"Hey batter, batter batter!"
"Hit a homegoal Carl!"
"A home run Judith," Michonne corrected.
"Oh. A home run! Hit a home run Carl." It was strike two with the bases loaded, the crowd went still as the next ball was thrown Carl's way. He swung just as the ball hit his thumb.
"Boo!," someone teased from the stands. The parent pitcher was apologetic, taking the good natured ribbing in stride. Carl dropped the bat and hoped putting his thumb in his mouth, he could suck away the pain. After a few moments he brought his thumb out of his mouth to look at it, the throbbing making him wonder if it was still attached.
"Shake it off!" someone yelled from the stands. Carl shook his hand up and down then stuck his thumb back in his mouth when the throbbing started to feel worse. Rick looked at Michonne's concerned face and motioned with his hands for her to stay in her seat. His calm walk settled her nerves a bit, but until she saw Carl give his alright signal, she'd stay on the edge of her seat.
Rick took Carl's hand in his to look it over, instructing him to move it from left to right. They said some other words to each other, but they were too far away for Michonne to hear. Then Carl handed Rick his bat. He bent down so he could get some dirt from home plate. He rubbed it on his thumb and took his bat back while everyone clapped. Then before getting into his stance again, Carl turned his head towards Michonne and touched the bill of his cap, the signal that he was alright. He nodded to the pitcher to say he was ready and waited for the pitch.
"Strike three!" The ump yelled with a clenched fist.
"Awe man," Judith moaned.
"Good try honey," Michonne shouted looking at Carl to see if she's embarrassed him.
"You think Andre will do any better?" Judith looked up at Michonne, her eyes squinted even though she wore eye black on the tops of her cheeks, not wanting to be left out when Andre and Carl were getting ready for the game that morning.
"I don't know. He looks ready. He's got his game face on." They watched Andre walk up to the plate and take a few practice swings. The annual KC baseball game was always played at the 4th of July carnival at the park. This was Rick's first year participating in the baseball game since it was a kids only game played between the children of the sheriff's department and the fire department. Judith had never had any interest in playing, but when he brought it up playing the 10 game season to Carl and Andre, they were more that happy to play and he couldn't wait to be coach.
"Alright son, keep your eye on the ball and watch your stance." Rick told Andre. "Remember if you don't like it, don't swing. You got this." He tapped the top of his blue batting helmet and walked to the dugout. The pitcher nodded at Andre and threw the ball.
"Strike one!" The umpire yelled.
"Bring em home Andre!" One of the deputies shouted from the stands. The pitcher lined up his arm and let the next ball fly towards Andre, who swung as hard as he could.
"Strike two!"
"Watch that ball Andre!" Michonne yelled starting to get nervous. The next ball sailed low and to the left. Andre held his stance and didn't swing, letting the ball fall to the ground and roll behind him.
"Baaaall one!"
"Good eye Andre," Rick said. "Don't swing if you don't like it."
The pitcher lined up his arm again and waited for Andre to settle into his stance before throwing the ball. Judith and Michonne held their breaths as the next pitch seemed to move in slow motion towards Andre's awaiting bat. He swung at the white and red blur that was flying towards him and although he was expecting to hear the swish through the air as he struck out, he heard the end of his bat connect with the ball, sending it soaring over the heads of the pitcher, second baseman and all the scrambling outfielders. Shocked, Andre stood and watched the ball fly over the chain link fence and hit the ground.
"Run! Run! Run!" The crowd shouted at him, to get him moving. Andre slowly smiled, realizing what he had actually done and dropped his bat, heading to first to start rounding the bases. The outside of his foot stomped on the corner of every base as the crowd cheered him on. He headed into home towards his waiting teammates who were crowding the plate, backing up to make room with every hurried step he took. At the last minute Andre decided not to hop onto home plate, but to slide feet first. He scored surrounded by a cloud of red dirt and his cheering team. Michonne laughed and Judith laughed at his dirt covered pants and the ecstatic team that had won their first game of the season.
"They won! They won!" Judith bounced up and down genuinely proud of Andre for hitting the grand slam that brought in the team to have them win by two runs.
"Good game Grimes," The fire department coach said to Rick as he was packing all the baseball gear up into a rolling wagon. "Can't believe you won your first year coaching."
"It happens, I guess," Rick zipped up the red bag in his hand and tossed it in the wagon next to Carl and Andre's bats.
"Yeah right," Douglas, one of the veteran firefighters said coming up and slapping Rick on the back. "You stacked your team and they're not even your kids." He pointed to Andre and Carl who were on the bench sipping the last of their water.
"Who told you that?" Rick didn't care for what Douglas said, but he wasn't going to engage him at the town carnival. There was a time and place for everything. "Where do you think they get their swing from?" Rick winked at Carl and Andre, and then turned his back on Douglas when he saw Michonne walk up.
"Good game guys." She said sweetly.
"Did you see my hit mom?" Andre asked as he and Carl walked over to her.
"Of course I saw it. It went over the fence. I didn't even know you could hit that hard."
"We've been practicing," Rick said through his own huge proud smile looking at Andre and Carl who were standing beside him.
"Yeah, I finally hit the ball and it was the last game." Andre's disappointed look made Michonne chuckle. Neither of her boys had ever played baseball before this season, and they took to it like it was their calling. She had been taught so many MLB players names, she was starting to call them out when she'd call Carl and Andre in for dinner.
"We can always hit a few down at the batting cages."
"Can we?" Carl asked Rick, perking up at the possibility.
"I don't see why not. Maybe we can get the girls in there too. Teach them how to swing the bat."
"That might take forever," Andre teased.
"Hey, Judith and I might be really good players with the right coaching." Judith looked away, not interested in holding a bat. Soccer was her sport, and her mind couldn't be changed.
"Can we go get some cotton candy?" Carl asked.
"Yes, but change out of your cleats first." The boys bent down and untied their laces before toeing off their neon colored cleats and tossing them in the wagon. Michonne handed tickets to all three of them when Carl and Andre had their regular shoes on, giving them a warning before they tried to rush off.
"Only one bag for each of you. The extra ticket is for water, okay." They all nodded their heads. "We're gonna take this stuff to the car and meet you at the tables by the green stage."
"Okay," they all said together.
"Watch out for each other."
"Okay," They said again as they walked off, Judith flanked on both sides by Carl and Andre.
"Good game coach," Michonne said once they were alone, stepping closer to Rick.
"Thank you." Rick took his battered cap off and pulled Michonne into his arm. "It's pretty easy when the players mom looks so good cheering in the stands. Makes me want to show off for her." He placed a sweet kiss to her lips, recognizing that they were out in public and he had to behave.
"Let's get this stuff to the truck. I want to change my shirt." The white and red shirt that Rick was wearing was wore all the stains of a summer baseball game. Sweat, dirt and drops of the orange sports drink he drank during the game. Rick pulled the wagon with one hand and held Michonne's hand with the other. When they got to truck, Rick lifted the wagon into the bed before rummaging through the backseat for a clean tee shirt to change into. He slipped his game shirt over his head, taking his time before changing into the new shirt so that Michonne could get a good look.
"You are so silly." The red tank top that she wore showed off her toned arms and was just low enough for Rick to see the beginning of the line of cleavage he loved to run his tongue along. "You better hurry up before someone sees you out here half naked."
"I like those shorts you're wearing." He slipped his shirt on, keeping his eyes on her thighs and wondering how easy it would be to get the denim shorts off her body.
"Oh no you don't. Come on," Michonne said, noticing Rick look from her to the backseat. "Let's go before we get carried away."
"You're right. Let's go see about the kids. Besides," Rick said closing the door. "The backseat will be there when we get home."
"Can I get my face painted?" Judith asked Rick and Michonne when they walked up to where the kids were sitting at a wooden picnic table. She was licking the sticky spun sugar off her fingers which matched the color blue color of her mouth.
"Sure. Do you know what you want?"
"I saw a girl with a pretty butterfly. It was yellow and had glitter."
"Then let's go see about getting that then. Which way is the face painting?" Michonne asked Judith.
"I don't know." She shrugged.
"There's a map over there by the ticket booth." Rick pointed in the direction of the small booth with a hot pink roof.
"Do we have to go?" Carl whined. "I want to play some games."
"Yeah, there's the balloon pop game with the darts. You can win galaxy slime if you pop five of them." Andre said excited about the prize.
"The three of y'all have been making slime since school let out." Rick looked at Michonne thinking about the mess both of their kitchens had looked like on several occasions.
"Please?" Andre begged.
"Alright," Rick looked to the boys then back to Michonne. "You got her, I got them."
"Sounds like a plan. We'll find you when we have a butterfly on our face." Michonne grabbed Judith's hand and headed towards the booth to find the map.
"That doesn't look like a butterfly," Rick said a bit confused when Judith and Michonne met up with them 45 minutes later.
"She changed her mind when she saw all the selections. The dragon became her favorite." Carl and Andre looked over the green scaled animal that covered half of Judith's face and came complete with fire that took up most of her forehead.
"That's pretty cool Judith," Andre approved. "Look at the slime I got." He handed her the small can that was filled with a multicolored glitter slime. "It took me eight time to finally get it." Michonne looked to Rick with wide eyes and mouthed the word eight. He waved it off remembering how happy Andre was to have the can of slime in his hands.
"What are we playing now?" Carl asked. "Can we do the ring toss? I bet I win in less than eight tries."
"Yeah right." They all walked towards the booth with green glass bottles, set up just right to make it hard for you to toss the ring around the neck.
"Step right up and try your luck. Winner gets to pick a prize." the game attendant pointed to a wall lined with small toys that could be won. Carl handed him the six tickets it took to play and tossed his first ring. When all was said and done, Carl walked away with a zombie keychain and was thirty tickets lighter.
"Come on, we have to get a good seat."
"All the seats are good Judith," Rick told her.
"But this is their first time, I want them to see everything." Judith held onto Michonne's hand leading the group through the crowded grassy area looking for the best spot for them to see the fireworks that were going to start in an hour.
"This looks like a great spot Judith," Michonne stopped in the middle of an open area that seemed big enough for the queen size blanket they had.
"Umm..," moving two spaces to the left Judith replied. "This is perfect."
"Finally," Carl and Andre said at the same time. They each took a corner of the blanket, helping Rick spread it out so they all could sit down.
"Are there any more pretzels?" Andre asked after the blanket was down and everyone was sitting.
"We've got all sorts of things in the bag." Michonne riffled through the large straw tote that she carried and pulled out three small bags of pretzels to give to the kids. The sun was just beginning to set and a cool breeze was ushering in the evening sky. The day had been long and was finally at its end. The fireworks show was touted as the best one yet, but they said that every year.
"It feels good to sit down, Carl said stretching out his legs with his arms above his head
"That's lying down Carl," Andre corrected.
"Well it feels good."
"Can we take our shoes off?" Andre asked.
"Sure, just stuff your socks inside so they don't disappear," Rick answered. In no time there was a pile of shoes at the corner of the blanket and all three kids were on their backs looking up at the sky picking out the stars as they appeared in the sky.
"This was a good day." Rick said to Michonne who sat beside him.
"Yes it was. Our first carnival was a great success." Michonne picked up the small wooden cat that sat in her lap and placed it in the palm of her hand. "I love my little cat. Thank you."
"I better see that cat in the middle of your mantel," Michonne started to laugh. "With a spotlight. I can't believe I had to work so hard for such a small piece of wood." Rick just knew that shooting down the tin ducks would be light work and he could win something for Michonne in no time, but it took try after try to finally win.
"But it's beautiful. That game is rigged anyways." She bumped him with her shoulder. "There's no way it should take that long for a sheriff's deputy to knock down five ducks."
"Tell me about it." Rick brought his hand up to massage his shoulder on this throwing arm.
"You really were working hard, weren't you?" Michonne said, noticing the way he was squeezing the muscle of his left shoulder. She moved behind him, standing on her knees to take over the massage for him.
"Mmmm, that feels good. I ever tell you how much I like your hands?" He started rolling his head around feeling the kink start to go away.
"A few times." He took his hands and reached behind him to rub them over the smooth skin of her calves. Leaning his head back he licked his lips to ask for a kiss and she didn't hesitate.
"Mmmm, that feels good too." His hands crept higher ending up at the back of her thighs.
"Slow down there deputy." she gave him another couple of pecks before lifting his head and playing in his hair.
"Come on up here, before they start the show." Rick said, glad that Michonne was the sensible one of the two of them. The high school band had set up on the stage and the first chords of Stars and Stripes Forever began to play. Michonne took a seat in front of Rick settling her back against his chest. He pulled her in closer, moving her hair to one side of her neck to free the other up for the kisses he planned to pepper it with. As the song came to a close, the first sparks of light sailed up into the air, exploding into colored circles, starbursts and hearts.
"Look daddy!" Judith pointed to the sky at the red KC that lit up the night." For the next hour they watched as the fireworks boomed and showered their faces in light as they looked on in awe at the shapes that were made in the sky.
When it was all over Rick and Michonne had to shake the kids awake wondering how they fell asleep with all the noise around them.
"Is it time to go home now?" Judith asked.
"Yes, sweetheart. It's all over. Put your shoes on so we can head to the truck." Groggy and half asleep, the three of them slipped their shoes on as they stood in the grass so Rick and Michonne could fold up the blanket. He took one end and she took the other, coming together in the middle to make the folds. When they met for the last fold, Rick took the blanket from Michonne and pulled her close, planting a kiss to her lips.
"Eww…" Carl, Judith and Andre said before laughing.
"Whatever. Let's get going. Michonne and I have to check the backseat after y'all go to bed."
"Check it for what?" Carl asked as Michonne looked at Rick in disbelief.
"Your mom wants to check to see if a mountain bike will fit back there."
"You're getting a bike? Andre asked not remember ever seeing her on one.
"Umm… I might. I think we need to get home though. It's getting late and it'll be hard to measure anything the later it gets." The darkness masked the blush that crept up her neck to her face.
"Then let's get home then," Rick smiled at Michonne as she played off the flustered look on her face. He knew he was in trouble, but we was looking forward to taking his punishment.