[legendsport]

September 13, 1933: Tyrone, PA:

"Ugh! You're all sweaty! Unhand me, you beast!"

Betsy Barrell managed to get all that out before she burst out laughing. Beside her, a very sweaty Augie Goulding (he insisted on being called Augie despite Betsy consistently calling him 'Gus'), pulled her even more tightly against him.

Finally, her laughter died out and Betsy pushed him away. "OK, that's enough. You really are sweaty," she said. Her nose wrinkled and she added, "And you smell bad too."

Gus ran a hand through his dark brown hair. "Ah, the Pied Piper is working us to the bone, Bits."

Betsy put a hand on her hip and snapped, "Don't call me 'Bits' you cretin."

Gus shook a finger at her and replied calmly, "You stop calling me Gus and I'll stop calling you Bits.... Bits."

She slapped at his hand, but he pulled it back and laughed. "Too slow!"

Betsy took a deep breath. She reflected that Gus looked good, even wearing a sweat-soaked t-shirt reading 'St. Blane Baseball' on it and a pair of green shorts. His white socks were caked in the dust of the pitching mound. And to top it off, he had taken his spikes off and wore his scuffed basketball shoes. It was a good thing he was so cute or she wouldn't even consider putting up with his infuriating antics, she thought.

"So what's Hamelin done now?" she asked.

Frank Hamelin, the head coach of the St. Blane baseball team, had been riding Gus since Rufus Barrell had dragged him over to the ballfield back in March. He was on the team, but didn't pitch a single inning in the '33 season. Hamelin, a former pitcher himself, had determined that Augustus Goulding, ridiculously talented though he might be at throwing just about anything, simply was not ready to actually pitch for his team.

"Ahh... he was going on again about how pitching is not the same as throwing," Gus said. Then he imitated Hamelin's somewhat nasally voice and said, "Goulding! There's more to pitching than being able to throw a rock through a barn door!"

He shook his head. Betsy laughed behind her hand.

"Well... my father said something like that this summer," she told Gus.

"Really?"

"Yes. Not exactly that way, but he did say that while your arm was, in his words, 'fantastic' you needed to learn to throw a baseball."

Gus shook his head, as Betsy continued, "He said something about the seams, and how you need to learn different ways to hold the ball and place your fingers in specific ways on the seams, use wrist snap and twists. It was, honestly, a lot more complicated than I would have thought."

Gus was nodding. "Yes, the Piper says the same kind of thing." The nasally imitation returned: "Goulding! Put your fingers across the seams like I told you! No, not like that you buffoon!"

Betsy laughed again. "Buffoon! I like that," she said. Gus shot her a glare.

A thoughtful look crossed Betsy's face and she said, "You know... you could come to Georgia during winter break. My father and my brother Tom will be there. They could show you some things, I'm sure."

Gus frowned. "I don't know that I'm ready to show up at your family farm and meet umpteen thousand Barrells all giving me the once-over because I'm your boyfriend."

"Boyfriend? What ever gave you that idea?" Betsy asked in a mockingly stern tone.

"Oh come off it, you spend more time around me than my room mate and we actually live together!"

Betsy laughed and said, "Well, be that as it may, my family won't give you too much trouble. Just charm my mother and you will be all set."

Gus rolled his eyes. "Oh, brother," he moaned. Betsy had told him many stories about Alice Barrell, and a large chunk of those had him scared witless. Still, Betsy's brother was a FABL pitcher and Rufus was, Gus had learned through the grapevine, someone known to practically everyone in both college and professional baseball. He'd also supposedly been a very talented pitcher himself back in the dark ages.

"Well... I'll need to talk to my mother about it," he said, deciding to be honest. "She's as much dragon as your mom, so I won't be going unless I can get her go-ahead."

"Fair enough," Betsy replied. Then she grinned and added, "I can always talk to her for you, you know."

Gus shook his head imagining that scene. "No, I don't think that will be necessary," he said and shivered despite the warm weather and his sweaty state.

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