Of course you cheerlead... sort of

You try cheerleading. When Jackie bats third, you jump up and down. When she hits a home run, you yell, then run out to third base to cheer her on as she trots the bases. But pretty quickly you learn that you may be cheering but nobody is following. So much for leading.

"I'm not a very good cheerleader," you say as she puts on her glove and heads out to the pitcher's mound.

She pats your head. "Nope. But think how cute you'll look when we get one of those little skirt things and those fancy underpants for you."

"I'm going to assume you're joking so I won't have to kill you."

She laughs. "There's my man."

Jackie pitches hard, with the big circle roundup. But the girls on the opposing team are good. Unfortunately, Jackie's teammates aren't brilliant. They miss an easy pop-up and the catcher can't nail a baserunner stealing second to save her life.

You're cheering Jackie's pitches when you hear your name. Huh?

"Mike, what are you doing here?"

It takes a few seconds for you to recognize the Asian girl in the skimpy uniform of the opposing team.

"Barbara?" Could it really be your old boss's admin?

"Hey." She walks over to you and sure enough, it's her. "What the hell did you do? It's like you went from being a top programmer to a serial killer."

"Uh, my wife is fucking Bentham."

She laughs, then cuts herself off. "Sorry. That was inappropriate. But Mr. Bentham has a thing for fucking employees and their wives. No, it's something else."

"I don't know, then. It doesn't make sense. It's like they have some sort of religious objection to my even making a living."

"You're looking good by the way." She takes a couple of seconds to give you an up and down look. "And it looks like you've bounced back pretty fast from losing your wife."

You use the moment to check her out as surreptitiously as you can manage. Even in this group of athletic young women, she stands out as being... hot. You remind yourself to check her out when she's batting... won't those fun-bags get in the way of her swing.

Then you realize you might have been staring despite your intentions. "You mean Jackie? She--"

"She's just the star of our whole league. And cute, too."

"Oh, I didn't know you liked girls."

Barbara laughs again. "Not that way, dummy. But I do appreciate art and she's sculpted her body into a masterpiece."

"You're not so bad yourself."

"Flattery will get you anywhere. Anyway, what have you been up to? Have you found another job yet?"