[legendsport]

Egypt, GA: December 25, 1926:

The Barrell brood was once again all in one place. Well, mostly. Rollie and Francie were in Brooklyn in preparation for the second season of the Federal Basketball League. The "Root Beer Barrels" had finished 11-17 in the 1925-26 season, good for a seventh-place finish in the nine team league. Rollie's partner, Daniel Prescott, was not happy. So Rollie had hired an entirely new staff of scouts including the first known female scout in pro sports in Gladys Summers and turned them loose looking for new talent. And Claudia and James were with Powell Slocum in Alabama, visiting with his family.

"Gladys said that she thinks they've really improved this season," Danny Barrell told his father. Over Danny's shoulder, Rufus saw Jack smirking at his brother's remarks and forced down a smile of his own. It did appear that Dan was smitten and best of all, this time the object of his affection wasn't his brother's widow or the daughter of an English diplomat who spent months at a time on other continents.

Alice was in the kitchen trying to talk sense into her oldest child.

"You need to stop being so pigheaded. You know... I know that you know... that you were out of line at the wedding," she told Joe Barrell as he sat at her table, a full glass of unspiked egg nog sitting before him and wearing a scowl on his face.

"You're right... I do know. But Jack should also know to mind his own business," he said in a surly tone. Alice cocked an eyebrow at him. Joe saw this and grimaced. "Fine, I'll make peace. But only because it means so much to you and Pop."

She kissed him on the top of his head and said, "Thank you. But you should be doing this because it's right and also because Jack is your brother."

On the porch, Fred and Tom were sitting on the steps.

"I think you signed too quickly," Tom said. Fred was picking his teeth with a piece of straw. "If Ma sees you doing that, she'll hit the roof," Tom added, nodding at the piece of straw.

"Good thing she's focused on setting Joe straight, then, eh?" Fred replied with a grimace. "She needs to put fewer seeds in the bread. I'll be picking the things out of my teeth for a month," he groused.

"You're avoiding the issue," Tom prodded.

Fred shook his head. "Talk to me after you get drafted. The Cougars made me the third overall pick for cripe's sack. What am I supposed to do? Spit in their faces and say, I won't sign for that? $6400 is a lot of money, Tommy."

"Well, I wouldn't have taken it. You have leverage - coach would take you back for your senior season in a heartbeat," he pointed out.

Fred knew this was true and then Tom threw in an additional argument, "Plus Charlotte's still got another year of school regardless. Aren't you afraid someone will steal your girl?"

Fred smirked. "Well... I do have a brother who will be there and I expect him to keep an eye on her for me."

"Pssh. I have my own life to live, my brother."

"That's as may be, but I still expect you to keep an eye on my girl. I expect Charlotte to be my wife some day, so keep that in mind, please."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What are you talking about? Marriage?!? Are you nuts?!?"

"No, I'm not nuts. But I do know a good thing when I see it. Which is more than I can say about you, little brother."

Tom frowned and shot back, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Fred pointed at him with the piece of straw and said, "You know what I mean. You're at school to learn and play baseball, not chase after every co-ed on campus."

Tom's mouth curled in a lopsided grin. "But they're so easy to catch..."

"That's not the point. Look at what happened to Joe... You need to think of girls as more than just sex objects, Tom."

"Pssh. Maybe that's what you think, but not everyone is such a prude. I bet you won't be so sure of yourself when you're off in some minor league burg a million miles from Charlotte and surrounded by other good looking girls."

Fred shook his head. "Mark my words, you'll regret that cavalier attitude someday."

Out behind the barn, Bobby and Harry were having a conversation of their own. Holding a basketball in his hands, Harry was scoffing as Bobby was attempting to explain the finer points of the sport to him.

"I'm not going to listen to you, Bob," Harry said, open disdain on his face. "You busted up your ankle and missed baseball season because of this stuff."

"Yes, and that's why I'm trying to get you to listen to me. I've learned from my mistake and want to pass that knowledge along to you, you idiot."

Harry, now 13, was in dutch with his parents for a stunt he'd pulled at school that had gotten him thrown off the football team.

Bobby at 16, felt it was his duty to pass along helpful information to his only younger brother.

"I don't want to hear it. You're such a know-it-all these days," Harry replied.

Bobby absentmindedly picked up a stick and tossed it as far as he could... which was plenty far indeed. The dog, Blue, looked up and whimpered, then trotted off after the stick, which landed far out in the post-harvest, thoroughly empty field.

"You should listen to somebody. What were you thinking with that stunt at school?"

Harry held up a hand. "Stop right there. That was funny, and you can't tell me it wasn't. Plus it would have been fine if Miss Carmen Robicheaux wasn't so stuck up."

Bobby shook his head and fought to keep a smile off his face. Harry was half-right: it was funny. But he should have known better because Carmen Robicheaux was guaranteed to go running to the teacher and rat him out.

"Aww, it was just a bullfrog," Harry said when Bobby explained this to him.

Bobby shook his head. "Harry, let me give you the facts. Girls... I reckon they don't like having bullfrogs shoved into their dresses. You're just lucky Pop got Mr. Robicheaux calmed down. I heard he had his shotgun in the truck when he drove up here."

Harry had a pouting look on his face again, "Aw, he wouldn'ta done anything."

Bobby was shaking his head again. "You're thirteen now, Harry, time to stop acting like a kid. Girls your age... they think they're women for cripe's sake. They don't take to the tomfoolery like they used to."

"There you go, acting like you know everything," Harry complained.

"Well... I do know more about girls than you do. Just wait another year or two, and you won't want to be stuffing frogs in their dresses anymore... I guarantee it."

Blue loped up to Bobby and dropped the stick at his feet.

Harry reached out and grabbed the stick. "Too bad girls aren't as simple as ol' Blue here," Harry said and threw the stick back out into the field. Blue whined at him but didn't move, so Harry gave him a shove and said, "Go get it, boy!" The dog looked like his heart wasn't really in it, but he did trot off after the stick.

"See?" Harry asked Bobby. Bobby just shook his head and grabbed the basketball. "Let me show you the right way to dribble. You know that Rollie's league has disallowed the double-dribble, right?"

Harry grinned and pointed out, "Well, shoot Bob, if'n I can backhand one of your rifle shots off one bounce at short, I reckon I can dribble with one hand, don't you think?"

---------------------------------------------

Later that afternoon, Jack and Joe were quietly talking in the living room. Alice hugged Rufus as she peeked in to see the brothers back on speaking terms.

"Joe finally ran up against someone more stubborn than he is," Rufus joked. Alice pinched his arm, causing him to yelp and jump a bit.

"Hey, you two, get a room!" Jack shouted out and both he and Joe started laughing. Soon Rufus and Alice were laughing too.

"So, where are my girls?" Jack asked his mother.

Alice said that she had seen Betsy leading Agnes and Jean up the path to the barn. "I think Betsy's trying to teach Agnes how to play lawn tennis," Rufus said.

"Tennis? Is this new?" Jack asked.

Joe chimed in and asked, "And does this mean you're carving another chunk out of the back forty for a tennis court, Pop?"

Rufus now had a sheepish look on his face, which set everyone to laughing again.

Alice explained that Betsy, who was now 12 and becoming what Alice considered to be "willful" and Rufus secretly considered "just like her mother" had now decided that since she could not play baseball like her brothers, tennis was the next best thing. "She still gets to swing something and whack a ball around," Rufus added.

"Hmm. I wonder what Marie will think of that," Jack mused. Alice laughed and said that Marie had gone with them and was up at the barn swinging a racket herself. That set everyone to laughing again.

"If Agnes is anything like Jimmy, those tennis lessons could be interesting," Joe pointed out. Everyone looked at him in surprise.

"What? Claudia's not here and neither are Marie and the girls. We don't need to hide it amongst ourselves, do we?" Joe asked.

Jack gave a small, sad smile and said, "Joe's right. No need to act like that's a forbidden topic. And both Marie and I have noticed that Agnes does take after Jimmy in some ways."

"I need to get started on supper," Alice said and headed off to the kitchen. Rufus frowned at her back, wondering if she was upset at the sudden mention of Jimmy.

After a moment, Rufus looked at Jack and asked, "So, this league you were in... it's going under?"

Jack nodded, a grim look on his face. "Yes. I think O'Doul was a little too ambitious. His team did well, they had the best drawing card in the sport. My team...." he wagged his hand back and forth. "We did okay, but we were going up against Joe and the Wildcats for fans and I'm no Urban Dane. Some of the other teams, they just outright gave up the ghost before the season was even finished."

Joe nodded along and added, "Carl predicted that it would go just that way."

Jack sighed and replied, "Yes, Carl has a good, solid head for business. Among us Barrells, Rollie's probably the only one that can play in that forum."

"I don't know that's true," Rufus said. "I think all you kids are plenty sharp. Rollie just applies it differently."

Joe gave a rueful chuckle and said, "Lord knows I don't use it that way, if I have any smarts at all, that is."

"So what now?" Rufus asked Jack.

"Well... I still have my hockey career, of course. I'm a Chicago Packer now and I aim to stick it in Bert Thomas' craw."

Joe had a thoughtful look on his face. "You could come back to the Wildcats, Jack," he said.

Jack raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Really? That'd be okay with both you and Carl?"

"Carl is the one who suggested it. His exact words were, 'go apologize to your brother and get him back on our team.'"

"Well, that's nice to hear," Rufus said as Jack nodded his agreement.