This time when they drove to the ballpark Lucas was in the passenger seat, as there wasn’t room in the front for the remarkably enlarged, muscle-bound Jordan. Lucas found himself jittering his right leg as he anxiously waited for the next change to show itself.
He didn’t have to wait long.
Turning on her right turn signal, Mom pulled in behind a long row of cars parked on the side of the street. She put it in park, shut off the engine and said, “Okay, boys, let’s go.”
“Huh? Why are we stopping here? We’re still three blocks from the ballpark!” Lucas complained.
“We’re not going to find any closer place to park; we were lucky to get this one,” his mom replied briskly. Jordan was already out of the car, opening up the trunk and grabbing the lawn chairs and cooler.
“Want me to carry some of that?” Lucas wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea of lugging any of this stuff three blocks, but he felt he had to offer. He needn’t have worried.
“Nah, I got it, bro,” Jordan answered cheerfully. He took up everything and carried it without any apparent effort. Even with his additional encumbrance, the new and improved Jordan swiftly outdistanced his mom and older brother, leaving them far behind. They weren’t alone, though; there were dozens of people all around them, everyone heading in the same direction.
Mother and son arrived to find what appeared to be half the town crowded around the baseball diamond. The bleachers were packed full and a sea of lawn chairs and blankets stretched out for about a half mile in either direction.
“Oh, I knew we should have left sooner!” his mother fretted. “I hope we can still get a good spot.”
Lucas’ eyes searched through the mass of people, eventually alighting on his waving, fair-haired hulk of a sibling. He and mom made their way through the crowd with some difficulty, to the middle spot which Jordan had secured for them.
“Gotta go, guys. I’ll see you after we win!” Jordan said, giving their mom a quick peck on the cheek and then heading for the home team dugout. Given his newfound size and bulk, he easily bulldozed his way through the onlookers. A couple of his teammates greeted him, and Lucas couldn’t help sighing in relief when he saw that Chad Devers and Michael Addison looked the same as usual.
He settled back into his chair, marveling again at the astonishing turnout for a Little League game. This was more people than showed up for the 4th of July parade! And it wasn’t just town residents who were here today; Lucas spotted half a dozen TV camera crews, including representatives of all the major news networks. WAY too much attention for a middle school baseball game, even if this had been the championship match, which it wasn’t. Lucas’ stomach churned nervously and he found himself glad he hadn’t had a bigger breakfast. The way he felt now, he might not have been able to keep it down.
A great cheer erupted from behind him and Lucas twisted around to see the visiting team’s bus pull up. It braked to a stop and the door opened. The coach came out, then two assistant coaches, and finally the team.
Lucas’ jaw dropped in sheer disbelieving astonishment. He had hoped the visiting team would be unchanged, or maybe even back to normal. Instead, he found himself gaping helplessly at a group of titanic pubescent muscle gods, each standing at well over eight feet tall and boasting rippling, mega-massive muscles, with carved, watermelon-sized pecs and relaxed biceps much bigger around than Lucas’ head! They were like members of a different freaking species, one far physically superior to the comparatively weak and puny humanity.
“Tigers, Tigers, Tigers!” most of those present chanted, hailing the arrival of the Tannerville Tigers like they were rock-stars.
The cheers redoubled as the mammoth junior juggernauts swaggered self-confidently toward their dugout, the very Earth itself seeming to tremble with fear beneath their epic tread! Lucas quickly confirmed they were still the same kids as yesterday, their familiar, boyishly handsome visages contrasting completely with their now truly godly stature and musculature! And these uber-buff boy colossi were pure poetry in motion, with none of the awkwardness or clumsiness which afflicted some oversized youths.
Cutting his gaze back to the home team, Lucas saw Jordan starting at his competitors with grim determination. Most of his friends, however, looked genuinely scared, and who could blame them? Any one of these gigantic young Goliaths could quite literally crush a normal kid like an insignificant insect beneath a single size thirty cleat! Lucas’ worried mind flashed back to yesterday and to Will Settler, the boy whom a rouge pitch had struck on the thigh. If a pitch went wild today, the batter wouldn’t just be injured, he’d likely be killed! And what would happen to a Blue Jays’ baseman trying to tag out one of these charging, unstoppable teenage tanks? This match-up wasn’t just grossly unfair, it was potential negligent homicide!
A couple of the visiting team members waved up to calling parents in the bleachers. Lucas could spot a familial resemblance between adults and children, but the parents looked completely ordinary! How, then, could they possibly have produced their magnificent nuclear powerhouse progeny?
Warm-up began for both sides. Lucas was pleased to see that Jordan, already the best player of the Blue Jays, was now the unrivaled super-star of the team. Hell, with his astonishing size, strength, and skill, he would’ve been the super-star of LUCAS’ team! He directed and encouraged his peers, pumping them up for the game to come and keeping their spirits high. A warm glow of pride suffused Lucas as he watched his younger brother.
Inevitably, however, his attention was drawn to the opposition. Surprisingly, the Tigers had a large bin of balls and an entire crate of bats set nearby. He watched as a player took up a bat, which looked like a mere toothpick in the great hands of the hugely muscular boy beast! Then pitch came and he swung, blasting the ball out of sight of sight and shattering the bat with the sheer force of the impact. The terrifying pattern continued, with every third hit or so breaking the bat and every ball hit flying a few miles away. This was ridiculous! The New York Yankees wouldn’t be able to take on these ultra-brawny boy behemoths!
The umpire called for the start of the game, and Jordan’s team of average middle-schoolers (except for one) took the field against the tallest, strongest, most built alpha males ever to walk the Earth. Lucas quickly began to pray, and to his great relief his prayers were soon answered! The game was a complete massacre, ending in an invocation of the mercy rule in the second inning, but none of the Blue Jays got hurt while they were losing. He really couldn’t have asked for anything more.
After both sides exchanged the customary “Good game”, the Tigers’ captain, Billy Monroe, singled out Jordan, completely dwarfing the six nine muscle-stud. Heart thumping, Lucas started pushing his way through the crowd to get to his brother’s side. Just what he’d be able to do if a fight broke out, he didn’t know, but he had to at least try to save his younger brother!
The freckle-faced, eight foot six tower of unbelievably mighty muscle didn’t get rough with Jordan, though. Instead, in the deepest, most powerfully resonant voice Lucas had ever heard, he proclaimed, “You’re not bad. Why don’t you join our team?”
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