Bases Loaded Jam (Bases Loaded Jam Series #1)

Ch. 28: Stealing Bases (Jordan)

"Joe," I shouted hoping he would hear.

"Come on up," I heard Joe say. "I'm in the kitchen."

I walked the stairs from the bottom and entered the kitchen. I looked around and saw two refrigerators and two dishwashers. There was one big counter in the middle of the kitchen that contained seats with white chairs with pillows on stools. Joe was standing on the other side of the counter chopping up tomatoes.

"You're just in time," he said looking up at me while chopping.

"You have two fridges?"

"We have a lot of guests come in on occasion. But sometimes we use two fridges just to save on trips to the grocery store. Aagh!"

Joe dropped the knife holding his hand. I rushed over in a panic.

"Joe, are you ok?"

I feared he had cut his hand. But to my surprise, he was laughing. He then took his hands and showed them to me. Not a scratch or sign of blood was on either of them.

"That is not funny Joe," I said irritated.

"Hey, you should know I like to give you a scare or two," he replied with a smile.

"What are you doing anyway?"

"I'm just chopping up vegetables and such for our get together tonight. My dad's co-workers are planning a trip to China to see if we could improve their business over there."

"I see." I was impressed. Joe kept chopping as I took a seat on the chair.

"How long have you had this house for?" I asked.

"Since I was eight."

That answer stunned me.

"How come you never invited me or our teammates to this place?"

"It's a long story. When we first bought the house, we were only in it for three months when some folks came and told us we had to evacuate. There had been some concerns that erosion was going to happen to the ground. If we had stayed longer, chances are this place might've gone down into the ocean."

"Well, where did you go?"

"We moved to an apartment and stayed there for two months. The crew that was doing a ground inspection determined that everything was ok for the house to stay put. We were here for four years before it was decided by our community to renovate the houses. This place was over the limit on how much the house had to be to stay on the cliff. So we removed some things. Even so, you wouldn't know the difference from the last place."

Joe then went to a fridge and took out a bottle of wine along with two glasses from the cabinet. I looked at him with a shocked reaction.

"What are you doing Joe?"

"Serving you a drink milady." Joe opened the bottle and poured wine into each cup. He then handed one to me.

"I can't drink Joe," I said. "I'm not 21."

"I know," Joe said as he threw the bottle into the trash. "The bottle was nearing its date limit of use and it was almost empty. Besides, we're not having seconds here."

I looked at him with questions on my mind about his stubbornness to ignore the laws of drinking. But that stubbornness was catching me to him. I figured I might as well go ahead and try it. I took my glass and clanged it to Joe's glass before we drank. It actually wasn't bad. I figured I might as well get use to the taste.

"Come on," Joe said. "I'll show you around."

We toured Joe's house for at least an hour. He showed me his living room that had three couches and some wooden chairs that had soft cushions on them. There was also a giant screen-TV attached to a wall. It was inside a giant shelf containing books and statues. We then went outside and Joe showed me the swimming pool. It was a long rectangular pool that went about five to nine feet deep with deck chairs surrounding it. Next to the pool was a jacuzzi that had a button inside to turn on the water and adjust the temperatures. I started to see myself coming here and chilling in the thing already.