Spirits and Demons

Dixie Youth Baseball

                                                                Part Twenty

  It was pretty cramped riding in the Vauxhall, Virginia and her six children. The car had started to smoke, probably from so many trips through the mountains in Missouri. An Arkansas state policeman turned his lights on and pulled Virginia over. Drunk as Cooter Brown, she laughed and carried on with the state policeman until she won him over. He gave her a police escort to the nearest rest area and told her she better sleep off the effects of the alcohol she'd drank or he was going to arrest her and take her to jail and she'd lose her children. He let her know he was going to sit in his car nearby for an hour or so to keep watch on her and she'd best not try to drive since when he was gone, he'd have other state police check on her at least until noon when he figured she should be sober enough to drive by that time. She gave all her change to her kids and they purchased chips and snacks from the vending machine, then the kids walked around the rest area all day trying to find something to do because they were bored sitting in one place with nothing to do. Finally noon arrived, Virginia started the Vauxhall and started driving whilst looking over her shoulder to see if any state police were following her. None in sight, she opened a beer and stepped hard on the accelerator after she'd taken a few long drinks. It wasn't long until a siren was heard, it was the same state policeman who'd pulled her over before. Pulling onto the shoulder of the highway, Virginia tucked the beer between her legs and quickly pulled the scarf from her hair to try to hide the beer with. Little did she know the state policeman would make her get out of the car and instruct her to walk a straight line or go to jail. Red faced, she removed the beer and scarf from between her legs, placing it on the floorboard in hopes the state policeman didn't see. She walked a straight line and he walked her back to the car. He made her stand back while he opened the driver's door, reached down to the floorboard and picked up the beer she'd hiden under her scarf. He then poured the rest of the beer out along the side of the highway, told her to get in the car, start driving, don't look back, and to never come through Little Rock again or he would certainly arrest her. Mike recalled the tight grin on the state policeman's face and the embarrassed grin on his mother's face whilst she pulled back onto the highway, a steady stream of smoke pouring from the Vauxhall's tail pipe.

  Several hours later Virginia and her children arrived in West Monroe. No one knew Virginia had spoken with Arlis on the phone before leaving Little Rock. He'd already rented a nice house near the dixie youth baseball park for Virginia and her children to move into as soon as they made it to town. His and Virginia's agreement was she'd not see any other men and he'd move in later when the weekend arrived. The first thing the kids did was to run to the ballpark and check the area out even though there weren't any games going on at the time. The kids knew to be back home before 5:00 because they knew Arlis would be off of work and he'd probably be at the house. Arlis was pretty strict so of course the kids had to be on their best behavior. After supper, Arlis and Virginia took the kids to watch the ball game right behind their house. Life had abruptly changed for everyone, Virginia had quit drinking and life seemed to be going smoothly. The kids were allowed to go watch the evening baseball games by themselves, yet they had to be home and in the bed by 8:00 every evening or Arlis would spank them and Arlis spanked really hard. Mike was sitting in the stands watching the game and all of a sudden Ricky and Ronny came up to him, Ronny was crying his eyes out. Ricky told Mike that Ronny had chased down a foul ball and some big guy had taken it away from him. Mike looked around for Jimmy Don though he was nowhere in sight. Mike, Ricky, and Ronny walked behind the bleachers to confront the big guy and Ricky ran straight at the guy swinging his fists, hitting the guy in his stomach since he couldn't reach his face. The guy hit Ricky a few times, knocking him down onto the ground. Ricky would get up every time he was knocked down and charge straight back into the guy. Sweating, red faced, and out of breath, Mike told Ricky to stay back so could fight the guy. Mike knew he didn't have much of a chance, but he knew he was going to defend his little brothers even if he did have to take an ass whipping. The guy was a left hander, Mike had never fought a left hander before and the guy landed punch after punch on Mike's face. He couldn't hit with much force and it was as if Mike walked right through the bigger guy's punches and landed some hard punches of his own. This went on for several minutes until the guy and Mike realized it was a fight neither could win. Tired, out of breath, their hands by their sides, Ricky ran up and snatched the baseball out of the guys pocket and Ricky and Ronny took off running to the concession stand to turn the ball in for a sno-cone for them to split. Mike had a little money, walked over to the concession stand and purchased a sno-cone for Ricky so they wouldn't have to split the one they'd received in return for turning in the baseball. It was near 8:00, they had to eat the sno-cones in a rush and be home in bed in about five minutes. Arriving home they jumped in their beds with all their clothes on, pulled their covers up to their necks and pretended to be asleep just before Arlis came in for their nightly bedcheck. Arlis entered the room, turned the light on and off, and said in his loud voice that they had better get to sleep. He left the room grinning and Jimmy Don, Mike, Ricky, and Ronny were grinning also. Mike asked Jimmy Don where he'd been when they needed him and Jimmy Don told him to shut up and go to sleep.