[legendsport]

Egypt, GA: July 10, 1916:

"So this kid... he's our cousin?"

Alice Barrell took a deep breath. Her eight-year-old son Tommy was, like his brother Jimmy, always asking questions. The breath smoothed over her natural inclination to be short-tempered. Her son was inquisitive - that was a good thing, in general. But sometimes... well, sometimes she wished some of her brood would give her a minute to herself.

She forced a smile onto her face and said, "Well, Tommy, he is... in a way."

"How's that?" Tommy asked.

Out of the corner of her eye, Alice noted that Fred and Bobby had entered the kitchen and Fred was attempting to stealthily get his hand into the cookie jar while Bobby watched with wide eyes and open mouth. Quick as a snake she lashed out and slapped Freddy's hand.

"Ow!" he yelped as he snatched his hand back. Alice raised an eyebrow and he moaned, "Sorry, Ma."

"You'll ruin your dinner. And you're setting a bad example for Bobby, too."

Fred's red face grew even redder, "Yes, ma'am," he murmured and then said, "C'mon Bob," and grabbing his brother by the hand, led him out of the room.

When she turned her attention away from Fred and his cookie-thieving ways, Tommy was grinning at her.

"So..." he prompted.

Alice shook her head and glanced at her feet, where the youngest Barrell child (and only girl) Betsy was tugging at Alice's boot laces. She sighed again and gently took a step back. Betsy made a "humph!" sound, stood and toddled towards young Harry, less than a year older than Betsy, who was busy playing with blocks in the corner. Alice expected a howl of protest in the near future. She forced herself to focus on Tommy.

"Well, Dennis is the grandson of your grandfather's brother," she explained.

Tommy's brow furrowed. "Grandpa Joe, right?" he asked.

Alice smiled and nodded, explaining, "Yes, my father. Dennis' grandpa is my uncle. So in a way, yes, he's a cousin to you."

"And he's my age?"

"Yes, roughly."

"And he likes baseball?"

Alice rolled her eyes. After seeing her oldest children pursue other interests, she was a bit exasperated that the younger boys all seemed to gravitate to the game that had consumed the lives of both her father and her husband. Ah, so be it, she thought as she replied, "Yes, he's wild about baseball - just like you are."

Tommy grinned and said, "That's swell. I hope he's good - I'm tired of striking Fred and Bobby out all the time."


Two days later Rollie drove the sputtering Hupmobile up the road, with Alice's father in the seat beside him and her Uncle James and his grandson Dennis in the back seats. Her cousin Ben - who she never cared for - was back in Philadelphia. She silently gave up a prayer of thanks for that and steeled herself. Joe and Jimmy Reid didn't always get along, so this could be an interesting week on the Barrell farm...

As she watched the Hupmobile roll to a stop, her son Jimmy walked into the kitchen.

He smirked as he looked out the window at the Hupmobile.

"We need to get rid of that old jalopy, Ma," he said and chuckled a bit.

Alice pointed at his hands, which were black with what looked like grease. "What have you been into?" she asked.

Jimmy looked at his hands and grimaced. "Oh... I was tinkering with the tractor," he said. Alice noted he failed to meet her eyes when he said this.

Hmm, she thought and resolved to bring this up again later. She knew Jimmy was lying. The questions were why he lied and what he really had been doing. For now, she stepped out onto the porch to greet her visitors.

Rollie jumped out of the car and held the door for his grandfather and great-uncle.

Tommy ran around the corner of the house and skidded to a stop next to the car. Alice saw that he had his baseball mitt on his hand and was smiling at his presumed new strikeout victim.

Rollie walked up to Jimmy and the two bent their heads together, talking in low voices. Alice told herself that she definitely needed to find out what was going on there.

"Are you Dennis?" Tommy asked his almost-cousin.

Dennis, a tow-headed boy, leaped cat-like out of the Hupmobile and walked to the rear of the car where a large trunk had been lashed on. "Aww, only my Mom calls me that. Just call me Dutch - that's what my buddies call me." He released the strap and the trunk tumbled to the dirt.

Uncle James noticed this and growled, "Denny! What are you doing? Be careful of my things!"

Dennis winked at Tommy and shouted back, "Yes, Gramps!" Then he opened the trunk and pulled out a baseball glove.

"I heard you boys fancy yourselves ballplayers," he said, gazing around at the farm and noting the diamond that Rufus had built behind the barn. "What say we get some of your brothers and have ourselves a game?"

Tommy smiled and ran towards the house, yelling, "Dan! Fred! Bob! Baseball time!" as he ran.


It turned out that "Dutch" was actually pretty good. Tom had his troubles with Danny - he was older and strong as an ox. And he could hit. Freddy was older too, but Tom had picked up some pointers from Rufus and "pitched with a purpose" as Rufus described it, so he could usually handle Fred. But Dutch, even though he was about Tommy's age, was nearly as good a hitter as Danny. Bobby? Well, he was still little and though he was eager, his skill level wasn't quite there yet. Tommy smiled - this was going to be a fun week on the Barrell farm.