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- As Things Change
- Part III
Bo walks in from the back yard carrying the platter of steaks
as Matt saunters into the kitchen. “We’re having home-cooked
tonight? What’s the occasion?”
-
- Nora sets a salad on the
table. “We’re trying something new.”
-
- Matt pulls out his chair.
“Cool.”
-
- Bo puts a steak on Nora’s
plate and moves over to Matthew. “So, how was practice today,
son?”
-
- Matt rolls his eyes as Bo
plops a steak on his plate. “I know you know about me quitting
the team.”
-
- Bo takes his seat. “So
you’ve talked to Rex?”
-
- “I stopped by the PI
office on my way home and Rex tipped me off.”
-
- “Wanna explain what’s
going on?”
-
- Matt shrugs. “I just
didn’t want to play anymore.”
-
- Bo looks at him curiously.
“I see. And that’s all there is to it?”
-
- “Yup.”
-
- Nora shakes her head. “If
that’s the case, why not just discuss it with us?”
-
- Matt shrugs again. “I
didn’t think it would be that big of a deal.”
-
- Bo loses his patience. “Cut
the crap, Matthew. What’s really going on?”
-
- “Bo!”
-
- He frowns at Nora. “No,
honey. I want the truth. Don’t tell me you’re buying
this malarkey.”
-
- “I didn’t say that.”
-
- “Please let me handle
this.” He turns back to Matthew. “Let’s hear it,
son. What’s really behind this sudden move? You just started
practice 2 weeks ago and you didn’t give any indication
that you didn’t want to play and now you suddenly quit the
team. I want an explanation. Now.”
-
- Matt squirms. “Well,
Stevie’s not playing either.”
-
- “What does that have
to do with you?”
-
- “Well… It’s
not as much fun without Stevie…”
-
- Bo stares at him, obviously
angry. “That’s your reason? You’ve put years of
work into baseball and you’re just giving it up because
Stevie doesn’t want to play? What about your teammates?
Don’t you think you’re letting them down when you just
walk away from the team?”
-
- “I think it gives them
a chance to play. Maybe they’re better than I am and deserve
a chance.”
-
- “That’s a crock.
You’re one of the best players and you know it.”
-
- Nora puts her hand on Bo’s
arm, trying to calm him. “What do you plan to do all summer
if you don’t play?”
-
- Matt looks away. “I
don’t really know.”
-
- Bo shakes his head. “Yes
you do. You must have a plan. What is it?”
-
- “Well, there’s
this camp…”
-
- Bo is incredulous. “A
camp?”
-
- Nora squeezes his arm. “What
kind of camp, Matthew?”
-
- “It’s at a lake
upstate…”
-
- “A lake?”
-
- Matthew nods. “I’ve
researched it. It’s the best camp in the state for water
skiing.”
-
- Bo shakes his head. “Are
you serious?”
-
- Matt hurriedly tries to explain.
“It looks like a lot of fun and it’s great exercise…”
-
- Nora cuts him off. “Why
the sudden interest in water skiing? You’ve never even tried
that.”
-
- “I know. But when Grandpa
took me up to the lodge, I saw a lot of people out on the lake
and it looked cool. I’d like to give it a try.”
-
- Nora shakes her head. “I
should have known Asa was involved in this somehow.”
-
- “It has nothing to do
with Grandpa. I just want to try it.”
-
- Bo looks to the ceiling,
trying to keep his patience. “So we’re to believe you
gave up baseball to spend the summer at a lake, water skiing?”
-
- Matt nods. “I can show
you the brochure Stevie got. His parents are letting him go.”
-
- “We’re not Stevie’s
parents. It’s their decision as to his activities.”
-
- Matt crosses his arms. “Are
you saying I can’t go?”
-
- “Of course not. We’re
just surprised by all this.” Nora gives Bo a warning look.
“We can at least look into it.”
-
- He stares at her. “Are
you serious? You’re okay with this?”
-
- “I didn’t say that.
I said we can look into it.”
-
- Bo crosses his arms, mimicking
Matthew’s stance. “I think he needs to get back on
the team.”
-
- “We can’t force
him to play, Bo.”
-
- “Well, we certainly
can’t reward his behavior by sending him to a lake for the
summer.”
-
- Matt waves his hands at them.
“I’m still here. You don’t have to talk like I’m
not even in the room.”
-
- Bo frowns at him. “Good
point. You should go to your room while we talk about this.”
-
- Matt picks up his plate.
“Fine by me. But you should know that even if you don’t
let me go to camp, I don’t want to play baseball anymore.”
- He marches out of the room.
-
- Nora turns to Bo. “So
much for family dinner.”
-
-
- Rex comes through the door
of the loft, smiling when he sees Lauren in the kitchen. “That’s
where I like to see my woman when I come home!”
-
- Lauren turns to him, waving
a fork. “First of all, you know I hate when you call me
that. And don’t get too excited, it’s lasagna from
the frozen foods section.”
-
- Rex walks up to her and gives
her a kiss. “As long as it’s hot - like you."
-
- She playfully pushes him
away. "You're too much."
-
- He opens the fridge and pulls
out a beer. "How’s it going?”
-
- She shrugs. “The usual.
It’s pretty slow at the department these days.”
-
- He takes a seat. “Same
at the PI office. Llanview must be experiencing a shortage of
criminals.”
-
- Lauren sets the lasagna on
the table and pulls out her chair. “Help yourself.”
-
- Rex digs out a square of
lasagna. “Looks good.” He sets the lasagna on his plate
and digs out a square, offering it to Lauren. She shakes her
head. “What’s wrong?”
-
- “Nothing. I’m just
not that hungry.”
-
- “You okay?”
-
- “Yeah, I’ve just
had a nagging headache today.”
-
- Rex looks at her closely.
“You look a little pale.”
-
- “I’m just tired,
that’s all.”
-
- “Why don’t you
go rest and I’ll clean up here.”
-
- Lauren stands. “I think
I’ll do that. Thanks.”
-
- Rex takes out his cell phone
as he watches Lauren disappear into their room, closing the door.
He grabs his plate and walks into the living room as he puts
the phone to his ear. “Shaggy, where are we on that project
we talked about yesterday?”
-
-
- Nora wanders in from the
kitchen carrying a bowl of popcorn and sits beside Bo on the
couch. “So, are we going to talk about this?”
-
- Bo looks at her as he grabs
a handful of popcorn. “About what?”
-
- She rolls her eyes. “About
what? Matthew, of course.”
-
- He shrugs. “Nothing
to talk about. He’s going to talk to the coach tomorrow
and get back on the team. No way he’s throwing away all
that work for a water skiing camp.”
-
- Nora stares at him. “Do
you really think it’s that simple?” He nods. “Bo,
he’s almost 16 years old. We can’t force him to play
a sport he’s not interested in anymore.”
-
- “He’s just going
through a phase.”
-
- “What if it’s not
just a phase? Maybe he’s trying to tell us something…”
-
- Bo shakes his head. “Honey,
no offense but you’ve never been a teenage boy. I would
bet you a dozen backrubs this has something to do with a girl.
We just haven’t figured out what yet.”
-
- She smiles, leaning in to
kiss him. “Guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the
tree.”
-
- Matt walks down the stairs,
holding a pamphlet. “Have you guys come to your senses yet?”
-
- Bo turns to him. “Have
you?”
-
- Matt sits in the chair opposite
them. “You can’t make me play if I don’t want
to.”
-
- “Watch your mouth, young
man.”
-
- Nora puts her hand on his
leg. “Take it easy, Bo. Matthew, if you hope to have a conversation
about this, a little respect is in order.”
-
- “Sorry, Mom.”
-
- “So why don’t you
explain to us what’s going on.”
-
- Matthew hands her the pamphlet.
“It just looks like fun and it would be something different
instead of the same old summer in Llanview playing baseball.”
-
- Nora glances at the pamphlet
and hands it to Bo. “So this is just about wanting to make
a change?”
-
- Matthew nods. “I’ve
never gone away to summer camp before and when Stevie looked
into it, I thought it would be cool. The only problem is I can’t
play baseball if I go, so I made a decision.”
-
- Bo is flipping through the
brochure as Matthew speaks. He holds it up to Nora, open to a
picture of past campers clad in bikinis. “Told ya,”
he says with an amused grin.
-
- “What?” Matt asks
innocently.
-
- Bo folds his arms. “This
has something to do with a girl, doesn’t it?”
-
- “No.”
-
- “Is Kallie going?”
-
- “No. And Kallie and
I are not together anyway.”
-
- Nora shakes her head at Bo.
“We know that, sweetie.” She turns back to Matt. “Why
are you doing this then?”
-
- He shrugs. “I told you,
it’s something different.”
-
- Bo rolls his eyes. “And
that’s all?”
-
- “Yup.”
-
- “I’m not buying
that.”
-
- Nora takes a deep breath,
looking between them. “Okay, it’s obvious we’re
not going to settle this tonight. Let us think about it, Matthew
and we’ll discuss it again later.”
-
- “Fine. But I’m
still not playing baseball whether I go to camp or not.”
- Nora jumps in before Bo can
comment. “If that’s your decision, we can respect that.”
-
- Matt gets up. “Good.
I’m going to call Stevie. See you in the morning.”
- He gives Nora a quick kiss
on the cheek and disappears up the stairs.
- Bo turns to her when he hears
Matt’s door close. “He’s playing us, honey. We
can’t let him get away with it.”
-
- Nora smiles, putting her
arms around him. “Well, we’ve been a pretty good team
so far. I think if we put our heads together, we can outsmart
him.”
-
- He pulls her close, looking
at her with a twinkle in his eyes. “I like the idea of us
putting things together. Why don’t we go up to our room
and work on that.”
-
- She laughs as Bo pulls her
up from the couch and they head upstairs.
- Matthew picks up his cell
phone and dials, waiting for Stevie to pick up.
- “What’s up, Buchanan?”
-
- “Not much. My dad found
out about baseball.”
-
- “Damn. How?”
-
- “Coach called him.”
-
- “So how big was the
freakout?”
-
- Matt shrugs. “Not so
bad. I told them they can’t make me play.”
-
- Stevie cracks up. “I
bet that went well. So are you going to camp?”
-
- “They didn’t cave
on that one yet, but I think I can sway them.”
-
- “You have to. You saw
the website. There are tons of hot girls at that camp and it
will keep you from moping around after Kallie all summer.”
-
- “I am not moping over
Kallie! We’re not together, okay?”
-
- “So you keep saying
but you haven’t found anyone else yet.”
-
- “So I haven’t met
someone. I will.”
-
- “Yeah, at this camp.
Are you sure you can talk your mom into it?”
-
- Matt sighs. “Maybe not
Mom, but I’m pretty sure my dad will let me go.”
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