The Game Changer The Final Score - By L.M. Trio Page 0,12
for discovering new talent.
When I relay the information to my art professor, he assures me that this is an opportunity of a lifetime for someone my age. Dad and Deanna are ecstatic when I tell them the news, but, at the same time, disappointed that I won’t be able to have time to get home this summer. Between working at The Blue at night, the Gallery during the day, and finding time to paint in between, when will I ever find the time to go home?
At least that’s what I convince myself.
Chapter 4
(Luke)
As I sit here, tapping my foot on the tethered-brown, worn sofa, staring out of the dirty glass window, waiting for my ride, I try to remember the last time I felt this anxious. Maybe it was the day of the draft? Could it have been that plane ride to Georgia after the night I kissed JJ for the first time? I’m not sure, but those were the last times I can remember my stomach feeling jumbled inside and feeling somewhat excited by the feeling. I arrived at the halfway house late Saturday afternoon. Today, Monday is the first time I’m allowed out on my own to go to work.
The McKnaultys, who have always been good to me, offered me a job at the garden center. Mikey and I had worked for them since we were fifteen and it was the only job I ever had growing up. They’ve always liked us, and over the years had gotten to know my family. My dad went to them with the terms of my work release program, and they didn’t hesitate when agreeing to employ me while I finish out the remainder of my sentence. I’m approved to be signed out from seven am till five pm each week day.
I’m looking forward to getting outside and doing landscaping again; I’ve been cooped up for so long that I can barely wait to be in the fresh air each day. Plus, I’ll have the opportunity to stop home every day before heading back here, which is about a notch or two up from the cage I’ve been living in.
To be able to eat my mom’s home cooked meals, or stop in WaWa or McD’s for lunch, seems so unreal to me. I jump from my seat even before the truck has had a chance to stop.
As we drive past my old high school, I think about how much my life has changed in a few short years. I had it all back then; everyone looked up to me, tons of interviews and newspaper articles told of my success. Now, I’m a joke… or a tragedy, rather. I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to baseball. I’m never going to be able to live down what happened. No matter what I do, how hard I try, or how good I am, the media will never let it go. It’ll be the first thing they mention whenever they talk about me. Who needs that? I think to myself, blowing off the idea. I decide to think of something else. I don’t want the bad thoughts to ruin my day. This is a good day. I’m free at last, at least until five, anyway.
It’s been twenty months and nineteen days since the last time I’ve been in my home. The guys were told to knock off a little earlier today, giving me extra time to spend with my family. Driving down the familiar tree-lined streets where I’ve grown up, everything looks the same, yet, feels so different. Most of my friends are gone, moved on to college.
As the McKnaulty’s Garden Center pick-up truck turns onto my street, the first thing to catch my eye is JJ’s house. I feel a stabbing pain in my chest, a pain so sharp that it takes my breath for a moment. There’s a car in her driveway that I’m not familiar with. Then again, I look across the street and there’s a car in my own driveway that I’m not familiar with,either. It’s been too long. Looking at her house, especially her bedroom window—the same one I climbed in and out of a million times—makes me briefly smile to myself, but the feeling doesn’t last for long, it’s replaced with the guilt and heartache I feel.
Does she know I’m home? Will she come see me? I’m not the same person I was then. She won’t like the person I’ve become, I think to myself.