There Must Be Something More

45 | I Like Cookies

Meredith has a way with her words.

And her eyes. And her smile. And her strength. The point is, she has a way of talking you into doing things.

Like today, for example.

Coach Anderson blew the whistle as if sounding an alarm of impending terror. Well, maybe I could call his too-tight baseball shirt terror today. He stood with one hand on his hip, his eyebrows connected together in a scowl, and his lips pursed as tight as his shirt.

Our pinch runner dropped his bat and sprinted with all his might. I held mine as I watched him cross base after base until he dove successfully on the last. Clouds of dust puffed in the air and I had to squint when Coach Anderson called us all to huddle.

And that's when the flashback hit me.

"Okay, I understand evangelizing is still a little "too much" for you," she said, doing air quotes. "So, how about this?"

Samuel and I exchanged glances.

"Why don't you just invite the people from your own clubs to come to our very first club meeting?" She said.

I boggled.

"They'd have to say yes, right, since you're real tight with them?"

Samuel and I exchanged glances. Like me, he too was boggling.

"So it's settled! That's your assignment for today! Invite at least one person from your clubs you're close with." She said, obviously ignoring the looks of disbelief in our faces. She squeezed my shoulders and grinned wide. "Just one, Charlie. I'm asking for just one."

I gulped. I nodded. How could I say no to her? I felt like if I did, she'd have Bible verses to back her up and the guilt would eat me up till I got home. No. I knew I'd just feel guilty before God. I had to do it.

Samuel also promised to invite at least one member of the student council. I imagined it was easier for him; considering he was the actual school president.

I was still stuck at the flashback when Coach Anderson started to shake me by the shoulder. I looked up at him. I met his green eyes above dark circles. I tried not to look away out of respect.

"You okay, son?" He asked. "You were mumbling things."

I caught myself. I tried to act calm and nodded. "Yes, sir. Um, what were we talking about?"

"I just finished announcing our upcoming League in a few days. That's why we gotta take advantage of the time we have now for practice."

"Of course, sir," my voice cracked.

Coach Anderson still gave me a long hard look, then he turned back to the rest of the team, who had been staring at the both of us.

"So, yeah, that's my announcement for today," he continued, rubbing his hands together on reflex. "Have a good day, kids."

Here's your chance, I thought. Go invite them to check out your very first Grace club meeting!

When the guys all started to take off their caps and go their separate ways, I puffed my chest and said, "I've got something to say!"

All of them stopped. Even Coach Anderson seemed interested. Could I actually have a shot with this?

"What is it, Charlie?" Calum narrowed his eyes at me. I didn't know what he was expecting, but I certainly didn't like the look on his face.

"Uh..." I tried to gulp down the nervousness, which didn't seem to work. "Well... there's this..."

"Spit it out, boy! We haven't got all day!" Coach Anderson barked.

I ran a hand through my hair and tried to look at the one person I was closest to in the team, just to stop me from getting nervous. I looked at Calum. And even he intimidated me at that very moment.

"Well, we have, um--" I cleared my throat. Forget it. "We have this very first club meeting and--"

"What kind of club?" Trey Mullins, our Infielder, asked. His blond hair looked funny from removing his baseball cap.

My heart crashed in my chest. Here it comes. "Well, it's a really cool club," I started. "Um, the first meeting will be really interesting and I'll ask our club president to bake some cookies--"

"I like cookies," Trey grinned. "I'm in."

I stared at him. "Just like that?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I like cookies a lot. We don't have it at home anymore, so... I'll come to your little club meeting."

"Me too," Frank Fogarty, our Middle Relief Pitcher, said. More guys wanted to come because of the cookies. Some asked if there was gonna be girls, I said there was one girl. They asked if she was cute, I thought of Meredith's crazy pigtails and braids and boots and floral dresses--and said yes. They said they'd love to come.

Out of all this, it was only Coach Anderson and Calum who said nothing. Coach Anderson, who obviously looked at my invitation as a teenage thing, didn't seem interested. Calum, on the other hand, who was a teenager himself, shot me with dirty looks and twisted frowns. I pretended not to notice.

And that day I had managed to get seven guys that said they would come. They didn't even ask the club name or what the club was all about. I was thrilled.

When Meredith, Samuel, and I met up in the parking lot, we all dropped how many people we planned to bring. Samuel had ten. Meredith had four. I had seven. I was actually susprised to see Meredith have the lowest number of people invited, but then I figured it wasn't about the numbers. It was about obedience.

Meredith giggled when she heard some wanted to come for the cookies. "I can definitely bake with Grandpa! That is so sweet!"

"We could bake it with you Thursday night, Mer, if you want," Samuel suggested. "I've baked with my mom for some weekends. I could help out. Actually, I really wanna help out."

Meredith nodded. "Yay!"

Then she turned to me.

"What about you, Charlie?" She asked.

I smiled dryly. "Um, I don't actually know how. Unlike your parents, my mom never got to teach me to bake. She got too busy when--"

"Then we can teach you!" Meredith said with a very-eager face. I felt chills roll down my back.

See what I told you? She had a way with her words, her eyes, her smile, and her strength.

Why strength?

Because that very Thursday night, she had purposely come to school on foot so I would have to drive her to her house and bake cookies with them. She said I had no escape.

And before I knew it I was all set to bake cookies for tomorrow afternoon.