Mary hurried to the sports field just beyond the gym. From afar she could see a softball field and a baseball field. It was easy to tell which was which, and she strode to the baseball field, happy to see they didn't have an away game or something.
But once she got to the field, she froze. She didn't know who to reach out to or where to begin. It'd be rude to interrupt the practice, yet she felt impatient to try and get some answers. She concluded that she could just speak with all available coaches after practice. One of them should remember Jake.
The middle school practice wasn't as long as a high school's practice, however by the time they were done, Mary felt hot and possibly sunburnt, but she persevered.
The players started to pack up and leave, causing her to make her move. She approached the nearest looking Coach. "Hi, my name is Mary Atkins, and I was wondering if I could ask a few questions."
The man raised an eyebrow. "Pertaining to what?"
"A former student that attended this school last year. He was associated with your baseball team."
"I'm sorry, we don't give information out on our kids without permission from the school."
"Oh! But I have permission!" Mary stood her ground. "I just spoke with an advisor named Henry Conley before making my way down here. You can call him up at the office."
"What's going on here?" An older gentleman walked over. He wore the school's name on a T-shirt and a baseball hat with their school colors. He took off his sunglasses and set them on his hat. "Who's this?"
Mary quickly introduced herself again and why she was here.
"I've already told her that we don't give information out on the kids. She'll have to go through the office."
"But I did!" Mary told him firmly.
The older man pulled out his phone and dialed a number. He briefly spoke to the other side, then hung up. He got closer to Mary. "So you're associated to Jake?"
Mary felt relieved for multiple reasons. One, the Coach knew Jake. Two, whoever he called vouched for her despite her storming out of the office earlier. "Yes. I'm his foster mom. He lives with me, my husband, and my other boys in a small town south of San Francisco and Oakland."
The older man sent the other one away. "I've got this. Finish cleaning up here." He waved for Mary to come with him. "Tell me, what do you want to ask? I've already shared everything I knew with child services."
Mary walked with him, simply following his lead. "I just want to know more about him. On a personal level. Was he close to anyone? A fellow student or player maybe? Was there someone he looked up to?"
"Jake was a loner. Quiet. Shy. Never caused any trouble." He stopped before a small building, opening a heavy metal door. "Come inside, this is where he spent all his time." Mary followed him, a bit wary, but confident that this man didn't have any bad intentions. The whole building only had room for one batting cage. A pitching machine, a fake home plate and batters box. The old man stopped behind the netting. "I would stand here and watch him practice for hours. I was amazed a kid so young could, and even would, practice the same thing over and over."
"Yes, he's very talented." Mary said with pride. "He joined the high school team too."
The old man nodded, showing a small smile. "I'm not surprised. His talent in batting is rare. He could easily switch, and hit different speeds. He had a good eye, and a good sense of timing. He wasn't officially a part of the school team here, but boy, I wish he was." His smile dropped off. "I regret introducing him to a high school coach though. Some social worker told me that his attack was because of some random call, asking about him playing baseball. It flipped a switch in his mom's mind, and I heard about his injuries." He looked Mary in the eye. "Is he really alright now?"
Mary shook her head, but then changed it to a nod. "Yes and no. Some days he's like any other teen. Other days, it's like he's a war vet, unsteady and traumatized. Physically, he's a bit small but we're working on it. His rehab in the hospital worked well, but he still gets tired easy."
The old man let out a heavy sigh before sitting on a bare bench against a wall. "I regret not taking him out of that house personally. But I can barely stay afloat myself. I thought calling my friend, who's a high school coach could do more."
"How so?" Mary took a seat beside him, eager to know more about Jake's life before.
"My friend works at a private high school. Once Jake got in, he would be qualified to live in the school dorms. He wouldn't be hit so much and he would be adequately fed by the school. He would get to officially play baseball. It was a good deal. Too bad the coach didn't have a clear understanding of Jake's situation. What a tragedy." He sighed again.
Mary was touched how much the man tried for Jake. He really cared. He reached out to find a solution but sadly, it backfired and almost got Jake killed. She put a hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault. You tried. That's more than what I can say for a lot of people I've spoken to and heard from. Jake's doing okay now. He and my youngest son are good friends and they both are able to play baseball together."
The old man smiled, happy to hear that. "Jake will have a nice future in the sport if he keeps batting the way he practiced. It's almost mechanical. Make sure no coaches mess with that swing until he gets to the varsity level."
Mary laughed. "He's already there. He loves hitting the most. The Coach is also satisfied with his offensive performance."
The old man blinked with surprise. "He made the varsity team so soon? I mean, I knew he would eventually, but he never had the opportunity to really play the actual game so I'm stunned a coach would take a chance on him."
"Well, my sons did, and still do, work with him on his fielding and other aspects of the game like base running." She let out a laugh, remembering the face of distress he would make in the first few games. "It might sound like I'm bragging, but he's caught on really quick."
"Do you mind giving me his school's info so I can follow his progress as he grows?" The old man got excited. "For him to make varsity as a freshman without any experience is fantastic."
Mary nodded. She pulled out a piece of paper and a pen to write down the school athletics website. She handed it over. "Jake still uses the last name Hollander, but you can't miss him as he's the only Jake on the team. My four sons are also on the team: a senior, two juniors, and a freshman like Jake." Mary was in proud parent mode, happy that her kids were so outstanding at the sport they love.
The old man took a picture of the note just in case he lost it. "Thanks. I can't wait to brag about his accomplishments in the future. I'll be the one to say that I suggested to him that he learn to switch hit."
Mary stood up and shook his hand. "You did more than that. You gave him an outlet and space to express himself. I'm glad he had someone like you even if it was only briefly. He still loves going to the batting cages to this day. It's like...that's where he finds peace."
The old man nodded, understanding. "He had the place to himself as the team was practicing. It's probably where he feels his safest."
Mary spared another second thought about the potential brother. "So he wasn't close to anyone at all? Not a brother figure somewhere?"
He shook his head. "I know he had an old glove. I told him it looked beat up, but it was a hand me down from a classmate or something. He couldn't afford to get his own. Besides that, I can't think of anything."
Another no. Mary held back the sigh and forced a smile. "Well, thank you for your time. I'm happy to see someone who sincerely remembers Jake and actually cared."
"I just wish I did more." He walked her out of the small building and spared her another glance before going back to the field. "Not to overstep my bounds as a stranger or anything, but don't be like me and have regrets. If you feel like you should do something, don't hold back. Go at it with everything you've got." He waved and walked away, leaving Mary alone.
Mary didn't think too much about it before pulling out her phone and calling her husband. Her heart started to pound and she briskly walked back to her car.
"Hello, how'd it go?" Wayne's warm voice came on the line.
"Great. Fine. Uh, there wasn't much to find out. But the coach did remember him and even asked for the website so he could watch his stats." She scrambled for words to say when she had something else on the tip of her tongue.
Wayne sighed. "Oh well. We knew it was a long shot. Maybe Dr. Moore and I are looking too much into it. Jake isn't used to siblings so-"
"We should adopt him!" Mary spat out, cutting her husband off.
"Uh. What. That's not where I was going with this."
"I know, I know." Mary laughed. "It's just. I don't want to have regrets about this. He can be taken from us at any time and I don't want that. Noah wouldn't want that."
"I wouldn't want that either." Wayne said defensively. "I like Jake too, but we talked about this. He still has a dad somewhere."
"Let's just start looking into the process. Officially." Mary declared.
Wayne sighed. "Mary, we talked about this. There still has to be some time given to find his dad. Plus, what if he doesn't want to live with us forever?"
"Then, we ask!" Mary didn't give in. She had made up her mind and wasn't going to become like the old man, who missed his chance to save Jake. "Let's talk to Doug. Let's talk to Dr. Moore. I want to get this going. It's a long process, you know."
Wayne felt a little blindsided, but they have made small talk about this before. "Okay. I'll call up Dr. Moore and Doug to see how we should go about this. I don't want to scare Jake off." He thought for a minute. "We'll also need to talk with the boys separately. What if they're against this? It could make the house awkward."
"I'll speak with Zeke. Let's not get Noah's hopes up just yet. As for the twins, I doubt that they'll care but we can tell them a little closer to when we get an answer from Doug."
Wayne agreed. "I'm about to be home with the boys so maybe I'll make the calls tomorrow."
"I'll at least call Doug this afternoon." Mary told him. "Just to see what will be required and what he can put together. Like a to do list of sorts."
"Okay, that'll be a good start." Wayne said. "But can I ask what brought on this decisive determination?"
"I just think Jake has been wronged too many times. It's about time he has someone like me to back him up. To stand up for him. He's such a good kid, but the more I hear about his past, the more heartbroken I feel. I want to fix him."
"You always want to fix others." Wayne mumbled.
"Wayne."
"It's not a bad quality to have." Wayne fixed his tone. "I'm just saying that Jake won't be as easy to fix as I was. He had a lot more going on with his mom, than I ever had with my own father."
"You're just scared. But that's okay. I am too. It's a big challenge but this will be good for the both of us."
"You're right, honey." Wayne sighed.
"I'm always right." Mary smiled happily.