Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2012 10:14:11 -0700
From: Douglas DD DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Big Time  Chapter 30

Welcome back to "The Big Time". In this chapter you will meet an
important character, Coach Miller, who would have an important
impact on the future of the Go to State Team and on Mayfield
baseball.

The story is mine. Be safe. Be 18. Minors are in sexual situations
(sorry, but nobody has sex in this chapter). Donate to Nifty. Thanks
for reading.

Douglas at thehakaanen@hotmail.com


Player roster for the Mayfield Falcons Summer team. The age is as of
June 2nd.

Eric-16 (12th grade) 17 on August 3rd
Scott-16 (12th grade) 17 on June 5th
Danny-17 (12th grade)
Kraig-17 (12th grade)
Kevin-17 (12th grade)
Hunter-17 (12th grade)
Lars-16 (12th grade) 17 on July 4th
Noah-16 (12th grade)
Justin-15 (11th grade) 16 on August 11
Gavin-18 (12th grade)
Carl-17 (12th grade)
Chandler-15 (10th grade)
Korey-15 (10th grade)
Blaine-15 (11th grade) 16 on September 1.


CHAPTER 30
COACH MILLER

<Senior Year, Marty's bedroom>

I woke up wrapped around Marty's solid body. It was a good feeling.
When I opened my eyes I saw that he was awake and looking at me.

"Good morning, Sir Eric. You appear to have had a good sleep."

"How long have you been looking at me."

"Only about fifteen minutes, but it was worth every second. You are
still very cute, you know. And, you are quite the snuggler and
cuddler."

"I've had lots of practice. I think I've slept with somebody maybe a
quarter of the time since Scott and I first became boyfriends."

"Hmm, I wish I could say the same. But, no complaints--I've got my
Rich to sleep with."

"Not to mention Hurricane Jeffrey..."

"...and Rich's brother Mikey."

"Oh?"

"Long story...for a later time maybe."

Marty got out of bed and I couldn't help but admire his athletic body.
His hips were slim, his ass firm, and he had a smooth, muscular
torso, a long swinging cock (when it was soft, which wasn't the case
that morning), and low hanging balls. Yeah, I have a crush on him the
way he has a crush on me. I couldn't help but admire his morning
wood, which he made no attempt to hide from me--in fact I think he
wanted to make sure I saw it.

When Marty got back from the bathroom he slipped on a pair of
shorts and said he was going to start breakfast and I could shower if I
wanted, which is what I did.

I was busily drying myself when the bathroom door opened. I looked
up expecting to see Marty; instead I saw a little five foot blast of wind
blow into the room.

"Hey, Eric. Wow, I finally get to see you naked."

"Good morning, Jeffrey. I beg to differ, you've seen me naked at
Noah's."

"You were always in the water so it doesn't count."

"I've gotten out of the water with you there."

"That doesn't count either because you're too far away to see and
you were all shriveled up from the cold water."

"Really? You mean you don't see very well?"

"I'm supposed to wear glasses, but I only do it in school to see the
board and the overhead and all that kind of stuff. Mom and dad are
yelling at me all the time to put my glasses on."

"I bet you look good wearing glasses." I had never seen him wear
glasses and had to wonder how important they actually were.

Jeff thought that over for a moment and then said, "I don't want to
look good, I want to look sexy."

"Well, there's that too, but glasses can be pretty sexy."

"Uh, uh, you're lying. Glasses aren't sexy, they're dorky looking."

"My boyfriend wears them and I think he looks really sexy in glasses."

Once again he had to pause to digest what I said to him. "I think your
boyfriend would look sexy in them, too, if he had sex with me, but he
won't."

"Have you asked him?"

"Not yet."

"Then how do you know he won't?"

"Simple, because I'm gonna be in seventh grade and he's going to be
a senior and so he won't."

"Doesn't Marty have sex with you?"

"No. All he does is suck my pecker and he whacks me off,
sometimes. I want some real sex."

"That sounds like sex to me," I said. "I bet you and Nicky have sex."

"Me and Nick are only a grade apart, so that doesn't count."

Now it was my turn to pause and digest. In this case it took a lot of
digesting, because Jeffrey's flow of logic made no sense to me at all.
"I guess I'll take your word for it. When I was in seventh grade I
thought all of my sex counted."

"Did you have sex with a high school kid when you were in seventh
grade?" Jeffrey asked eagerly.

"Yep, I did. Two of them."

"You're lying."

"I swear it's the truth."

"Will you have sex with me?" The way he asked me was full of
innocence rather than lust.

"Not now, it smells like Marty's got breakfast ready."

"I didn't mean now, silly, but sometime soon. Please. I want to learn
how to do it from somebody older."

I thought about the Dawg and Donkey and what they had done for
Scott and me after I worked up the courage to ask them. Their
showing us the sexual ropes meant a great deal at the time and still
means a great deal today.

"Hasn't Nicky showed you stuff?"

"Yeah, stuff, but not sex...you know, S-E-X." Jeffery spelled it out for
me, I guess just to make sure I understood what he was talking
about. "We kind of do it, you know, but we're just kids...," he dropped
his voice to bare whisper," fucking." Then he raised his voice back up
to normal. "Except I only do him."

During the conversation we wandered into the bedroom, the only one
in the cottage. I started dressing and he actually waited quietly,
wondering what I would say about his request. Finally he couldn't
keep quiet and still any longer. "Marty says he won't show me
because of, you know, him and dad have this relationship--dad being
his sponsor and his friend and all and Marty says he won't do
anything to hurt me...like he knows better than me what's going to
hurt me or not. But I want somebody to show me. It would be
complicated if I do it with Noah. I mean he is Nicky's brother. I don't
want to just watch you guys it...I want to DO it." Jeffrey was rambling
and as usual I didn't quite follow all of his illogic and just let it pass.

"Part of the reason Marty won't even think about doing it is that he's
too big for you."

"So? That's Marty. I bet you're not too big."

I wasn't quite sure if that was a remark from a somewhat naïve twelve
year old or if I had just been subtly insulted by a sly manipulator.

"Look, let me think about it. I'll give you my number before I go this
morning and give me a call in a week or so when we've both had time
to think about what you're asking."

"I guess. I know you're going to say no."

"Yep, I might say yes or I might just say no later, Jeffrey. But the point
is I didn't say no right now."

Jeffrey ended up eating breakfast with us as Marty put together a
filling morning feast of French toast and sausage, with a seemingly
endless pitcher of orange juice. From what I observed, Jeffrey might
be a skinny little kid, but he seemed to have a bottomless pit in his
gut instead of a stomach.

When we finished I told Marty that Jeffrey and I would load the
dishwasher so he could take his shower. That wasn't what was on
Jeffrey's agenda, however.

"Can I shower with you?" he asked Marty, with that high pitched
pleading voice he has perfected so well.

"Not this time," Marty said. "I need to shower fast to I can get us to
the ball field on time. He has batting practice and I need to help get
the field ready." Marty had a part-time job with the town's recreation
department. He and Connor were assigned to drag and chalk the field
before today's doubleheader since their American Legion team didn't
have a game scheduled.

"Can I come with you?"

"Jeffrey, you're going to sit around with nothing to do, and you don't
do nothing very good. How about you ride your bike over there later
and watch the game."

"Cool. I'll be there." Jeffrey had gone to Pasco with his dad to watch
us play at State. According to Marty he was a pretty decent baseball
player himself. Marty went to take his shower and Jeffrey helped me
with the cleanup.

"Remember, you promised to show me sex stuff," he said as we
cleaned up.

"I did not promise. I said I'd think about it."

"Okay, you promised to think about it. I'll call you next week," he said
as if it was a done deal.

After we finished with the dishes he bolted into the bedroom. I was
pretty sure he wanted to see Marty naked, and if that was want he
wanted he was successful in doing so.

Marty finally came out wearing cargo shorts and a Mayfield Mustangs
t-shirt, Jeffrey right on his heels. Jeffrey had an obvious crush on
Marty along with a severe case of hero worship.

I grabbed my overnight bag and we headed for Marty's car, a Honda
Civic that really belonged to Mr. B. Jeffrey waved to us and yelled out
that he would see us at the game.

"The Hurricane tells me he got you to promise to show him sex,"
Marty said.

"I didn't promise him anything. I said I'd think about it."

Marty laughed and told me I had a lot to learn about Jeffrey. "To the
Hurricane the only word that means no is just that,,,N-O...NO!.
Everything else is either yes or a promise to do something depending
on how he reads it."

"It must drive his parents nuts."

"Oh, believe me, it does. Mr. B says the only thing that allows him to
maintain his sanity is my being around as a pressure valve for
Jeffrey's energy and that I seem to have this ability to tame it."

We stopped off at my house where I changed into my uniform. Scott
had arranged to ride to the field with us and came over as soon as he
saw us pull up.

The four games this weekend were our first summer games, and,
thankfully, none of them were league games. It would also be our first
games without Marty, Connor, Rich, Jerome, Vince, and Rodney, the
graduating seniors. But all of them were there to watch us play. Marty
and Rich had to work on the field, but I know they would have been
there to watch us play anyway. They all had a Legion game tomorrow
up in Olympia so they wanted to see what we had today.

What we had was disappointment. We were missing Carl, who would
be out until at least the middle of June with his injured knee, and
Gavin, who was supposed to be ready by next weekend.

Justin and Blaine, who would both be juniors and Chandler and
Korey, who would both be sophomores made the squad in the
turnouts that Coach Miller held to fill the last four roster spots. Those
of us who were active in the Go to State Team were all on the high
school varsity team and had made the team roster.

Justin was a great fielding shortstop and would take over that spot
now that Rich was gone. Chandler was one hell of a pitcher as well
as third baseman. Korey played outfield and caught. The only
question with those two was their age and if they could keep up with
the older competition. They were both very talented with great
attitudes and we had all known them forever. They were members of
the Go to State Team and helped us with a lot of our projects. They
hung around with all of us upperclassmen more than he did with other
sophomores. Of course this meant they participated in a lot of sex
with us.

Blaine was an excellent pitcher, but seemed stuck up and full of
himself. We all thought he was good enough to start for us, but this
summer he would have to show what he could do. Blaine had moved
to Mayfield as a Freshman and had never really tried to fit in. He
wasn't active in the Go to State group.

Anyway, we got swept on Saturday by scores of 8-3 and 5-4. Blaine
started the first game and wasn't real sharp. Lars started the second
game, and didn't pitch badly, but we didn't play all that great. On
Sunday we started playing in a drizzle, but won 7-4 with Chandler
starting and looking pretty good. I started the second game, which
was called after five innings because the drizzle had changed to a
pretty steady rain and the pitcher's mound became too wet to throw
from. We lost that game 2-1. If it had been a league game it would
have been suspended and finished at a later time.

We knew we had holes to fill and that this summer would be about us
filling those holes and learning how to play with each other without
the graduating seniors. We could tell right away that we had a lot of
work to do by next spring to be good enough to even make it to State,
let alone defend our championship there.

++++++++++

<Seventh Grade, Noah's house, Wednesday, August 15>

Today was a big day for the Go to State Team as they would be
doing their first interview for a coach. Some of them were pretty
certain that it would be their last interview as well.

All of the seventh graders in the group showed for the meeting. Kevin
and Kraig brought a sixth grader with them, Justin, who said he was
interested in the group. The members told him he was welcome, but
that according to the by-laws he couldn't vote until his third meeting.
Anybody involved in playing baseball could be a non-voting member
right away, however.

All of the eighth graders showed as well except for Marty, but by now
nobody missed him. They all found places to sit on the back deck,
where they were able to enjoy the warm summer day. Noah and
Bobby brought out snacks and cold cans of soft drinks as well as
plastic cups and some ice. At Eric's suggestion, everybody was clad
in their dress-up clothes, as they wanted to make the impression on
Mr. Miller that they were a serious, businesslike group. That
impression was not going to last the entire afternoon, however.

Coach Sanders and Mr. Miller arrived a few minutes after the last
boy. They said hello to the large clan of boys in the back of the
house, and then went to talk to Seth McCall in his office. The
executive committee (Eric, Rich, Rodney, and Noah) had instructed
Seth not to interview Mr. Miller in any way until after the Team did its
interview. Seth abided by his agreement not to do so, keeping the
topic away from Team business.

Just as Eric was about to convene the meeting Marty showed up,
much to the surprise of everyone, except maybe Eric.

"Did you guys miss me?" Marty asked.

"What, did you get locked out of your house or something?" Connor
asked.

"Or something. I heard you guys were meeting and decided to come
by and see who the coach was gonna be."

"What do you care about it?" Connor asked. Then he saw the bruise
on Marty's face. "What the fuck happened to your face?"

"Bike accident," Marty said. "The ground won."

"It must have shaken up your brains since you suddenly decide to
show up again."

Eric raised his voice to stop the bantering. "Okay, guys, let's leave the
BS for someplace else. This is a meeting and we're going to do it
right."

"Whatever," Connor said, "I'm just saying that..."

Eric cut him off. "I didn't say you gotta like it, I just said I wanted you
to stop the BS." Connor glared at Eric, but kept quiet, much to Eric's
relief. One thing Eric did note, and he wasn't alone, was how Marty
made a point of sitting as far away from Rich as he could. Eric also
knew that the bruise on Marty's face did not come from any bicycle
accident.

The meeting started with Rodney reading the minutes and Noah
telling them their treasury had no money in it. The old business was
going over who their sponsors were and Noah said he'd have the
budget for them next time, a fact that really didn't interest any of them
all that much. They liked the idea of being in charge of picking the
sponsors and coaches and setting the policy of the group, but they
weren't too keen on the dirty work, like budgets, at least not at this
stage.

New business was going to consist of interviewing Mr. Miller for their
head coach position. But first Connor had another issue to bring up.

"You guys know my uncle runs one of the flower farms," he said. One
of the major cash crops around Mayfield was flowers and the area
was noted for its flower farms and greenhouses. "He says he doesn't
have the kind of money to sponsor a team but he wouldn't mind
buying advertising on the fence at the field to help get us money."

"The high school already has its own advertising on the fences,"
Hunter said. "My dad says they're real picky about that fence and
they don't want the summer teams painting over their ads."

"Yeah, that's what I heard," Connor said, "but guess what?"

"I'll bite," Jerome said. "What?"

"Those signs aren't painted on the fence. Me and Vince looked at
them and they're wood signs that are screwed into the fence."

"I can't believe none of us every noticed that," Noah said. "But it's a
good idea. It's a lot cheaper to replace a sign than it is to repaint the
fence if their sponsors change."

"That means we should just be able to get our own sponsors and
change off the signs," Connor said. "We can make our own money for
taking trips to tournaments and that kind of stuff."

The group started commenting all at once on Connor's discovery and
Eric had to bring the meeting back to order. The boys then made their
comments in turn. It was finally decided that if they were going to do
anything they would need the permission of the high school.

"Now our business manager has something to do, since this is like
fund raising," Connor said.

Eric disagreed. "It's up to us to talk to people and take care of this
kind of business. We need to let the high school know we're running
this because when we finally get to Mayfield High School we'll have a
lot of business with them. Mr. McCall can do things like get the field
rented for next year and signing all the documents, but talking to
them about putting up our own ads is our business. Then Mr. McCall
can help us sell the ads."

That brought on more discussion. It was finally agreed to form a
committee to meet with Coach Collins to find out how they could use
the fence space for ads if they rented the field. Eric said he would
make an appointment and it was then decided that the executive
committee of Eric, Noah, Rich, and Rodney would represent the
Team.

Eric was impressed that Connor, who usually griped and complained,
had actually researched how the ads were placed on the fences and
had brought the idea of doing ads to the meeting. As much as Connor
liked to play the role of the negative grump, he had a lot of positive
points and worked hard for the Team.

Next came the main business of the meeting and that was the
interview of Mr. Miller. Noah went into the house and came back out
on the deck with their candidate. He sat on a cushioned chair facing
the group of boys. He wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but he was
certain he'd get questions about things like when he would sacrifice
bunt or call for a hit-and-run; in other words, strategic things. He
expected questions on pitching and putting together a batting order.
Seth had warned him there was more to this group of boys than met
the eye. Even though he had been very impressed with Eric, Noah,
Scott, and Bobby when they had visited him and Coach Sanders, Phil
Miller also knew these were twelve and thirteen year old boys and he
expected the interview to be fairly easy.

Eric had spent the last couple of days talking and texting with the
boys on the Team, getting their ideas for questions. A lot of them
were the kind Mr. Miller was expecting, but most were of a much
more serious nature. Eric and the executive committee, along with
Bobby and Scott, had put together the final list of questions.

They started with some fluff questions, asking about where he played
baseball and where he'd coached and how good he was and how
good his teams were. It was agreed that Eric and Noah would play
the role of chief inquisitors, but everybody would get a chance to ask
questions after the main part of the interview.

Phil Miller was very surprised when the questions moved into the
area of how he expected players to behave on and off the field, how
he would handle disagreements with umpires, what kinds of specific
rules he would have.

"I had the impression you guys ran this organization and would set
the rules," he said, which was kind of a subtle way of finding out who
was really going to run the show, the players or the coach.

"That's not our job," Noah said. "We are just organizing the group.
The coach is going to run the baseball team, not us. That's why we
need to know how you're going to run it."

"I'm going to run it as a disciplined and fundamentally sound team."
Phil Miller said. "This is the kind of team you played on this spring
with Coach Sanders and which, I understand, is the kind of team
you're looking to play for next summer."

They asked some questions about how he would handle some
specific issues, like a player being ejected from a game. After the
executive committee finished, some boys asked questions of their
own.

Marty had his hand up and Phil called on him. "What kind of rules are
you going to have about drinking?" The question brought a roar of
laughter and jeers. Who else but Marty would come up with that
question?

"You kids are twelve and thirteen years old. Legal drinking age is
twenty-one. I guess that answers the question. I'd expect you not to
do it."

"But it's summer time. Everybody drinks some beer and stuff,"
Connor said.

"Take a look around you and tell me if everybody you see has been
drinking beer and stuff this summer," Phil said. "Or better yet, take a
poll and see if everybody raises his hand."

Eric and Noah, for two, couldn't help but smile. They liked his answer
as it put Connor on the spot without making him look as stupid as he
sounded.

"So what kind of punishment would you have if we got caught
drinking?" Marty asked.

"You know, my job as coach is to work at enforcing rules. That
doesn't mean I walk the streets of Mayfield and look in windows to
see who is partying, but you kids get caught all the time, and word
gets around about certain individuals." Nobody missed the fact that
Marty's face became flushed at that comment. "But I would think that
specific punishments for those kinds of transgressions would be a
project you guys could set for yourselves. It would be my job to say I
don't want you drinking during our season and to enforce that when I
can, and I'd leave it up to you to set the consequences.

"In fact, if I am offered the job, I'd want those rules to be in place first.
Plus, I will expect you to all participate in mandatory running and
conditioning. I would run this team exactly like it was a high school
team."

They then asked Phil Miller if he had anything else to say. "I don't
think this is a question, but I do think I have to make this clear. If I am
the coach of the team, that means I run the team. The baseball
season will not be a democracy, it will be a dictatorship, a benevolent
one I hope, but nevertheless it has to be understood that I'm going to
be the boss.

"Also it has to be very clear that I am totally in charge of the roster
and I make all of the decisions regarding who plays when and where.
What you kids are doing is great. I am beyond impressed with what
you've accomplished so far. I am amazed at the intelligent questions
you asked in this interview. There are some human resource
managers who could take lessons from you kids on how to conduct a
tough, thorough interview.

"But, there comes a time you have to leave some things to us adults,
like you're starting to do with Mr. McCall and the business end. If you
hire me, when it comes to running the team and setting expectations,
I will be your boss, at least until you decide I am not, and then I
expect a formal dismissal for cause, and not some kind of teenage
revolution. You kids are showing a lot of maturity, and I expect that
maturity to carry over to the baseball field. You are telling me you are
willing to do anything to meet your goal, and I expect you to live up to
those words."

Eric was once again impressed with Coach Miller, his speech making
perfect sense to him. The committee thanked Mr. Miller for his time
and he went back to Seth McCall's office for that phase of the
interview.

"Well?" Eric asked.

"I don't know about you guys," Kevin said. "But I don't know if we
need to find anybody else to interview. He's the guy for me. If he's
Coach Sanders's friend, well that says a lot."

"Oh, I think they're more than friends," Scott said.

"Oh?" Connor asked. "And what to you mean by that?"

"I'm just saying I think they're more than friends," Scott said. "At least
from what I could see, even if they didn't say so when we visited
them."

"You mean, they're like, gay?" Vince asked.

"We got that impression," Noah said. "But they could just be lifelong
friends living together. They've known each other since they were our
age."

"Well, I don't give a fuck if they're gay or not. All I know is everybody
likes Coach Sanders and I think Mr. Miller sounded pretty good, even
if he's gonna get on our case for having some beers in the summer.
As long as he doesn't come on to me I can live with him," Connor
said.

There was some more back-and-forth discussion, the biggest issue
being if they were going to interview anybody else. The other names
that were bantered around, coaches in the Mayfield recreation
program, didn't appeal to them. Some of the boys had played for
them and thought they were okay, but none of them seemed to offer
what Mr. Miller did. After interviewing Phil Miller nobody could think of
anybody being as good, they decided to take a vote on making him
their coach.

Hunter moved that they make Phil Miller their coach, providing their
business manager agreed after his interview with them. Marty
surprised them by seconding it. There was some more discussion.
Finally Noah called for the question.

"Question? What question?" Marty asked. "I thought this was a
motion. I don't see no question."

"That's a term for saying I want us to vote," Noah said.

"Oh. Well it sounds dumb to me," Marty said. "If you're going to have
a question, then ask a question."

"Marty, sometimes you can be the biggest dumb shit around," Connor
said. Marty glared at Conno,r but said nothing. The vote was taken
and it was unanimous to make Phil Miller their coach with the
approval of their business manager.

The date for the next meeting was set for Wednesday the 29th at
Noah's house.

"Can we swim now?" Marty asked.

"Might as well since we don't know how long that interview is going to
last," Eric said.

"What about skinny dipping?" Kevin asked.

"Lisa is gone with Tonya for the day," Noah said, "so that isn't a
problem."

"Maybe not," Rodney said, "but I don't know if we want to run around
naked with Coach Sanders and Mr. Miller here."

"Plus, us walking up naked to Mr. Miller and telling him he's going to
be our coach next summer...well, that might be a little tacky," Hunter
said.

"That sounds more like it might be big time tacky," Carl said. "Not a
good way to start things off."

"That sucks," Marty said. "I was looking forward to skinny dipping."

"Me too," Kevin said. "That's why I asked."

"Let's compromise," Eric said. "Us four on the executive committee
and anybody else who wants to can go congratulate Mr...um...Coach
Miller when his interview is done, but we gotta keep our swimming
suit on. Everybody else can skinny dip, but they gotta stay in the
water until Coach Miller and Coach Sanders leave."

"Sounds fair," Marty said as he stripped off his clothes and threw
them on a chair, becoming the first into the pool. Kevin and Kraig
were naked almost as quickly and into the water behind him. Even
the boys changing into their swimsuits undressed on the deck and
within minutes the scene changed from a group of businesslike young
adolescents in their school clothes to a group of rowdy boys yelling
and screaming and roughhousing in the pool.

They played around for almost twenty minutes when Phil Miller,
Coach Sanders, and Seth McCall stepped out onto the deck. Phil was
amazed as to how the businesslike group of boys who had
interviewed him a little over a half-hour ago and morphed into the
boisterous group of twelve and thirteen year old boys splashing
around in the pool. Unless somebody looked carefully they wouldn't
know that many of the boys in the pool were naked.

While the boys didn't have a problem comprehending that meeting
with Mr. Miller while they were naked wasn't the smartest thing they
could do, they somehow didn't think about how telling him he would
be their coach while dripping wet in their swimsuits wasn't very
businesslike either. Well, it was too late to do anything about it now,
so the four executive board members plus Bobby, Scott, Jerome, and
Hunter came out of the pool and walked up to the deck, grabbing
towels and drying themselves off as well as they could. The three
men worked hard to hide their amusement as to how quickly the
mature, well-dressed, almost professional acting boys had changed
into the rambunctious boys in the pool, and then into the glistening
wet, lean pubescent boys in their swimming suits trying to act grown-
up. Such was the way of the young adolescent and the three men all
understood that.

The four executive board members, Eric, Noah, Rodney, and Rich,
stepped aside with Seth McCall to get his read on Phil Miller.

"Well, what did you think?" Noah asked his father.

"I think you would be hard pressed to find someone better," Seth said.
"You found a good man. He knows his baseball, he understands kids,
even you guys," he added with a touch of amusement, "and he has a
good connection with Coach Sanders and the school program. It
might keep some active coaches in town happy if you interviewed
them as well. Some are good coaches and good men, but I don't see
any of them being as good a pick as Mr. Miller."

His little speech was interrupted by Marty yelling out, "Hi, Coach
Sanders," as he stood naked on the pool deck. He jiggled his hips
and then did a cannonball into the pool, sending water high into the
air.

"Leave it to Marty to show off naked," Rodney said, shaking his head.
"The boy is crazy nuts, let me tell you."

Seth McCall successfully stifled a laugh and just shook his head. He
attempted to remain serious. "Anyway, knowing the coaches who are
here in Mayfield, and there are some good ones, I don't think you will
find anybody as qualified. Getting the backing of Coach Sanders
means a lot. I still wouldn't advise you to vote after just one interview,
but in this case, unless you have somebody else to interview I would
have no problem with giving Mr. Miller a yes vote at your next
meeting."

"Um, well, you see Mr. McCall, we already took our vote," Eric said.

"Oh?"

"We voted unanimously to have him be our coach..."

"...pending your approval," Noah finished in his own grown-up way.

Seth gave them a big grin. "You kids still don't fail to amaze me. Well
then, let's give him the good news."

They walked across the deck and stood in front of Coach Sanders
and Mr. Miller.

"Mr. Miller, sir," Eric started out somewhat nervously. He was not
really sure how to handle himself, especially standing there in his wet
swimming suit which was not quite how he had envisioned this
moment. "Um...we'd like to call you Coach Miller from now on and
have you be our coach."

Eric held out his hand which Coach Miller took with a firm handshake.
"I will be honored to coach this team. I can't think of a better way to
get back into coaching."

The kids who had come out on the deck shook Coach Miller's hand,
somewhat self-consciously. A cheer went up from the boys in the
pool. When the three men and the boys on the deck looked over at
the pool they saw Marty, Connor, Kraig, and Kevin standing naked on
the far end. The four of them turned around, bent over, and presented
a full moon with their athletic asses. After turning around, Kevin
yelled, "Welcome to the team, Coach Miller!" and they jumped feet
first into the pool.

"I am ready to accept the challenge," Coach Miller said as he
unsuccessfully tried to stifle the laughter building up in him. He and
Coach Sanders pretty much started their laughs together. Eric and
the boys on the deck weren't sure if they were supposed to laugh with
the adults or stand there and be embarrassed. Their own bodies led
the way and they joined in the laughter with their own high-pitched
giggles.

The boys in the pool cheered again. Coach Miller's five year tenure
with the Go to State Team had gotten off to a start nobody would ever
forget.

Next: Cherries