Scout's Honor

Landrieu went to get in his car when Desean said, "You might laugh or think I'm just sayin' this, but the honest-to-God truth is you've been more of a father to me in just these last few months than any other man ever has been except maybe my baseball coach in high school. So that's why I wanted her to at least go out with you once, you know?"

"That means a lot, Desean. I don't have a son of my own, but if I did, I'd be very proud of him if he turned out like you."

Landrieu offered one last hand shake but Desean grabbed it and pulled Landrieu in and hugged him right there on the street before he got in his car and headed off down the street.

The following week Landrieu was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, scouting the Tulsa Drillers' shortstop. The kid had great hands and was a superb fielder and he could hit for power, but he struck out a lot. And he was a habitual sucker for a good change up. The final report would read "Do Not Sign."

He was at the motel getting ready to head back to Seattle when his phone rang. He didn't recognize the number and let it go to voicemail. He hit 'playback' and heard: "Mr. Landrieu? This is Talisha Washington, Desean's mother. My boy broke his ankle trying to steal second base in the last game of the season. They treated him at the emergency room, but he's worried sick about not being able to pass the physical now. And honestly? So am I. Could you please call me? I'd be much obliged. Thank you."

He called her back immediately and let her know he was on the way home. "I'll contact the team and find out what they think and we'll discuss it whenever is convenient." She suggested 7pm at her house and he told her he'd be there.

His call to the team told him exactly what he expected to hear. "If it fully heals and he can play, the deal stands. If not, that's the way um...the ball bounces."

When he arrived, Desean hobbled to the door on a pair of crutches and shook his hand. "Man, I am SO glad to see you, Mr. Landrieu. I gotta know where we are on this..." He looked down at the cast and Landrieu understood.

"Mr. Landrieu, it's so nice to see you again," Talisha said welcoming him with a warm smile while offering him a seat.

He explained the situation to them but neither of them found any comfort in it. "So they might not sign me?" Desean asked.

"It totally depends on your recovery, Desean. If you can run, hit, and play like you did before, you're fine."

"And if I can't?" he asked knowing the answer.

"I'm sorry. That's all I can tell you."

Desean shook his head. "The hospital's charging us almost $3,000 for one night there after setting this in the cast. Momma's already up to her neck with school expenses. I don't know how we're gonna..."

"Desean? That's not Mr. Landrieu's concern. It's mine and I will find a way to take care of it. All you've got to do is get better."

"But you heard what the doctor said, Momma. I need physical therapy to give me the best chance at a full recovery. And that's like a couple hundred dollars a session for at least a month and maybe two." He shook his head in despair. "It's like I got this close, you know? And then it just got snatched outta my hands."

Landrieu looked at both Desean and Talisha and said, "I might be able to work something out to get the team to cover the expenses. Let me make some phone calls, okay?"

"Oh, my Lord! That would be a miracle!" Talisha said with tears in her eyes.

"They would do that?" Desean asked showing hope for the first time.

Landrieu knew the team wouldn't pay a dime, but he had the resources to help out and he had no intention of making them feel like they would be accepting charity.

"I know a lot of people, Desean. Give me a day or two, okay?"

He looked over and saw Talisha fighting back tears. The moment she saw that he'd noticed, she stood up and said, "Where are my manners? I forgot to offer you something to drink."

Before she could, Landrieu stood up and told her, "That's okay, ma'am. I'm fine. I need to get to work on the funding for this, so let me be going, okay?" In other words, he needed to find out which hospital treated him so he could anonymously pay the bill then find a qualified therapist to work with Desean.

"So where did they take you, Desean?" He had his information and told them he'd be in touch.

The following day, Cory met with the doctor who treated Desean and learned that the break was both simple and clean. "He'll be out of the cast in 10 weeks and can't start therapy immediately. But it may not be the same again, Mr. Landrieu. It all depends on therapy and how hard he's willing to work and carefully he takes it during the initial recovery phase."

He thanked the doctor then headed to the billing department and spoke to a very friendly woman and convinced her not to let anyone know his credit card was picking up the tab. "Just send them a notice it was paid in full and we'll leave it at that."

He called Talisha and let her know the 'team' had paid for the hospital and would also cover the physical therapy. He'd be out well over $5,000 but Landrieu looked for opportunities to help out good people. He'd never let them know what he'd done and wouldn't ask for anything in return even if they found out. He'd been blessed with athletic ability and invested his money wisely so when the chance came to do the right thing, it was well worth it to him.

Following a long 10-week stretch of flying all around the country, Landrieu was back in town the day Desean got his cast off and more importantly, the go-ahead to begin physical therapy. He'd met Desean at his mother's and driven him to the doctor's office. He also picked up the tab for that visit then coordinated the first PT session with one of the best athletic trainers in town.

When he dropped him off, Talisha said, "Mr. Landrieu, you've done so much for my son. I really don't have any way to thank you except to maybe offer to have you over for dinner sometime. So, well, Desean and I were wondering if you might like to join us one evening."

Desean was grinning like a Cheshire Cat. "Is this your son's idea by any chance?" Cory asked as he nodded at her son.

"Oh, you could say that," she said as she cut her eyes toward her boy. "I've never seen him push so hard to get me to go out with..." She stopped in mid-sentence.

"Momma, I told you, Mr. Landrieu is a really great guy. I don't know why you won't go out with him."

"Desean Alexander Washington! I raised you to mind your manners...and your own business." She turned to Landrieu and said, "This boy's got it in his head that you and I should be going out or something. My apologies, Mr. Landrieu."

"None needed, Ms. Washington." He hesitated before saying anything but decided to go ahead and said, "But I have to say, Desean's got an eye for certain things. Maybe he's right."

"Excuse me?" she said with what was supposed to sound like indignation.

"Momma likes you too, Mr. Landrieu. She just made me promise not to..."

"Child? Are you tired of living?" she said in what sounded like a genuine threat. But the fact that Desean was laughing told Cory he was telling the truth.

"Maybe we should give it a try. I mean, what if Desean's on to something. It'd be a shame not to find out just because..."

"Mr. Landrieu, you do not have to ask me out because my crazy son thinks you should. Besides, I'm too busy to go on any kind of date."

"I see," Landrieu said. "So you work every Friday and every Saturday night from 6pm to midnight?"

"Well, not every..."

"Okay, so how about this Friday night then? I'm in town and I'd very much enjoy the pleasure of your company."

"Now, Mr. Landrieu, I..."

"It's Cory, Ms. Washington. And what time shall I pick you up?"

"Momma?" Desean said prompting her to answer him.

"Oh, I don't know, Mr. L...Cory. Maybe we could just have dinner here."

"You could do both, Momma," Desean said not cutting her any slack.

"Desean!" she said registering her faux displeasure.

"What? You know you want to go, Momma. So...go."

"Well, I suppose it would be okay to take a couple of hours for dinner...one time," she said without the edge that had been in her voice.

"Ooo! Momma, you're lightenin' up!" he said noting the change in the color of her cheeks.

"Desean Alexander, mind your own business!" she said again. "I swear, that boy of mine..."

"Is a very fine young man," Landrieu added. "May I pick you up at 7 o'clock?"

"Um...well, I suppose that would be all right," she said quietly.

Desean sat down his crutches and threw his arms around her and hugged her while Talisha pretended to be pushing him away. "Be careful with that ankle, Desean. That thing's worth a million dollars so don't go hurting it again by acting the fool."

When Landrieu arrived right on time Friday evening, he wasn't surprised Desean opened the door for him. "Do you ever leave this house, young man?" he asked as they shook hands.

"It seems like I'm gone all the time to me," he replied. "Between school, practice, time in the weight room, and the dates I do go on, Momma's here alone a lot."

"Oh, I thought your mother was never here because she's always at work," Cory joked.

"Sound carries quite well in this house, Mr. L...Cory," he heard Talisha say from somewhere inside.

"Busted," Cory said to Desean who was laughing. "How's the ankle coming?"

"It's a lot better. I'm doing everything by the book down the letter, you know? I don't want to take any chances. And before I forget, I can't thank you enough for gettin' the team to pay for all of this."

"Nor can I."

He looked up and the smile faded from his face. "Wow," Landrieu said as he looked at her. Her black hair was long and softly styled framing her pretty face. She was wearing a small amount of makeup, something he hadn't seen before. Just the mascara made such a difference let alone the light eye shadow and lip gloss. She was wearing a white dress with black heels and a beautiful strand of pearls with matching earrings.

"You look amazing, Talisha," he finally told her.

"You were right, Mr. Landrieu. My momma shoulda been a model. You look beautiful, Momma," he told her.

"Thank you. Both of you," she said with a smile. "May I offer you something to drink, Cory?"

"No, thank you. In fact, we probably should get going if you're ready."

"Oh, okay. Let me just grab my purse." She picked it up and said, "Maybe I should grab a sweater just in case it gets cold."

"Come on, Momma. Don't cover up all that pretty you got goin' on," Desean said with a happy smile.

She shot him one of her patented looks and he stopped talking. "You know how easily I get cold."

"Yes, ma'am," he said. "I'll grab it for you, okay? You want the white one or the black one?"

"White, please," she said. Desean grabbed it and put it around her shoulders, kissed his mom on the cheek and told her to have a nice time.

Cory escorted her to his car, opened the door and waited for her to get in. Desean stood at the front door and never stopped smiling even as they drove away.

"I've met a lot of kids his age, but I don't think I've ever met one more devoted to his mother. You're a very lucky woman, Talisha."

"I am very blessed," she agreed. "That boy is my whole life."

"You seem to pretty much be his, too," he replied.

"We are close. It's hard growing up around here. From the time a young boy is just seven or eight, every possible bad influence starts competing for his soul. A mother has to be on guard every minute of every day."

"You've obviously done a tremendous job with him. There's no doubt about that. Yet as much as I admire your hard work, what do you do that's just for yourself, Talisha?"

"I love to read," she said. "I had to quit school in the ninth grade, but that doesn't mean I had to stop learning. I didn't always enjoy it, but after I had Desean, I wanted him to have everything I didn't. I wanted to be able to read to him every night and to help him be able to expand his mind and think critically. So I got a list of all the so-called classic books from everything Dickens wrote to The Count of Monte Cristo to Of Mice and Men to The Scarlet Letter to you name it. I've read them all. In fact, I've never stopped reading. History, art appreciation, and because of Desean, even sports. And most of it is free thanks to the public library. So that takes up most of what little free time I have."

"I could tell from the first time we met you were a very intelligent woman, Talisha. You're smart, caring, and in case I haven't told you again tonight, very beautiful."

She looked over at him and said, "That's very kind of you, Cory. One of the reasons I rarely date is I have very little opportunity to meet men who appreciate a woman who cares about more than just the physical aspects of a relationship. I don't know whether or not I'll ever get married, but I'd rather stay single than be with some man who can't carry on a conversation at a level deeper than beer or...sex." She saw him smile and she smiled, too. "Don't get me wrong. I like sex, but that's way down my list of things I want in a man." She looked back over at him and said, "And unless Desean likes him, he doesn't stand a chance."

He glanced over and saw she was still smiling. "So are you saying I have a chance?"

He saw her smile. "I suppose that's remotely possible. We haven't even had dinner yet so it's too early to tell. I mean, what if you pick up your shrimp fork and try using it to eat your entree? I'd have to walk out on you and call a cab."

"Wow. I should've paid better attention because I'm gonna be in a lot of trouble." He looked back over and asked, "So do I put my napkin in my shirt or on my lap?"

Talisha laughed and said, "This is really nice, Cory. I can't tell you how long it's been since I've been on a date."

"I guess it's a good thing Desean likes me, then," he quipped.

"True. This wouldn't be happening if he didn't." She sat quietly and said, "I'm not sure why I'm saying this, but I just thought I'd let you know I've never been out with a white man before."

Landrieu told her, "This is a first for me, too. I've never dated a black woman before so..."

"I know it's 2016 but do you have any reservations about it?"

"No. I can't think of any. I've just never had the opportunity before, but race is the last thing I think of when I see people. Why? Does it bother you?"

"It's hard for me at some level. I think Desean told you I have trust issues with men in general, and I guess there's a part of me that has trust issues with most white people. Not all white people. But it's still not always easy being black in America even now. Does that make any sense?"

"It makes a lot of sense and there's plenty of historical reasons for you to feel that way. All I can say is that for me personally, I try and judge each person individually no matter who they are. I just hope you'll look at me that way."

"Well, you do have several things going for," she said smiling again.

"Such as?" he asked as he pulled into the restaurant parking lot.

"Well, Desean likes you. In fact, he talks about you all the time, Cory. So that's huge for me. You're also a very nice person and you've done so much for my son. I can see you have a caring heart."

"Thank you, Talisha." He parked the car and said, "Is there anything else? You know, while I'm shamelessly fishing for compliments?"

He looked over at her and she told him trying to sound very serious, "You're honest and that's very important to me." She smiled at him and said, "You're not all that bad looking, either."

"Not all that bad looking. Hmmm. You know what? I'm gonna consider that a compliment."

She smiled at him and said, "Good, because that's how I meant it."

He sat there and just looked at her for a moment. "You really are beautiful, Talisha."

She turned away and looked down at the floor and quietly said, "Thank you."

He went around and opened her door and helped her out. As she stood directly in front of him she was as tall as he was in her three-inch heels. There was an uncomfortable moment as their eyes met which lasted for less than a second. "Um, excuse me," he said as he reached passed her to close the door.

"Ray's Boathouse," she read. "I haven't heard of this place."

Landrieu had reserved a table for two with a beautiful, romantic view of the water. As the hostess seated them, Talisha said, "This is really lovely." She leaned over and said, "This place has to be expensive. We don't have to eat here. We could go somewhere more...reasonable if you'd like."

"No thank you," Landrieu told her. "You only get one first chance to make a good impression."

"You did that when you came by that first time. This really isn't necessary. I'm comfortable going someplace that won't cost so much. Really."

Another young girl came over to take their drink order and Landrieu told Talisha, "Sorry, too late." He looked at her and said, "Would you like some champagne?"

"Champagne? Are you serious?" she said quietly.

"Two glasses of champagne, please," he told her.

"I hope the team is paying for this," she said only partially kidding.

"Let me worry about that, okay?" he said politely.

"I'll try," she told him. "It's just not easy when you're used to watching every penny."

Landrieu smiled and said, "That's a beatuiful dress."

She raised an eyebrow and said, "Okay. Time to confess. I borrowed it from a friend."

Landrieu couldn't stop staring at her. "What? Is there something in my hair?"

"I'm sorry," he said coming out of his brief trance. "I didn't mean to stare. It's just that, well, you make not staring very difficult."

Their drinks came just as Landrieu was trying to decide if Talisha might be 'lightening up' again and the champagne was her perfect excuse to avoid admitting she was.

"To a full recovery?" he suggested.

"I'll drink to that," she told him as they touched glasses. She took a sip and said, "Oh, my. That is wonderful!"

They looked through the menu and Talisha quietly said, "Oh, my goodness. This is crazy." The prices seemed ridiculous to her so she told Landrieu, "I'm not really all that hungry. I think maybe I'll just have a salad."

"You'll do no such thing," he told her.

He motioned to their server and told her, "For an appetizer we'd like the jumbo shrimp cocktail and a bowl of clam chowder. And for our entrees, please bring us the pan-seared scallops and the ranch fillet mignon. We'll be sharing all of that, by the way."

She thanked them and walked away.

"I guess it's pretty obvious, huh?"

He looked at her and asked, "What's obvious?"

"I've never been to a place like this before. For me...for us...a big night out is maybe something from McDonalds or Burger King. We just don't eat in places like this."

"You should," he said. "You deserve nice things, Talisha. You've worked and sacrificed you're whole life. It's okay to do something for yourself." He looked into her eyes and said, "If it were up to me, you'd have the best of everything."

"Now you sound like Desean. He keeps telling me he wants to buy me a new house and a car and all this...stuff. I don't need that. All I need is for my son to be happy."

Landrieu said, "That might be all you want, Talisha, but it's not all you deserve to have. You deserve a good, decent man who loves you and all those things Desean wants to give you. In fact, any good, decent man would want you to have them, too, whether you think you need them or not."

He saw her turn away rather quickly and asked, "Are you okay? Did I say something wrong?"

He watched as she reached into her purse for a tissue then touch it to her eye. "I must have gotten something in my eye," she said without looking his way.

He waited for her to finish before saying, "It's okay to feel afraid."