Read Online Throwing Like a Girl by Weezie Kerr Mackey - Free Book Online

cute construction guy works his way to the front of the crowd. There’s a perfect opening for me to see Coach’s face when he says, “I can help with that. I’ll take care of it.”
    She doesn’t flinch, not even when he smiles, not even when he takes off his hard hat and reveals this beautiful head of black curly hair.
    “Look, that’s really sweet of you,” she says, “but I want to meet with the person in charge. Our athletic director has called every day this week and gotten no response from anyone. I want this Mr. Elliot to come down to our field and see the stuff I throw into our garbage every day.”
    “I can arrange that.” He’s so calm.
    “Today?”
    “Yes. Today.”
    Gloria jumps in. “He’ll come to the field in the next hour. You’ve got my word on it.”
    “Okay, then. Thank you.” Coach turns, but we’re all watching the action so intently that she can’t budge, and her great exit is foiled by the very people who convinced her to come in the first place. She leans, bites her lip. “Ella, is that you? Could you get everything moving here?”
    Someone shoves me toward the door, and I struggle to push it open. I’m yanking and whirling the little door handle. I can feel everyone’s impatience and embarrassment at my inability to open it.
    “Just turn it to the right, honey,” Gloria calls. “And then
pull
it.”
    Pull. Thanks. Got it.
    Back on the field, we’re chatty and laughing but Coach is all biz. “Okay, let’s sit on the bleachers and have a quick talk about tomorrow, next week’s practices, and our first game, which is a week from today.”
    We climb onto the bleachers.
    “By the way, I think that protest went really well, Coach,” someone says.
    “Yeah, especially with the cute guy in the trailer,” another adds.
    “Right. Mr. I-can-take-care-of-that.”
    “Okay, okay. Enough,” Coach says. “And no foolin’ around when Mr. Elliot comes by. I want this situation to get better, not worse.”
    We calm down a little, and she starts to talk about creating a lineup tonight, scrimmaging tomorrow, and working through our strategies next week. I feel a little buzz of adrenaline when she mentions the first game. She has schedules for us to pick up at the end of practice and asks us please to make sure we let her know if we have any conflicts throughout the season. Just as she’s about to explain our first drill, some guy crosses onto the grass from the school driveway. He’s in jeans, no hard hat, and as he gets closer, I can see that he looks remarkably similar to the guy in the trailer. The whole team is watching, except Coach, who has her back to him.
    Finally she says, “Hello, is anyone listening to me?”
    Mo points. I’m pretty sure we all know he
is
the same guy from the trailer.
    He seems to be frowning a little when Coach turns, like he’s not sure how she’s gonna react.
    “Oh, what, Mr. Elliot couldn’t make it?”
    “Not exactly.”
    Coach stands there with her hands on her hips.
    “I’m…Mr. Elliot. Mack, actually. Mack Elliot.” He extends his hand. “And I want to apologize for the trash problem—”
    “
You
are Mr. Elliot? You’re the one in charge?”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Sorry? You and Gloria were playing a little trick on me.”
    “It wasn’t intentional. It kind of evolved.”
    “Evolved?”
    I hate how she keeps repeating everything he says.
    “Please.” His voice sounds really sincere. “Accept my apology for that, too.”
    Coach looks down. We’re so quiet that she has to glance backat us, to check if we’re still there.
    Personally, I think it’s kind of romantic.
    “Umm…” She laughs and shakes her head. “I’m not sure what to think,” she begins. “I’m a little humiliated in front of my team, that’s for sure. What does this mean about my field getting cleaned?” She looks up at him. “Was that a hoax, too?”
    “No. You have my word. It’ll be taken care of.”
    “Your word? Great. I’ll be holding my