One Year Later
Julien adjusted the medical mask on his face as he trekked across Baton Rouge Community College’s Mid-City campus. It was the dead of summer and the dead of a pandemic so not many other students were milling about. Julien wished that virtual instruction would’ve been an option for summer courses but with so few students, they just figured that spacing them out would be good enough.
The end of his senior year in high school had been strange. He was looking forward to finishing out his baseball career at that level and coming to BRCC for a couple years in the JuCo ranks in hopes that he could get on at a four-year.
Not only did he not get to finish his high school career on the field, but he wasn’t quite sure if there would be a baseball season for the Bears either. The coaching staff told him they were optimistic that a vaccine come the end of the year would have everyone running to take it and get back to normal, but it didn’t seem like the government was too interested in doing much about the pandemic. They were too busy trying to do damage control for the president’s ignorant statements about the protests against police brutality.
He sat down in a desk toward the back of the room, taking the six foot requirement to the extreme as his closest classmate was probably a good twenty feet away.
The instructor walked in, mask just under his nose and sweating from the Louisiana heat beating down on the concrete jungle that was that part of Baton Rouge. Trees were at a premium around that particular BRCC campus.
Julien took out his laptop and pulled up ESPN and Microsoft Word. He figured he’d at least make an effort at taking notes. But his mind was elsewhere.
The MLB Draft finished yesterday. A strange one because of the pandemic. There were only a handful of rounds to compensate for the seasons that were cut short in the spring. He personally didn’t understand why it couldn’t have been held with the normal length.
If it had been the normal length, Romain probably would’ve been drafted.
If he was still around.
Sighing to himself, Julien closed the browser window and listened as the instructor droned on about rhythmic pentameter.
He felt as if he was almost instantly falling asleep before his phone vibrated in his pocket.
…
Stepping out of the building where the classroom was, Julien ripped the paper mask off his face and threw it into a nearby garbage can. He was done with class for the day and if he caught the virus walking back across the campus to the parking garage then it was just meant to be.
He flipped his phone over in his hand and looked at the number that Reg had sent him for his cousin Jerome. As far as Julien knew, Jerome was actually older than Reg so he wasn’t quite sure why Reg referred to him as his “little” cousin.
Julien also doubted that this guy actually had connections. He’d only met Jerome a few times around the way and nothing about him screamed “connected.”
A part of him told him to just ignore it and go about his day. He could go about his day and continue his watch through of Breaking Bad for the fifteenth – or fiftieth – time.
But another part of him said that he should call. He didn’t have anything to lose. Worst case scenario, the guy wasn’t actually in the know with anyone. Best case scenario … He didn’t know what the best case scenario was.
Hedging his bets, he tapped the contact card and call Jerome. The phone rang a couple times before he picked up.
“Hello?” It sounded like he was just waking up. Julien wasn’t sure whether that was a good sign or not.
“Yeah, this is Julien? Julien Augustin? Reg told me to call you?”
There was shuffling on the other end of the phone before Jerome spoke again. “Yeah, man. I know. I remember you from back in the day. You and your brother always trying to find somewhere to play baseball when everyone else playing football. Sorry about your brother by the way.”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know what Reg told you, but I know some people who know some people in the minors and shit. You know that team in Baton Rouge? The Rougarou?”
“The new college summer team? Yeah, I know them.”
“I did a little bit with the cat who owns them and met some scouts and what not who’d come around to try to get an extra look at the college guys. So, this pandemic gave everyone a little advantage with the draft because they can sign as many undrafted guys as they want. Right? It’s a lot more organizations out here willing to take flyers on guys because it’s not hurting them.”
“I’m not following.”
“I was talking to this guy about your brother, because you know they were looking at him and shit. Brought your name up and they’re willing to take a look at you in their farm system. You ain’t going to be making shit, probably going to have to live with a host family, but it’s a chance right? You ain’t got nothing to lose.”
“Who is ‘they’?”
“You ever been to Pearl, Mississippi?”