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They spent the night at a hotel in Camden, in separate rooms, and Emily lay awake most of the night worrying about her students. Where were they all? Were they scared? What did Juniper think of all this?
In the morning, the bomb threat was all over the local news. Emily learned that school had been canceled. They were supposed to leave for Vinalhaven that morning, and she wondered if the game would be canceled too.
An hour later, the newscaster announced that the bomb squad had declared the site cleared. There had never been any bombs.
James and Emily headed back to the island.
When they got there, she didn’t know whom to ask about the games. There was no athletic director. She emailed the baseball coach, who promptly answered that yes, as far as he knew, they still had games to play. She found this a tremendous relief. Even though it meant frantically running around to make the ferry.
When she got to the terminal, she was dismayed to find half her team missing. Those present included: MacKenzie, Hailey, Ava, Sara, Natalie, Kylie, Chloe, DeAnna, and Allie. Everyone else was absent—including Thomas and Juniper. She had enough to field a team, but what kind of team would it be without her first baseman, her best hitter, and her pitcher?
She was on the verge of tears when James came up behind her. “Mind if I come along?”
“I thought you had to fish.”
“I should,” he said. “But I felt like I was supposed to do this instead.”
“Thank you,” she said and meant it.
––––––––
She started Hailey on the mound and slid Ava over to shortstop. She put Chloe on third, which she knew was ridiculous, but she thought she was the least likely to get hurt there. She did tell her to play deep, right beside her base. She put Allie on second, and Sara on first, which left a gaping wound in centerfield, a wound it didn’t take Vinalhaven long to find.
The Vikings pounded Hailey all over the field, and Natalie in center didn’t have a chance. Neither did little Kylie in left. Emily was grateful that they didn’t hit it to DeAnna in right. Though, she was also stunned to see that DeAnna was backing up every single throw to first, which was a good thing, because Sara wasn’t catching very many of them. Not because she couldn’t catch the ball, but because her teammates couldn’t throw it. Unless Vinalhaven hit it to Hailey, they got on base. So despite the fact that Hailey threw mostly strikes, and only walked one girl in the whole game, the whole business was a giant disaster.
Ava hit the ball, and MacKenzie got on with a bunt, but other than that, the Piercehaven batter’s box was a dry well. The Panthers fell to the Vikings 18 to 0 and Emily was more upset than she thought she should have been.
Then she was assigned, along with sisters Natalie and Kylie Greem, to spend the night at a garrulous widow’s home. Her house was beautiful, and she was very hospitable, but Emily just wasn’t in the mood to socialize. And the woman was absolutely fascinated with all the windmill drama happening on Piercehaven.
“Darn near tore this island apart, all that foolishness.”
“So you didn’t mind the windmills going up here?”
“Oh, I minded, but I didn’t want to get all shook up over it either. Though, my Max hasn’t been the same since.” She looked down at her dog.
“He doesn’t like the windmills?” Emily was kind of joking.
“Heavens, no! When they first went up, he would howl all night, talking to the spinning blades, I s’pose. My sister’s dog was even worse. They live closer to the site, and the windmills would reflect light through their windows, send that dog tearing all over the house chasing that light. Poor Scooby has gone over the rainbow now, though.”
Finally, the gregarious woman left her visitors alone to sleep. For the second night in a row, Emily tossed and turned.
––––––––
God’s mercies are new every morning, but Emily didn’t wake up immediately cognizant of that fact. Instead, she woke up desperate for coffee. The kind woman didn’t have any but ran out to the coffeeshop. Vinalhaven has a coffee shop? Color me jealous!
Emily was exceptionally grateful when the woman returned with coffee in a tall paper cup, and Emily tried to communicate that appreciativeness. Then she, Natalie, and Kylie got into their host’s car and headed toward the field, where she finally saw her new mercies. The field was speckled with far more pinstriped girls than had been there the day before, and there was no mistaking the lithe young woman windmilling to her father.
She leapt out of the car and resisted the urge to give Juniper a bearhug. Instead she approached Jake.
“Good morning!” Jake said.
“Morning!”
“Sorry we missed yesterday. I got called back to the office, and I was in meetings all morning. I didn’t think they’d play the game, or I would’ve left Juniper with someone else—”
“It’s OK, it’s OK,” Emily said.
“No, it’s really not. Juniper was furious. Still is furious. But I honestly thought no school meant no game. And yesterday was really crazy. I had a lot on my mind.”
“I’m sure you did. You’re coming back to Piercehaven, right?”
He gave her a broad grin. “I’ll pretend it’s me you want, and not my daughter, but yes, that is the plan. They offered me a replacement, but I declined. What’s a few death threats when your daughter’s finally happy on a softball team?”
Emily smiled gratefully. Then, lest she hurt any feelings, she traveled around the field welcoming everyone else back too. And as the girls kept showing up, so did fans. There were a lot of Piercehaveners on Vinalhaven that day. Emily was surprised and touched on behalf of her girls. This was going to be a good day. New mercies indeed.
––––––––
In the pre-game huddle, Emily made it clear that, under the circumstances, no one was in trouble for missing the game. Then she asked those who had missed the game to thank the ones who hadn’t. They all did so, aloud, with some giggles. “We tried,” Hailey said. “But now let’s do better.”
“Yes, let’s,” Emily said and sent MacKenzie up to bat.
As the girls settled in in the dugout, Emily overheard DeAnna say, “It wasn’t Bojack, you know. He’s still in jail.”
“I know,” Juniper said.
“It wasn’t any of my family.”
“I believe you.”
MacKenzie got on with a bunt, and the crowd went wild. Hailey grounded out to second, and the crowd went just as wild. Emily had no idea they could sound so supportive. Ava stepped up to the plate and some people seated near the left field line stood up and unfurled a sheet that read “Ava the Slay-ah!” Ava singled, moving MacKenzie to third. Then Hannah drove the first pitch right up the middle, allowing MacKenzie to jog across the plate. The crowd was on their feet. Emily stood there looking at them, wondering why they had shown up in such force.
The Panthers scored three runs that first inning and took the field feeling pretty confident. But Vinalhaven had no intentions of surrendering. They didn’t hit off Juniper the way they had off Hailey—not even close—but they did hit off her. Emily was surprised. Juniper looked a little surprised herself. But the team behind her fielded the ball, with the exception of the grounder that rolled beneath Chloe’s glove. They ended the first inning tied at three.
They ended the sixth inning tied at seven. They had to score and then hold the Vikings, or they would go into extra innings.
Allie was up. She hit a blooper over the first baseman’s head and then acted as if she’d hit a homerun. Whatever. We’ll take it. They were at the top of the lineup. The infield collapsed in on MacKenzie. She gave Emily a panicked look. “Just hit the ball,” Emily said.
MacKenzie’s eyes widened in further panic. She asked the ump for a timeout and then ran to her coach. “Can I still bunt? I think I can beat out the throw.”
“No, you cannot bunt with them that close. I want you to swing and drive it down their throats.”
“Coach!” MacKenzie said, shocked.
“Take a good swing. Try to hit it, but even if you don’t, maybe they’ll move back.” MacKenzie looked doubtful, but she went back to the plate. And she swung. And missed. Emily clapped her hands. “That’s OK, that’s OK, get this one.”
The defenders didn’t back up. That’s so dangerous, Emily thought. MacKenzie swung and missed again. Two strikes, the coach told his players to back up. That was a mistake, Emily thought, and sure enough, MacKenzie laid down the perfect bunt and took off. Emily had told them over and over not to bunt on a third strike, but she also knew that MacKenzie was an incredibly stubborn child. An incredibly stubborn safe-at-first child.
Juniper stepped up to the plate, fouled off four pitches, and then hit it directly to the right fielder, who caught it. Allie tagged up and took third. Emily couldn’t decide whether to send her home, so her indecision decided for her, and Allie stayed at third. “Shoulda sent her!” someone called from the crowd. Ah, that’s more like it. That’s the Piercehaven I know.
Ava the Slay-a stepped up to bat. She hit a grounder to the shortstop, who fielded it, checked Allie on third, and then threw Ava out. Again Emily held Allie at third, though she felt tremendous pressure from the faceless fan behind her. Allie wasn’t fast, and she wasn’t a good slider.
So it was two runners on with two outs when Hannah stepped up to bat. She belted it to centerfield, bringing Allie and MacKenzie safely across home plate.
Hailey was up next, and she looked nervous. Emily ran over to her. “No pressure here, kiddo. The work’s been done for you. The rest is just cushion.” Hailey didn’t look convinced and stepped into position. Then she hit a piddly ball down the first base line. She was tagged out before she ever got to the base.
“Don’t sweat it, kiddo,” Emily called out. “Now we just have to hold them.”
Hailey nodded and ran to shortstop.
Juniper threw the first batter out. MacKenzie caught a popup. And it looked like it was almost over. But then a Viking hit a single. And then another Viking hit the ball to Ava, who bobbled it and didn’t get the throw off in time. Emily wondered if she was getting an ulcer. With runners on first and second, the next Viking hit it right into the hole between shortstop and third, but Hailey dove to her right, something Emily had never seen her do, and stopped the ball. Then she scrambled to her knees and threw the ball to Ava at third base.
“Tag the bag! Tag the bag!” Emily screamed like a raving lunatic. Ava tagged the bag. The game was over. The correct island had won. And no one had thought about wind turbines or bombs for at least ninety minutes.
