, specially flowers.”
“Really?” Is this true?
“Yeah. It’s cause you like her a lot.” She takes another bite, slurping it into her mouth.
“Does she bounce before our dates?”
She shakes her head. “No.”
“Oh,” I say defeatedly.
“But she changes her clothes lots and lots of times and takes a long time doing her hair.”
“She does?” Now my voice is hopeful and cheery.
“Yes. When will I start going on dates?”
My eyes bug out of my head and I try to control the voice inside me that’s screaming ‘NEVER!’ “When your 32.”
She smiles. “Ok. Can we get ice cream after the game today?”
I nod, happy that she seems content with the dating answer. “Sure. What position do you think you’ll play today?”
She shrugs. “Don’t know. Shortstop maybe. That’s where I was at practice Thursday.”
Donna comes in the kitchen then, still in her pajamas with her hair mussed up, and I have the nearly uncontrolable urge to jump her body. “How’s the star t-ball player today?”
“I’m good. Daddy said I could have these,” she says, pointing to her bowl, selling me out…again.
Donna looks at the Fruity Pebbles, which is supposed to be reserved for after school snacks, then looks back at me with a raised eyebrow. “What?” I screech. “It’s a big day!”
“That’s five,” Emily says with a full mouth.
**********
“That’s twelve!” I yell as Emily pumps her fists in the air and dances around. “Twelve catches in a row! That’s a new record!” There’s two hours before the game, we thought we’d get in one more quick practice.
She runs up to me and jumps in my arms. “I’m getting better,” she says with a dimpled grin.
“You’re getting great. You’re gonna play for the Mets someday.”
“You’re coming to my game today, right?”
She’s asked me that about three times a day for the last week and twice already this morning. “Of course I’m coming. Uncle Sam and I are going to meet you and Mommy and Aunt CJ there after our meeting, remember?”
She gets a pout on her face. “But what if your meeting lasts a super duper long time?”
“Then I’ll tell them my angel has her first t-ball game and I’m going to be there for it, and I’ll leave.”
“Really?”
“Really,” I say nodding.
She buries her head in my neck, which always turns me to putty. “You’re the bestest Daddy in the whole wide world,” she whispers.
I pull her a little closer. “Well, you’re the bestest daughter in the whole wide world.”
It’s quiet for a minute while we stand in the back yard, her in my arms. “Daddy,” she whispers a minute later, still holding me close.
“Yes?”
“You’ll still love me, even if I miss some, right?”
I pull back and look at her, a half-pout forming and a little fear in her eyes. “I’ll love you, even if you miss all of them.”
“Just as much?”
I nod and try not to cry. “Just as much.”
A big smile comes across her face. “I thought so, I just wanted to check.”
**********
“How do I look?” I hear her ask Donna. Donna’s in her room, helping her get dressed and I can’t see her, but I’d bet money she’s holding her arms out and spinning around in the universal child’s way of showing someone what they’re wearing.
“You look beautiful.”
“Mommy! I can’t look brutiful. I need to look tough and basebally.”
“Basebally?”
“Daddy!” Emily yells.
I come into her room a minute later. “Wow, look at you,” I say, pretending to study her. She’s got her red “Inside Washington with CJ Cregg Braves,” t-shirt with the number 8 on the back and matching baseball cap on, as well as her white baseball pants, and has her tiny mitt in her hand. She looks absolutely adorable with her ponytail sticking out the hole in the back of the cap and her array of missing and growing in teeth, but of course I don’t say that. “Very tough and basebally. You look perfect.”
She smiles at Donna. “See Mommy.”
Donna glances at me with a look that’s somewhere between ‘you’re as bad as her’ and ‘I want to jump your bones right now.’ I get that look a lot. Being a cool dad does well for my sex life.
*********
“So,” I ask her on the way to the park. “Are you excited?”
“Sometimes I miss,” she says quietly.
“What?”
She looks out the window. “When Daddy throws me the ball. Sometimes I miss.”
She’s scared. I hadn’t expected this. “Of course you do, Em. Everyone misses sometimes. You’re just learning.”
She looks down at the mitt in her lap and starts fiddling with the ties. “But I’ve been practicing and practicing and practicing and I still miss sometimes.” She and Josh have been playing catch and practicing her hitting in the back yard every night for three weeks since practice started. She’s actually getting quite good.
“Yeah, but you’re getting better and better.”
Finally she looks up at me in the rearview mirror and I smile at her. “How do you know?”
“You’re daddy told me. Just last night he told me you’re gonna play for the Mets someday.” Actually, he made me promise we could buy season tickets if she played for the Mets someday, but that’s the same thing.
“He did? He told me that today too.”
I nod. “Yes. Now he wouldn’t say that if you weren’t super good, right?”
She tilts her head and ponders this. “Right…”
“So if he said it, you must be awesome.”
“Even though I miss sometimes?”
“Everyone misses sometimes. I bet even Daddy.”
“Nu huh, never,” she says, shaking her head slowly back and forth.
Really? Can that be true? “Well, that must just be because you throw so good.”
She raises her eyebrows. “You think?”
I nod. “I bet so. It’s probably easy for him to catch them cause you throw them right to him.”
Now she gets a huge smile on her face. “Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Can I be a artist and the President and still play baseball in New York?”
See, the funny thing about that question is that her chances of being the President or playing for the Mets far outweigh her chances of being a successful artist. “Well, you’d be pretty busy…”
She thinks for a minute. “But I can’t be President till I’m 35, right?”
“Right.” How is it that a five year-old knows this?
She shrugs. “Well, I’ll just play for the Mets first, and then be President when I’m 35. Then when I’m done being President, I’ll be a artist.”
“That sounds good, but it’s an artist, not a artist.”
She makes a face. “I always forget the ‘n’ sometimes.” Always sometimes?
**********
Sam and Josh have both had two hot dogs as well as popcorn before the game even starts. Josh also has a snickers bar hiding in his pocket, but I think it’s for Emily, so I’m not gonna rat him out. Before the game started, Donna forbid him from yelling at the umps, but it’s only the bottom of the first and he’s pushed his luck twice. He and Sam are currently cheering and screaming as if this was better than watching a major league game. Admittedly, Donna and I aren’t much better.
Emily comes up to bat and Donna checks the camcorder to make sure it’s focused on home plate. President and Dr. Bartlet have demanded a copy be sent to them immediately following the game, and you still don’t argue with them.
When she gets to the plate, the four of us stand up and she smiles and waves at us, dropping the bat in the process. Her coach comes up and helps her with her grip, then stands back as she starts to bat. Now, you might not know this, I didn't before today, but the ball is stationary for t-ball, no one pitches it to them. Still, it must be harder than it looks, because most kids either miss altogether or hit the pole it sits on, knocking the ball off but not sending it anywhere.
Emily sticks her tongue out, concentrating on the ball, then pulls back and swings, hitting it out just past the third baseman. She quickly looks up at us then runs to first base. When she gets there, the coach waves her on to second while the other five year olds try to figure out how to throw the ball without dropping it. All four of us scream the whole time she’s running, and when she’s safely on second, our screams become even louder and Josh and Donna hug as though she just graduated from Harvard. She waves again and takes a bow, causing people in the row in front of us to ooh and aw over her. Josh then yells loudly, “That’s my baby!”
In the third inning, she gets moved to first base instead of shortstop and Sam turns to me and explains excitedly that it’s because she’s the only kid on the team who can actually catch the ball when it’s thrown to her, like I couldn’t have guessed that myself. She does indeed catch most of the balls thrown to her, at least the ones that come somewhat close to where she’s standing. These kids have no aim. Still, she’s a natural. And to think… Josh and Donna laughed at me when I forced the show to sponsor the team.
When her team bats again, I notice her talking to the third baseman, who had missed a few balls hit his way. She pats him on the shoulder, which catches Josh’s eye, and he starts to stand up, but Donna puts her hand on his knee, keeping him where he is, which just makes me laugh. He looks at Sam, who not so casually gets up and walks down the bleachers. What is he, Josh’s back up? I follow him to make sure he doesn’t beat up a five year old, and listen as she consoles the child. “My mommy said we’re kids and sometimes we’re gonna mess up and it’s ok, and she never lies. You caught one, and you’ll get better and better. Next time, you might catch two.” I give Sam a look and he puts his head down in shame and sulks back to his seat.
A minute later, Emily notices me and smiles. “Hi Aunt CJ!”
“Hello Emily Joan. You’re doing very well, you’re the best one out there.” Just for good measure, I turn to the kid next to her. “And you made a very good catch.” He smiles at me and then at Emily like she’s amazing. Oh yeah, he’s in love.
“Thank you,” she says to me. I’m gonna bat soon. Daddy can see me ok from up there?” It’s been said before, and it’ll no doubt be said again, but she is such a daddy’s girl.
I nod. “Yes ma’am, he can see you perfectly. And he’s cheering.”
“I can hear him. He’s the loudest daddy there,” she says proudly.
“Yes, I know,” I say not so proudly.
I go back to my seat a minute later when she goes up to bat, and two minutes after that, she gets tagged out running to second. Stupid kid batting behind her hit the ball right to the second baseman; she didn’t stand a chance. They need to change the batting order to get her some help out there; she’s carrying the team. As she walks back to the dugout, she bites her lip like her mother and looks up at us. Josh stands up and yells, “Good try baby, way to hustle,” and she smiles and skips the rest of the way into the dugout. Like I said... Daddy's girl.
But then… in the sixth inning… it’s her turn at bat and she goes up and digs her feet into the dirt, Josh elbowing Sam and proudly announcing he taught her that. She looks up and grins at us, then her tongue snakes out and she concentrates on the ball. She misses on the first swing, but on the second… the ball soars through the air and she starts running. She’s almost to first when it finally lands between the right and center fielders, and well past second before they’ve run to where it landed and picked it up. Josh, Sam, Donna and I are cheering and screaming and jumping up and down and about the time she crosses home plate Josh jumps down over the back of the bleachers. A few seconds later, he’s just inside the fence, scooping her up into his arms, and her arms are over her head and the whole crowd of fifty people are cheering and standing on their feet and I decide Josh and Sam are right; this is better than the majors.