TAMING THE ALPHA

4

Ibarely dodged the soccer ball headed my way. I laughed and pointed at the young boy who’d kicked it in my direction. “The other way!” I

shouted at him.

“Sorry, Mr. Channing.” He giggled.

I snapped a series of pictures as he laughed and picked up the ball to take back to his friends. I moved out of the line of fire and took a few more pictures of the boys from the village I was staying in. “Score!” I shouted when one of the boys kicked the ball across the line in the sand.

The three boys on the scoring team all hooted and hollered. They jumped and celebrated while I took more pictures. The soccer ball was my gift to them. The village was poor, and the kids didn’t have a lot. I liked to spoil them without going overboard. I couldn’t offend their parents who worked so hard to support their families.

“You’re tied,” I told them. “Who’s going to win?”

They all erupted into laughter. I loved that they could be so happy and live without worries. They all had hard lives. I had traveled the world but this little village in Bali was the place I loved the most. I loved that I could just be Channing. No one knew who I really was or where I came from. They welcomed me and many of the families tried to take care of me. They had so little, but they were always willing to share with me. They were more like a family to me than my own on most days.

I took a few more pictures while they played. When one team scored the winning point, I photographed the celebration. The boys rushed toward me. “Can we see?”

“Slow down.” I laughed.

“I want to see!”

“Woah, woah, woah,” I told them and held my very expensive camera out of their reach. “I’ll print some pictures and you can look at your ugly mugs all day.”

They were still laughing when I carefully put my camera back in my bag. I kicked off my shoes and pulled off my T-shirt. “I’ll race you to the water,” I said and took off running.

“No fair,” one of them shouted as they trailed along behind me. My long legs ate up the distance and I was diving under the gorgeous turquoise water before the boys even hit the water’s edge.

“Losers!” I shouted as I broke through the water.

The boys all tried to tackle me. They splashed water at me while one dove under and tried to take me down. “Get him,” one of them shouted.

I laughed and fell backward, taking two of them under with me. They popped up out of the water, laughing as they did. I lunged at another boy who was always the shy one. He always hovered just on the edge of our fun. He was also the only American kid. His father was a doctor working in the village.

“John, I’m going to dunk you,” I said and slowly moved through the water toward him.

He looked at me with excitement in his eyes. “No, you won’t.”

I nodded and put my hands on his arms but didn’t put much pressure on him. “Ready? Count of three.”

He squealed and pinched his nose. That was my cue that he was actually okay with the play. I pulled him into my arms and sank into the water. I held him close as we went down and then jumped up. I kept him in my arms before releasing him and swimming away.

“I got you!” I told him.

His big, semi-toothless smile was exactly what I was hoping to see.

“Bet you can’t get me again.” He laughed before walking through the water.

John didn’t swim as well as the kids that had grown up next to the ocean. He was very timid, and it took some effort to get him to join in. His parents trusted me to keep a close eye on him. I never thought of it as babysitting. We were just a bunch of guys hanging out. I just happened to be a lot bigger and three times their age. But a lot of people would say we had the same mentality. I was a big kid. I didn’t think of it as an insult.

“Are you going to play football with us?” one of the other boys asked.

I stood and pushed the water from my hair with one swoop of my hand. “I don’t think you guys can keep up,” I teased. “I’m like a million times better than all of you combined.”

“I’ll beat you!” one said.

“Sorry, you can’t,” I said and splashed him.

That triggered another attack. The boys tackled me, taking me under before I sprang up again. My propulsion from the water knocked them backward once again. There was a lot of scrambling before they all attacked me again. We spent the next fifteen minutes roughhousing before we practically crawled out of the water.

“Mercy!” I called and collapsed onto the sand. I lay with my arms stretched out and my chest heaving up and down. The boys all mimicked my actions and sprawled out on the beach around me. Anyone who came upon us and didn’t know what we’d been doing would likely assume we’d been attacked and left for dead.

“You should charge for your babysitting services,” a woman with unaccented English said.

I opened my eyes and leaned my head back to look at her. “I’m afraid I would end up paying to be babysat,” I joked.

“You boys look exhausted,” she said. “Who is ready for a cold drink?” “If I could move, I would say I was.” I laughed. “Boys, the basket is over there.” She pointed.

All the kids scrambled to get up and raced to the basket. “Bring me one!” I called out. “You killed me, and I can’t move.”

“I’ll get you a drink, Mr. Channing,” one said before scampering off. He quickly returned with a bottle of water. I held it up and wrinkled my

nose. “I thought you were bringing me a beer. What’s this?

The boy laughed. “No beer! Gross!”

I laughed and sat up. He ran back to the other boys that were digging through the picnic basket Mrs. Munson had brought down.

“How’s he doing?” she asked in a low voice.

“Good,” I told her. “He kicked the ball a few times and he joined in the fun in the water.”

“You’re so good for him,” she said.

I took a drink of water before putting the cap back on. “He’s a good kid. I like hanging out with him.”

“He struggles to make friends. I tell my husband we have to think about settling down. We can stay here or go back to Florida, but we can’t keep dragging John around.”

“I understand that thinking, but he is a lucky kid to get to see all these places,” I told her. “Bali is one of the best places in the world to be. I can say that because I’ve been just about everywhere.”

“I agree, but he needs stability,” she said with a sigh. “I need stability.” “Is Carl thinking about leaving?” I asked.

“No, and I don’t want to leave. I like being here. John is settling in. I just don’t want him to get called up to go somewhere else.”

“Your family is amazing,” I said. “You’re selfless and you’ve given up a lot to do good for others. That’s pretty impressive.”

She laughed softly. “I don’t know if we’ve given up a lot. People would love to see the world like we do.”

“Ah, but you could be back home in Florida in a nice house with electricity that works all day every day instead of the small house you have here with spotty electricity and questionable water.”

She flashed me a grin. “And you could be back home wherever your roots are.”

“I’ve been gone so long I don’t remember where my roots are,” I answered honestly. New York felt like a very distant memory. I didn’t know if I could ever be in that life again with cars and people everywhere.

“What’s that saying?” she asked softly. “You can’t go home again.” I nodded. “Yep, that’s exactly it.”

“What about your family?” she asked. “I know you tell the kids you were hatched from an egg and some believe you, but I am a doctor’s wife. I’m not buying the egg story.”

I laughed. “No? I wonder how long it will be until they call me out on

it.”

“They’ll never call you out because they absolutely adore you. You’re their idol. They’re convinced you walk on water.”