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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3092619" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Eighty-six, “The Opposing Team”, Monday June 5th , 1882, 3:30 P.M. The students had returned to find three teachers in a cheerful mood ready to get back to the work of the day.   The day passed quietly, and near the end Kate made sure all the children were aware of the baseball game set for tomorrow afternoon and told them anyone who wanted to practice was welcome to play in the field beyond the schoolhouse after classes.  The children are gone no more than five minutes when Ritchie Baines and Ricardo Huesca return to inform Kate that they can't play in the field right now, that the other team is playing there already.Kate and Mollie head up to the field and see that a group of three men, eight boys and three girls are indeed playing baseball. The men are James Eaton, Ashley King and Icabond Shackelton. The boys are Eaton's sons Philby and Tad, King's son Troy, Elton Hubbard's grandson Rory, Haywood Smith's son Nickie and three boys who she does not know. The girls are Eaton's daughter Becky and Paul Steven's daughter Jackie and a girl she does not know. Four younger girls including Steven's daughter Agatha are seated with Beth Eaton on the bench by the field watching. The surprising thing is that the players are all wearing official baseball uniforms. The uniforms are white and maroon and consist of baseball hats, full-length shirts and trousers except for the three girls who also have maroon matching skirts over their trousers. Each shirt has "Promise City School of Moral Values" written on the front and a number and the player's first name stitched onto the back. The players ignore the fact that they now have a small audience now consisting of around a dozen people including Kate, Mollie and a few of the children from the school. They do stop when Stanley Barker arrives with his photography equipment. Shackelton tells Stanley in an angry tone "You're late!"  Barker apologizes, saying "Sorry, these were in the oven and took longer than I thought," producing a metal tin filled with hot toll house cookies which he hands to Shackelton adding, "I thought your players would enjoy them." The faces of several of younger players light up upon seeing and smelling the treats. Eaton says, "None of those until after the team photograph. We don't want chocolate all over your faces in the picture." The team gets together in the field for the photo in three rows of five, smallest in front and tallest in back as Stanley sets up his equipment."Going a little overboard, aren't they?" Kate said to no one in particular. "They must have seriously shortened their school day to manage all this."   She turned and looked to the students who had followed with a smile. "Well, they certainly look pretty. Whether or not they can play remains to be seen. There's plenty of room behind the schoolhouse to practice."Ginnie mutters, “I hate the way new clothing feels all stiff and starched. It might actually give us an advantage if we can make them dive for the ball or the base they’re going to think twice about getting their new clothing dirty. we're going to play ball not prance around like peacocks in Hera's garden.”  Kate replies, "You can't be afraid to get dirty if you want to accomplish something. We'll want to make them play as absolutely hard as they can and get those shiny new uniforms very, very dirty.  Most importantly is that we all have a good time, and win or lose graciously. It's only a ball game, after all."The photograph takes a full ten minutes, with Stanley shooting several films. The cookies are then distributed to the players and as Ginnie had anticipated the children are careful eating them so and not to get any stains on the uniforms.  "We've wasted enough time here," Kate said. "They sure are being careful about those uniforms." She got everyone started back toward the school and the empty land that lay beyond it. "We might have to have a party of our own after the game tomorrow."Mollie laughs and says, "Yes indeed, we can celebrate the fact that we don't have to wear uncomfortable uniforms!"  Kate replies, "I'm certainly not wearing a skirt over my pants." Once they got back to the schoolhouse Kate went inside and got some boards to use as bases and the children got started with a practice. The O'Hara children, Melvin Caudell, Nakomo, and Ginnie had practiced on Saturday and were almost enough to make a team on their own. Once they were in the thick of practice Kate noticed something very different from the practice they had observed earlier. Plenty of children's laughter and no angry voices raised. A nice reminder that they had already won.  Following the game the three teachers agreed to meet for dinner at the El Parador after they got cleaned up. They get together an hour later, Dorita and Pedro having put several tables together to accommodate the O'Hara clan as well as the others. Shamus O'Hara also joins them this evening, the first time thus far that he has done so. He explains that he normally dines at the Cochise, the boarding house where he lives at in rooms adjacent to those of Meghan's oldest children Patrick and Shannon. He says that "Tonight Patrick wanted to bring a guest to dinner and the Hooten's would have charged him for the young lady so instead I bowed out and said she could have my portion of the meal.""That was very kind of you," Kate said. "I'm glad Patrick has had a chance to meet someone. Mine work could leave one too exhausted to spend much time socializing."  Shamus says, "Yes, she's one of the Mexican young ladies in town for the wedding. She'll be leaving for home in another couple of days and Patrick wanted to spend some more time with her until then.""The wedding was just what a lot of us needed. I certainly feel better after an evening of fun." She turned to Meagan and said, "I was thinking of getting Ginnie started learning to drive the buggy soon. Would you still like your girls to learn?"   Meghan turns her head towards Colleen and Cathleen and asks, "Well girls, would you like to learn how to use the buggy?" Colleen gives an enthusiastic "Yes" which Cathleen follows up with "Sure...that would be very nice."Kate smiled over at Cathleen. "It's a handy thing to know how to drive. It's not always convenient to wait for someone to offer to take you somewhere."   In a few minutes Dorita arrived at the table, setting down large bowls and platters of food rather than giving each diner their own plate. Kate caught her attention and asked, "Dorita, would it be possible to put together a little something for our students after their game tomorrow? I'd like to have a little party at the school afterward, win or lose."  Dorita smiles and says, "I be happy to. It long time since I throw a party, not since yesterday! Don't worry about lose, you going to win."  "Not since yesterday? Dorita, I love you," she laughed. "You're so sure we're going to win?"  Dorita reply, "Yes, your team win. I see it."Kate looked more closely at Dorita, but didn't ask her to clarify in front of all these people. "Well, I see a delicious meal after the game. I wanted to ask as well, we'd like to expose the children to different kinds of foods, so each week we'd like to have snacks brought in daily from different places in Promise City. Would you be interested?"   Dorita replies, "Yes, I can do that. You teachers all too skinny."Kate answers, "You're not exactly round around the middle yourself, Dorita."  After Dorita went back to the kitchen and the platters started being passed around the table Kate looked apologetically toward the other teachers. "I was supposed to do that last week, I apologize. I've been a little behind on things lately."   Mollie laughs and says, "Well you have been rather busy between the school, the ranch, and the visit from your entire family.""With my family gone back to Boston things should get easier." The meal moved on with plenty of chatter and laughter. Sitting next to Mollie, Kate asked, "Is your family settling in tolerably well?"   "Yes, it is a wonderful town," Mollie states. Nate says, "Indeed it is. I am so glad that Henry suggested it. I believe that we are quite fortunate to have arrived here at this auspicious moment. This is a great opportunity for all of us." Mollie gestures to Melvin whose eyes are wandering between Ginnie, Kathleen and Colleen and says, "And our boy seems to appreciate his classmates." Melvin turns his attention back and says, "And we get to play baseball too!""We can keep playing after the game if you like. We have enough students in our school to field two teams and we could pick one afternoon a week to play.  Things do seem to be going well for your family, I'm glad I recommended the town to General Pleasants. I'm very glad you're here."As they are finishing up their Monday night dinner they are greeted by the familiar sight of the halfling newspaperman Chumbley making his way into the Cantina with a stack of the day's newspapers. He calls out, "Promise City Mirror, Hot off the Presses! Only Five Cents!"  Kate waved the diminutive man over and dropped a nickel in his hand. "News is plentiful lately, Mr. Chumbley, you must be doing well.""Oh yes, I never imagined that we would be putting out a daily paper of 12-pages in length. Here you go Mrs. Kale, I'm looking forward to watching your baseball game tomorrow." He hands here the paper and then hurries off to sell more, with Nate Caudell and Shamus O'Hara each purchasing one as well. Kate takes a look at the paper. The lead story carries the banner headline “Voter Registration Ends” The story states that a total of 271 people have registered to vote. Judge Isby stated that the total is close to his original estimate of 250 which is what he based the requirement of 25 registered voter signatures per candidate petition on as there is no point in a person running for office if at least ten-percent of the town supports them. When asked if he would now raise that requirement to 27 Isby stated, “No, this is close enough, and changing it wouldn’t be fair to new candidates as those already registered only needed 25.” A related story on page one below that has the headline “Judge Rules of Voter Registration Challenges” The story states that based upon the final voter registration tallies two separate challenges were made, both claiming that the contingency regarding the registration of non-human races being more than 50% of those anticipated had been met and therefore requiring another meeting and re-vote on the racial issue. The first challenge was from Bill Watkins, who claimed that based upon his checking of the voter rolls the number of wood elves had increased by 54%. Judge Isby reviewed these findings and ruled Watkins tally as incorrect, as he had listed several part-blooded as being full-blooded which the Judge have kept as separate categories. Based upon the Judge’s tally the wood elvan population showed a 46% increase instead. Watkins said that he would appeal this ruling to the Territorial Governor. The second challenge was from Evan Adair, who claimed that the contingency had been triggered because the town’s halfling population had increased by 100%, from one to two, with the arrival of Sydney Sue. However this was immediately dismissed by Judge Isby as his original pre-registration tally had actually included Sydney Sue since she was listed at that time in the County Claims records as the co-owner of the Liberty Hill Mine. The final front page story has the headline “Rufus Davis Weds Anita Ramirez”. It has a detailed account of the wedding, reception dinner and evening dancing at the saloons. An interior story has the headline “Rancher Missing”. It says that Bronco Madson of the Thayer Ranch never returned home follow a night of wine, women and song at the Palace Saloon on Saturday evening. It was assumed that he was drunk and sleeping it off somewhere but as Monday arrived he still hadn’t been seen and his horse is still boarded at the Papago Cash Store corral. Ike Sherman is quoted to say, “He only paid me for the one night. If he doesn’t show up soon I’ll confiscate his saddle and horse for non-payment.” Two other ranchers from the Thayer Ranch have been killed during the last ten days. When asked for a comment Nick Thayer said, “This is a good example of why new leadership is needed in this town. The present Marshall and his Deputies have been powerless to stop this murder and cattle rustling spree.” Another story has the headline "Bishop Returns" and mentions the arrival in town of the Regional Deputy Bishop who last visited Promise City during the Festival in March. It says that he will be working with Priestess Florencia and three other Greek/Roman priests during the week and will hold a Prayer Service at sunset on Friday for all who wish to attend. The remaining interior pages contain advertisements, including a half-page ad that Ginnie has placed for the Lucky Lady. Interior political advertisements include a half-page advertisement for Elihu Upton for Councilman and quarter page advertisements for Burton Lumley, Dennis Winston and Vera Blake for Town Council positions. The back page is normally reserved as an advertisement for the Palace Saloon but this time is exclusively for the candidates for the Freedom Political Party, giving short complimentary biographies of all seven candidates that mostly emphasize their lives since arriving in Promise City.Kate comments, "Well, you have to admit, Watkins is persistent. I'm afraid that ruling could fall to what kind of man the territorial governor is."      Nate Caudell says, "He's unlikely to overrule Judge Isby, after all, he did put the judge in charge of this election."   "He was probably amazed we came to any kind of agreement at all. Judge Isby said he was reluctant about our incorporation because of the factions in town."Colleen O'Hara exclaims, "That other school's team players act like such snobs! They have those fancy uniforms but are too afraid to get dirty!"   Her twin sister Cathleen O'Hara adds, "They annoy me to. I have to agree with you, just not so angrily."  Kate asks, "Do you care about fancy uniforms, Colleen? Seems more fun to me to play without worrying about your clothes.  Don't think too harshly of the other children. We're all what we're taught to be, and I don't imagine they're hearing 'Just have a good time and be good sports win or lose.'"Colleen responds "Yeah, I know, but they drive me so crazy to the point I actually feel sorry for them but I'm so annoyed, I mean why of all times did they have to show up to use the field right when we were going to practice?"   Kate answers, "Because we have a game tomorrow and they want to win. They're willing to cut into their study time to do that. They're desperate to prove in any way they can that their all-human philosophy is better. All they've proven is to me is they have a poor sense of priorities.  We're going to do just fine."  Colleen replies "Ok I suppose I'm probably just nervous.""I could say there's nothing to be nervous about, but you'd be nervous anyway," Kate smiled. "Believe me, I'd love to win tomorrow too. But the only thing it will prove is that we had a better day at baseball."  Nate replies, "Any particular reason to be nervous? Melvin, Mollie, you were watching them practice, how were they?"  Mollie replies, "Only the kids were practicing not the adults, but all three of their teachers are healthy males who I assume can play." Melvin says, "They have eleven kids on their team, most of the younger ones except for Doc Eaton's kids don't seem to be very good at all. I think that Troy King knows how to play too but didn't really show it today, he seemed rather nervous. They have three teenage boys on their team who seem to know what they are doing." Ginnie interjects, "Two of them are brothers, last name Porter, their father ran a store in Tombstone that got burned out. They've relocated here. A lot of their store's stocks were medicines and other apothecary goods so he's sharing Doc Eaton's Office until he gets a store of his own built. And yes, those boys do know how to play."   Kate says, "Did they have any pitcher to speak of?  I'd be nervous too if I were Troy King. I imagine his family is putting a lot of pressure on him to do well."Melvin says, "That other teenage boy was pitching. I'm not sure who he is." Shamus O'Hara says, "He's the grandson of Elton Hubbard, the man who owns Breakheart Mine and Silverbell Mining Company. His parents are away on a European vacation so he's here in town for the summer."  "Europe, that must be nice; I hope the young man has a good visit.   It sounds like they have enough people with skill to give us a challenge, but we have quite a few talented players ourselves and as far as I know they haven't observed our practices."   Melvin says, "We know we have six solid players here. Ma as pitcher, and then us four teenagers (gesturing to himself, Ginnie, Cathleen and Colleen) plus Nakomo! I say we put Nakoma in center field, he could probably cover half the outfield by himself as fast as he runs. We can alternate everybody else in as the catcher and two other outfield spots. The younger ones would only have to be able to toss the ball to Nakomo and he could toss it in for them."Kate nodded. "I want to include everyone who wants to play, at least for a short time. I don't plan on batting tomorrow at all. I'll do a little catching but I'm going to leave most of it up to all of you.   The rules wouldn't require me to bat, would they?"   Nate says, "Actually the expectation is for each player to stay in at least an inning, so you'd probably have to bat once when your position comes up in the rotation." Meghan says, "Don't count on me to do much out there either." Nate says, "Kate, you take the first inning and be lead off batter. That'll give them a nice false sense of security if they strike out our first batter."  Mollie says, "Well, I know that Roberto Tolucca wants to pitch too. Why don't we let him pitch the first couple of innings and then I'll take over." Nate says, "Good, if he gives up a few runs that'll also lull them into false confidence." "You give me way too much credit," she replies to her husband.   "Isn't that what husbands are for?" Kate smiled. She continues, "That sounds like a good plan, Mr. Caudell. I'm not so worried I can't hit, but I don't have much muscle. I doubt it would go far.  I'm going to be sure to bring my medical bag tomorrow as well in case of any cuts and bruises. I doubt the good Doctor will volunteer to patch up our hurts."   Colleen responds "We don't want them to be too confident or we might not be able to overtake them if they pull ahead too much."Mollie says, "Don't worry Colleen, I'll be pitching by the third inning, sooner if Roberto gets into trouble." Melvin says, "I'll bet they won't be ready for Rocky," referring to the half-ogre student in the school, son of a local miner. Rocky is the human equivalent of 11 but already the size of most adults and very strong. Ginnie says, "He's not all that coordinated, I doubt he can catch well. But he should be able to bat the ball into the next county."Kate says, "So we'd want him up to bat when we're likely to have runners on base, is that right? If he can hit the ball so far away it would give the runners more time?"  Colleen replies "They'll never expect that. It should be fun if everyone plays by the rules."  Nate says, "Yes, but once you set the batter rotation you have to then stick with it. But the rotation is by position though, not player, so if you're willing to move people around to different positions you can still mix the order up some." Meghan says, "Kate, when you say you want everybody to play I hope you weren't meaning our very youngest students. I'd be worried about the three to five year olds out there having baseballs thrown at them by those angry adults on the other team. I might let my Mary and Caitlin play, they're six, but I think that Kellie and Patricia are too young."   Colleen says "We should ask them if they want to play an inning and if they want to we should give them a chance."Kate says, "Oh no, not the very youngest. If they want to participate we can find some little jobs for them to do but I wouldn't let them get out there with those men. You're absolutely right about that Meagan. I just mean anyone who wants a chance to play, whether they're very good or not at least gets to play one inning."Ginnie says, "Well, Ricardo Huesca is only the human equivalent of five but wild horses couldn't stop that boy from doing something he wanted to do, especially if you let his buddy Ritchie Baines play. You should consider letting him play. He'd be a good outfielder."   Kate replies, "Outfield is probably safer. I know Ritchie wants to play, but we might want to see if the other team is going to play fair before we put him in. I'll try to have a word with his mother tonight and see what she thinks."Colleen states, "I still think you should still let the little kids play."  Cathleen adds, "I have to agree that we should give everyone a chance to play if they want to. If you restrict all of the children in the young age groups soon you'd be missing half of your team."  Kate says, "We're only talking about the smallest children, girls. Can you imagine putting little Gina in there? She's four. We're not trying to keep them out, but until we know if the other team is going to play rough I don't want to risk the little ones."Colleen says, "Oh, all right, but if we can we should give them a chance to play. If they start playing now they'll be the stars in a few years. But I understand your reasoning now."  Kate answers, "There's no reason we can't have games of our own. We have enough students to field two small teams and I know our students won't play too rough with the little ones. Maybe next year we'll be able to challenge them again and be better prepared; and a little bit older."Colleen says "Ok I just hoped they could play in a real game because they would enjoy it." Cathleen says "Now that we have everything planned and decided maybe we should all get a good nights sleep. We'll need our strength for the game tomorrow."   "And I have a meeting tonight to get to," Kate said as she got up. "It was a lovely dinner, I hope we can do it more often. I'll see most of you in the morning."   After a few more goodbyes, Kate gathered her things and walked over to the building that now housed the headquarters of the Cattleman's Association.</blockquote>

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