The Art Of Fielding

I'm continuing the story of my favorite novel, The Art Of Fielding. It was a NY Times best seller

Sophie Skrimshander woke up to her phone vibrating early on a Monday morning. She didn’t recognize the number, but that had become a common occurrence during her short time at San Diego State University.  Everybody seemed to know somebody who knew Sophie. She picked up the phone anyway.

 

“Hello?” Sophie said groggily into her cell phone.

 

“Hey, Soph,” said a weak sounding voice, “I need some help.”

 

“Who is this?” Sophie asked.

 

“It’s Henry,” said the unfamiliar voice.

 

Sophie perked up immediately. “Henry? Like, my brother Henry?”

 

“Sophie, I’m at the airport. I need a ride.”

 

            Shocked maybe wasn’t the right word to describe how she felt, but Sophie didn’t know what else to feel besides shock. Henry was supposed to be at Westish living out his senior year. Sophie didn’t realize she was zoned out until Henry’s feeble voice reminded her that he was still on the other end of this very strange phone call.

 

“Soph…You still there?”

 

“Um, yeah. Just hold on a minute.”

 

            Sophie tried to piece together everything she knew about Henry, yet nothing explained why she was getting a call at five in the morning being asked for a ride. Sophie had just seen Henry less than two months ago. He seemed fine; he was eating again, and he was even lifting weights. He still looked frail, but it was nothing Sophie hadn’t seen before. Henry always seemed skinny; this wasn’t new to Sophie. The thing that was new was his reluctance to talk to her. Henry used to talk to her all the time. Hell, he even told her about Westish before anyone else.

 

“Sophie…Seriously, I need a ride.” Henry said, drawing Sophie out of her trance.

 

“Just give me a minute, ok? I don’t even have a car. Remember freshmen can’t have cars.”

 

“Sophie, you don’t understand…” Henry trailed off and Sophie heard a muffled voice in the background. “Sophie, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you back in an hour.”

 

            Sophie put her phone down and tried to go back to sleep. Not like it mattered, Henry was supposedly calling back in an hour. She didn’t know how he had access to a phone anyway; he never had a phone before, why now?  

            Sophie still didn’t know why Henry was here. Baseball, or at least the fall tryouts, had started already. Henry had a position to win back, and he knew that Izzy wouldn’t give it up after winning a national championship. After Henry had his breakdown, Izzy had stepped right in, almost an exact copy of Henry. Henry was supposed to be working to get his spot back, and Sophie thought he was.

 

            How did Henry even get to San Diego, Sophie wondered. It wasn’t like he had the money to buy a plane ticket. He didn’t have a car to drive, and he wouldn’t come all the way to San Diego unannounced. At least Sophie thought he wouldn’t. Sophie pondered the thought as she got out of bed and made her way towards the kitchen in her apartment.

 

            Sophie tried to go about her morning as usual: showering, picking out an outfit, and drinking a small cup of coffee. About halfway through a cup of coffee her phone buzzed again. Once again Sophie didn’t recognize the number.

 

“Hello?” Sophie said tentatively, like she was afraid of upsetting her phone.

 

“Sophie?” A voice asked, “Is that you?”

 

“You called me, so you should know who you’re calling,” Sophie snapped.

 

“Look, Sophie.” The voice said rather sternly, “I don’t have your number memorized, you’re the fourth person I’ve called this morning.”

 

“Henry, is that you?” Sophie asked.

 

“Sophie, I’m in downtown San Diego, how do I get to campus?”

 

“I…I don’t know, Henry.” Sophie stammered.

 

“Just tell me where to go, I’ll manage once I know where I’m going.”

 

“HENRY!” Sophie shouted, “What the f**k are you doing in San Diego?”

 

“Just relax, it’ll all make sense soon” Henry said calmly, “I’ve got to go.”

 

“Henry…” Sophie said as her anger deflated.

 

            Sophie looked at her phone just as it got dark after Henry hung up.

 

“D****t!” Sophie yelled at her phone.

 

            Sophie had no choice but to try and move on. She downed the rest of her now lukewarm coffee in one gulp, and started to get things ready for her first class; which didn’t start for another two hours. Once Sophie got all her things ready for class, she looked up at the clock on her microwave. It said it was 8:42. Class started in a little over an hour and Sophie was only a ten-minute walk from campus.

 

            Time seemed to stand still as she walked towards campus. Sophie didn’t see any cars driving by or anyone else walking around. Sophie pulled out her phone to make sure she had class that day. Instead of a calendar, Sophie saw that she had a missed call. It was a New York area code. Sophie didn’t know what else to do, she called the number back.

 

“Hello?” Sophie said curiously.

 

“Hey, Sophie!” said an excited female voice.

 

            Sophie took a stab at the most improbable thing she could think of.  “You aren’t calling about Henry, are you?”

 

“Sophie, it’s always about Henry now-a-days.” The voice said with a slight laugh, “I’m Miranda Szoabos.”

 

“I’m sorry?” Sophie said almost like a question, “I don’t really know why you’re calling me then.”

 

“I’m calling because Henry needs representation if he wants to be a star.” Miranda said with an excited tone.

 

“Henry quit, remember?” Sophie said flatly.

 

“That’s not what I remember.” Miranda said, “wasn’t he the one who scored the winning run in the championship game?”

 

“He doesn’t even remember that!” Sophie cried, “He hadn’t eaten for three weeks!”

 

“That’s irrele…” Miranda said before Sophie interjected.

 

“I’m sorry, but I need to go class.” Sophie said before hanging up.

 

            After Sophie hung up, the world seemed to come alive. She saw scattered groups of people all chatting and laughing about one thing or another involving some party Sophie didn’t go to, or the football team which, of course, lost. Sophie continued walking towards her first classroom. Once she got to her first classroom, she found the door unlocked with no one inside. This was unusual considering it was such a big school with a potential for trouble.

 

            Sophie went inside anyway, thinking she could sit and think in a quiet space while waiting for Henry to call. She walked towards the back of the classroom, looking through each row of desks to make sure an upperclassmen wasn’t waiting to jump out at her. That happened to her early on in her college career. She didn’t like the experience, nor did she think it was funny; so every time Sophie got to her first period class, she checked between the rows of seats as she walked towards the back of the room.

 

            Sophie got to the back of the room and sat down. She pulled out her laptop and tried to connect to the Wi-Fi. Sophie hated not having high speed Internet in her apartment, so the only time she ever really surfed the web was on campus. She pulled up her email and saw all the missed emails from her parents.

 

            Sophie made the mistake of not changing her email when she changed her phone number. After how her parents talked about Henry when he walked out on his team, Sophie couldn’t stand them anymore. She tried to cut off all contact with them, and they kept trying to bridge the gap. Needless to say, Sophie denied any attempt they made to contact her.

 

            Sophie had created a separate folder for all the emails she got from her parents. As she attempted to move these new emails into that folder, one of the subjects of the email caught her eye.

 

Henry’s gone. You’re gone. We’ve had enough.

 

            Sophie wanted to know what happened with Henry, but she couldn’t risk talking to her parents again. It had been a rough few months for her family and Sophie didn’t want to relive any of it. She just wanted to move on with her life, but it wasn’t becoming any easier now that Henry was doing God knows what all the way across the country.

 

            Sophie clicked on the most recent email, which was also the most urgent according to the subject. It wasn’t exactly the greatest news she’d ever gotten, but it somehow wasn’t the worst, either.

 

Sophie, we understand you don’t want to talk to us, but now Henry won’t even speak to us. We received a call from Mike Schwartz saying Henry left Westish. We couldn’t contact him at all and we’re really worried. Do you have any idea why he left?

 

            Sophie wanted to say she knew exactly what was going on and that everything was fine, just to spite them, but she couldn’t. Everything was not fine, and Sophie knew nothing about Henry’s whereabouts or his motives towards leaving Westish. Henry had no reason to leave Westish; He and Mike had resolved their problems, Pella and Mike were back together, and if Henry only did half of what he had done the previous season the Cardinals were almost guaranteed to draft him again. Sophie didn’t know what to do about Henry’s situation or what to do if he ever found his way to campus.

 

            Sophie’s phone buzzed, drawing her out of her own little bubble. She looked around the room to see if anyone had walked in while she was checking her email. The room was still empty. Her phone continued to buzz, showing an unknown number on the screen. Sophie didn’t care about the fact that she was burning all her minutes; she picked up anyway.

 

“Henry?” Sophie asked, hoping that she was right.

 

“Yeah, I’m almost to campus. Can you meet me somewhere?” Henry said without any hesitation.

 

“Henry, I have class, and we have a test next week. What do you need from me?” Sophie said in a sad tone.

 

“Go to class, freshmen year is more important than any of the others.”

 

“Henry, what do you need? Have you been eating?” Sophie asked.

 

“I’ve been eating, don’t trip.” Henry said with a chuckle, “just come meet me somewhere after class.”

 

“Ok, just don’t do anything stupid.” Sophie said right before Henry hung up.

 

            Sophie put her phone down on the desk, and looked up at the clock and saw that it was ten minutes until class. She found it odd that there was no one besides her in the room. On a typical day, this room was buzzing with activity, today however, it was empty and quiet. Sophie appreciated the quiet, but this peace and quiet made her feel something was wrong.

 

            Sophie waited until the clock showed fifteen after ten to put away her things. The room was still empty, and even her professor hadn’t shown up to class. Something was definitely going on that Sophie wasn’t aware of, and she still had Henry to worry about. Sophie got up and proceeded to walk towards the front of the classroom. When she got to the door, she made sure to lock it on her way out, just in case something happened. Sophie had enough to worry about; she didn’t want to be responsible for a trashed classroom.

 

            Sophie walked back towards her apartment, checking her phone every few minutes to make sure she didn’t miss Henry’s call. She still had no way to contact him, even though he could always seem to find her. When Sophie reached her apartment, she saw that her door was unlocked. She proceeded to open her door and saw that Henry was sitting at her kitchen table.

 

            Sophie couldn’t believe this. First her brother had the audacity to show up unannounced in San Diego, but then he finds her apartment and waits for her inside. This wasn’t only scary to Sophie, but it was quite impressive. Henry was never one for directions, and he certainly wasn’t able to use a phone book. Sophie remembered how Henry relied so heavily on their parents to show him how to get places when they were younger. Sophie just stood in the doorway staring at Henry. He looked so different than the last time she saw him. He had a beard, and his clothes were mangy and torn. He almost looked like a homeless person, but he couldn’t have been homeless, Sophie thought. He had his dorm at Westish to live in.

 

“Hey, Sophie.” Henry said, drawing Sophie out of her trance, “I just thought I’d meet you here. Is your class over already?”

 

“Henry, how did you find my apartment?” Sophie asked in an angry tone.

 

            Henry just looked at Sophie and smiled. He walked over to her and gave her a hug. Sophie could smell Henry, and it wasn’t like he was unclean, but he smelled like he had been to a local party. He reeked of marijuana and beer. Sophie started to imagine how popular Henry must have been at whatever party he attended. The number one shortstop in the country doesn’t just show up at a party all the way across the country on a daily basis. Sophie pulled back as the smell overwhelmed her and snapped back to reality.

 

“Henry, tell me how you found my apartment.” Sophie said sternly.

 

“Sophie, your last name makes you just as big as me here.” Henry said with a smile.

 

“That doesn’t mean you can barge into my apartment without telling me!” Sophie yelled.

 

“Whoa, don’t yell at me because you left the door unlocked. That’s your fault.” Henry said defensively.

 

            Sophie didn’t know what to say, because Henry technically didn’t do anything wrong. Henry seemed to be an entirely different person to Sophie. Normally Henry would just sit outside waiting for permission before doing anything. Sophie started to question whether Henry was still high or drunk or whatever. He didn’t seem drunk; Sophie knew what drunken people were like, and Henry wasn’t like that.

 

“Ok, Henry. I’m sorry for yelling at you, but can you see what kind of stress this has put on me?” Sophie said calmly.

 

“Yeah, I see that you’re stressed, but I still need your help.” Henry said.

 

“I get that you need help, but what do you need from me?” Sophie said, “You got all the way to San Diego on your own, with no phone and hardly any money.”

 

“Soph, there’s something you need to know. Owen never went to Tokyo; he stayed here in the States. He’s the reason I made it this far.”

“What? Why would Owen stay here? He had such an opportunity to do what he always wanted to do!” Sophie cried in confusion.

 

“I know that, but things at Westish aren’t good.” Henry said.

 

“Ok, that doesn’t explain anything, Henry.”

 

“Yeah, I know. It’s not something I can just spit out in a sentence or two.” Henry said with an agitated tone.

 

“Well, give me more than that!” Sophie exclaimed, ”I want to help you, but I can’t with no information.”

 

“Ok” Henry said as he exhaled a large breath, “After Affenlight died, Mike got back together with Pella, and Pella got enrolled at Westish, she was telling Mike that Mr. Gibbs knew about Affenlight and Owen. Mr. Gibbs was suggesting that Affenlight’s death might have been a suicide. Pella’s been digging around their old house to see if he might have left a note or something.“

           

            Henry stopped, and took a deep breath as he looked around. He almost seemed shocked at how clean Sophie’s apartment looked. She had never been one to keep anything clean for very long. Henry started to say something, but then he decided against it, with his mouth left open as if he were stopped mid-sentence.

 

“Henry?” Sophie asked, wondering what happened to her brother.

 

“I’m trying to think of way to tell you what she found.” Henry said calmly, “I don’t think you’d understand if I told you without a little more information.”

 

“So, out with it then!” Sophie exclaimed.

 

 “Affenlight did leave a note, but it wasn’t for Pella, it was for Owen telling him what to do after he had passed away. He knew someone would dig around in his study, he just didn’t think it would be Pella.” Henry said, “He left a note for Owen telling him that Tokyo was a big mistake. That he needed to stay at Westish, to make sure everything ‘went according to plan’.

 

“So that what would go according to plan?” Sophie asked with a confused expression.

 

“Exactly, not even Owen knows what that means.”

 

“Ok, so why aren’t things good at Westish?” Sophie asked, “None of those things seem too out of the ordinary, except for you coming all the way to San Diego!”

 

“Sophie, I’m not done yet.” Henry sighed, “Pella showed the note to the campus police and now they found a lot more stuff at Affenlight’s house.”

 

“Stuff?” Sophie said, “What kind of stuff?”

 

            Henry looked like he was almost about to cry, and Sophie was really confused with why he was taking this so hard. People died every day. Even when their Grandmother had passed away when they were eight, Henry didn’t seem this upset.

 

“Not only did they find more notes like the one Pella found,” Henry sputtered, “they also found notes about a lot more students, like really personal notes.”

 

“So what does that mean?” Sophie asked.

 

“It turns out, Affenlight was having affairs with students for years, and the students stayed quiet about for fear of losing their scholarships.”

 

“Ok, so the guy’s dead.” Sophie said, “Why does it matter now?”

 

“The reports got sent to the State, and now their threating to shut Westish down.” Henry said, “As of right now, all classes are cancelled as are sports.”

 

“Henry,” Sophie said in motherly tone, “it’ll be ok, I promise it will be ok.”

 

“Sophie, now I’m never going to play after college!” Henry exclaimed, “The NCAA has rules against transferring this late, so even if I switch schools, I lose my last year of eligibility!”

 

“Oh, Henry….” Pella said softly, “I really wish I could do something.”

 

“I left Westish before the story reached national news,” Henry said with a flat tone, “I didn’t want to be around when s**t hit the fan.”

 

            Henry seemed so different to Sophie, so fragile on the outside, rather than just trying to keep it all inside. He just showed how he was feeling, even the way he was dressed showed something was off. Henry always made sure he appeared well groomed. His hair was a mess and it looked oily, like he hadn’t washed it in a few days.

 

“So where’s Owen?” Sophie asked.

 

“He’s in town with a few of his buddies.“ Henry replied, “He’s originally from San Jose, so few of his friends flew back when they heard he’d be back.”

 

“Why were you at the airport then? “ Sophie asked, “You didn’t fly looking like that, did you?”

“Looking like a homeless guy, right?” Henry said with a slight smile.

 

“Well, you don’t exactly look like you’re a shortstop for a championship caliber team.” Sophie said.

 

“I know, but Owen and I didn’t fly. We rented a car back in Wisconsin, and took turns driving. Don’t ever be in a car with Owen for a long period of time.” Henry said, “He smokes A LOT of weed.”

 

“So that’s why you smell like a local party.” Sophie chuckled. “So if you didn’t fly, why were you at the airport?”

 

“We had to return the rental car before it got too expensive.” Henry said, “Owen’s friends flew in a few days earlier, and picked him up from the airport, leaving me with no way to get anywhere.”