Ted shrugged his shoulders. “Good luck,” he called as he walked away.
“Same to you,” countered Paul.
Paul signalled to the boys to take the field. The umpire took his place in the pitcher’s box and called, “Batter up!”
Paul was catching. He motioned to Ken to meet him halfway. He said, “Don’t let them discourage you. Let them hit; the boys out in the field will back you up.”
They separated and returned to their respective positions. As Ken poised, measuring up the first batter, a wave of applause and loud cheering went up from the stands. His team-mates encouraged him. “Alright, Ken, give it to him.”
“Don’t be too hard on him, boy. Let him smell it.”
“Sure. That guy’ll never see it.”
Paul signalled and Ken wound up. He took his time pitching the first ball. The batter patted the home plate with the bat as the umpire called, “Strike one!”
“That’s the boy, show him your dust.”