The Prospect by Eliot Parker (e novels to read online txt) 📕

forward, you are holding up the line,” reminded Harry.
“I…I…I hear some d…d…discontent here boys,” noted Ryan who was busily making sure every player signed everything. “T…t…this is g…g…going to a g…good cause
Chaz was unfazed. “Yea, yea, it still blows.” Chaz noticed that Biggie Rowan, who was standing near the end of the line, was having trouble keeping the ink from the Sharpie marker off of his hands.
Morton Mitchell appeared at the back of the gathering crowd and darted his way towards the front. “Phillip, Phillip, we’re all set. Next Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. all of the media will be here and I am having flyers put up all over town.”
“Excellent work mayor!” Phil complimented.
“Where in the world is Trip, he should have been here by now. His signature is probably the only one anybody wants anyway,” Chaz said, stepping aside from the makeshift signature assembly line.
“I do not know, I have not seen him all day,” remarked Harry, although he wondered why nobody else was asking about Shane’s absence.
“N…now r…r…remember, Pat is taking some of you to clean up this distributing warehouse at the sawmill this a…a…afternoon, and c….c….coach said that curfew is t…t…ten for t…the road trip t…t…tomorrow,” Ryan reminded.
Chaz leaned in towards Harry and grunted, “He is having way too much fun with this.” Harry chuckled and shook his head in agreement.

XXVIII
Olivia slammed the front door shut behind her after suggesting Shane follow her home. Both said very little since Olivia announced that she was pregnant. It was Olivia’s recommendation that they go inside her house to discuss the issue, rather than discuss the matter in the middle of the street.
She managed to take off her baseball cap and let her rich, auburn hair fall just past her shoulders. Olivia turned and faced Shane who was standing with his arms folded, trembling.
“I know that was not the best way to tell you, but you needed to know as soon as possible.”
“Damn right!” Shane fired back. “I cannot believe this happened. I am not ready to be a father. Good lord, I can hardly take care of my mother and myself.”
“We still have some time,” reminded Olivia. “I will not start showing for a couple of more months and the baby will not be here for several months after that.”
Shane spun and faced the closed door, his blue eyes fiery and his cheeks full of color. “That is supposed to be some sort of consolation! Olivia, we are going to be parents. Has this thought set in your brain yet?”
“Well Shane, what do you want me to do? Pretend it did not happen? It’s a little late for that.”
“Are you sure that you are pregnant. Are you absolutely positive?”
“Yes I am,” Olivia responded dryly as she replayed the series of events in her mind. “I was fine for a few weeks. Then, I started having frequent stomach aches and lightheadedness. When I checked my desk calendar, I was two weeks late on my period. I went to the drugstore and got a pregnancy test. It was pink. So yes, I am sure.”
“Damnit!” Shane exclaimed. “How are we going to explain this to everyone? Most people do not even know about that night. Why did that night even have to take place?”
“Shane we made love that night, does that not mean anything to you?” “We did not make love, we had sex. There is a difference.”
Amazed, Olivia placed a hand over her mouth as her eyes filled with tears. “Shane, I love you. I have loved you since that night. I cannot believe that what happened that night was so trivial to you.”
“Sorry, Olivia, but if I had known that what happened would have created this mess, then I would have stayed away.”
Olivia began sobbing quietly. She turned away from Shane, now her back facing his back, separated physically by only a few inches and by a great distance of opinion.
Shane pivoted forcefully, spun around, and grabbed her shoulders and turned her around. “You cannot be like this, all mushy and weepy. We are in the mess together and it is going to be our responsibility to get ourselves out of it.”
“Something tells me because of this, you are going to leave. You will have nothing to do with me or the baby.”
Shane dropped his gaze and meet eye level with Olivia. “I will not leave you. But Olivia, we cannot possibly have this child. We can go to Charleston. There is an abortion clinic near where Mamma goes to the hospital. Chaz knows a nurse there.
“Shane!” Olivia shrieked. “I am going to have this baby, our baby. An abortion is out of the question.” She lightly placed her hand on Shane’s smooth, muscular forearm, lifted it, and placed it on her own stomach. “A baby is a gift from God. It is not right to kill an innocent life like that.”
“Rest assured my dear, you will have the baby.”
The statement came from Morton Mitchell, who had been standing in the kitchen off from the main foyer listening to every word. Morton’s voice hung in the air like a thick fog. “My daughter is pregnant. By a boy she barely knows.”
Astonished and befuddled, all Olivia could do was whisper “Daddy?”
Shane, although shocked, remained resolute, waiting for what the mayor had to say.
“Get out you bastard, get out of my house!” barked the mayor, stepping closer and closer to Shane. Shane could feel the mayor icy gaze directed straight at him.
Olivia attempted to intervene, but instead the mayor shoved her aside. “I will not have white trash like you ruin my life or my daughter’s. You are to stay away from her!”
Shane’s lip quivered and he could feel the muscles in his neck tighten.
“Let me make this abundantly clear,” Morton continued in hushed, forced tones. “You are never to see my daughter. She and I will take care of everything. But you had better hope you make it big in baseball son. Because regardless, I am going to make sure that you financially support this child until the day you die.”
Shane brushed Olivia aside and approached Morton and stood in front of him. His chiseled physique resembled a sculpture standing next to a bloated marsh mellow. Shane was not going to back down-not this time. Whatever power and influence Morton thought he could wield over Shane was having no effect on this situation.
“You know nothing about me, or about the relationship Olivia and I have,” Shane said, placidly. “This baby will know me and will grow to love me as its father. There is nothing you can do about it. Absolutely nothing!”
“Stop it! Both of you!” demanded Olivia as she stood next to the two men. Morton could feel Shane’s hot breath tickle his chin, and the feeling just continued to seethe him.
“What is it about people like you, huh Triplet. You come to town, you can play baseball and you think you can reek havoc while you are here. We have already seen your propensity for poor judgment. You got yourself suspended for some worthless fight. You are a great example for this child.”
“The real issue here sir is that you have not liked me since I came to town and I want to know why. One minute, you do not speak to me. The next, you are inviting me to your home for lasagna. Your attitude was crap, and now I am going to be a part of your life for a long time to come. The Triplets will be involved with the Mitchells for years. The thought makes you sick.”
Writhing with frustration the mayor swung a fist in Shane’s direction. In a quick reflexive motion, Shane grabbed Morton’s hand and squeezed it tightly, holding the fist inches from their faces.
Shane began to feel sweat beads form on his brow and wisps of his blond hair dangled over both ears. The mayor’s eyes were polarized and foggy, almost suggesting that anger had totally possessed him.
“Daddy, Shane, stop! Please!” pleaded Olivia. “This is not solving or helping in any way.”
Shane flipped his fingers back, releasing the grip on the knuckled fist. Furious, Shane spoke, his voice resolute with a rush of adrenaline. “I need to be going. I have got to sign some things for the festival auction and check on my reinstatement.” Shane turned toward Olivia.
“I will talk to you soon okay?”
“Okay,” she responded, faintly.
Once Shane had slammed the door upon leaving, Olivia faced her father, who was still writhing in disgust at what transpired only a few moments earlier.
“You had no right to do that!” shouted Olivia. “You had no right to listen in on our conversation or give us your opinion.”
Pointing to Olivia’s stomach, the mayor vehemently fired back. “That child was conceived in this house. You are still under my roof! Just because you are getting ready to go to Marshall does not mean that all bets are off around here. As long as you are under this roof, you will play by my rules, plain and simple. This is a jungle sweetheart and I am King Kong. And you know my thoughts on dating.”
Olivia walked way and dropped her head. This time, the mayor approached her and displayed more tenderly mannerisms.
“Honey, look what you have done. Your life has changed forever. Things are never going to be the same now. You and I have a baby to raise and support. What happened in one night is going to change the way the rest of your living days are spent.”
“’We’ also includes Shane, daddy,” Olivia said. “I love him and he loves me. This child is as much his as it is mine. I will not let you forbid him to see the baby or keep us apart. I promise that we will raise this baby together and he or she will grow up to be a wonderful person. We will raise him up in the church and make God the focal point of its life. And Shane and I will make it, even if he doesn’t make it to professional baseball. If we have to leave Sheaville and West Virginia, we will do that. So spare me the lectures about not fully understanding what has happened. I am fully aware. I have thought a lot about this.”
Morton placed his hands on his daughter’s petite shoulders and leaned next to her left ear. Whispering softly, he concluded, “I certainly hope so. Things are never going to be the same. Not for Shane, not for you, and not for anyone. By the way, do not share a word of this to anyone. Nobody needs to know about this. Primary elections are in November and I do not want everyone in Sheaville to know that my daughter is a whore.”
Olivia smacked her father squarely across the face and jolted upstairs crying. In response, the mayor massaged his cheek and smiled devilishly.

XXIX
Sitting in the spacious, plush dugout in Augusta, Georgia was anything but comforting for the Sheaville Loggers. High organizational expectations combined with swarms of media publicity inside and outside of West Virginia weighed heavily on the minds of the Loggers players, especially manager Walter Mann. This was supposed to be the year that Sheaville proved to the rest of the teams in the Appalachian Baseball Association that the Loggers were going to be a competitive, dominant team in the near future. But several close losses combined with the suspensions of Biggie Rowan and Shane Triplet put the team at a painful crossroads. And for most of the players, whose competitive spirit was their sole motivation, watching the season collapse