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I showed up right before the Bachelor Auction was to begin. I found who was in charge: a freshman named Chet. I think he was scared to talk to me. Of course, I took full advantage.
“Look, Chet, I have a lot to do today. Let me go first so I can get it over with.”
Each year since Beth left, the auction had gone downhill. When she did it, we did a little stage show, there was a real auctioneer, and we all dressed up. This year when I was announced, I came on stage wearing jeans, a Lincoln High sweatshirt, and a baseball cap.
“I, aahhh, well, aahhh, would, mmm,” Chet stumbled.
I think the poor guy was going to die of stage fright.
“Fifty dollars,” someone shouted out.
“Fifty-five.”
“Eighty!”
They had a spotlight on me, so it was impossible for me to see who was bidding. Chet stood frozen, so I took the mic away from him.
“Come on, ladies. This is for charity. I’ll match whatever’s bid for me,” I said.
“Two hundred fifty!”
That was an unheard-of number for a high school event. I looked but still couldn’t see who was bidding. Then one of the bidders walked up the aisle.
“One thousand dollars,” Brook Davis announced in her unmistakable voice.
I simply stared at her, and Brook got a big smile on her face. Chet grabbed the mic back.
“Sold!”
I jumped off the stage and followed Brook out of the auditorium. Waiting outside was a limo.
“We have to get going, or we’ll be late for the game,” Brook told me.
“What game?” I asked.
“Cubs–Cardinals.”
Brook had just become my best friend. I might even love her a little bit. We were going to St. Louis to watch the second game of the National League Division Series, and my beloved Cubs. Tami was going to be so jealous. I’d missed the first game because of our football game against Mt. Vernon. Brook almost ruined it when she handed me a Cardinals baseball cap. She saw my look of dismay and then opened up a bag to show me she had picked up my Cubs jersey and hat.
“You about killed me,” I admitted.
“Sorry, the expression on your face was worth it. We have to swing by my house and pick up my mom and dad.”
I was in heaven right now. Baseball had always been my first love, and the Cubs were my team. They were down in this series, 1 game to none. If there was ever a need for a ‘someday,’ it was for the Cubs. Someday they might actually win it all.
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I admit it, I was as happy as a little girl who got a pony for her tenth birthday as I took in Busch Stadium. When we were in Little League, we had made the trip for a night game. We sat in the right-field bleachers, and it looked like it was raining. Busch Stadium is close to the Mississippi River, and what looked like rain was actually bugs attracted to the stadium lights. The combination of the heat and the water made it the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Our seats were in section 150, right behind the Cardinals Club seating, behind home plate. Brook and I appeared to be the only Cubs fans in the section, while her parents were die-hard Cardinals fans. We received some good-natured taunting.
In the first inning, the Cubs second batter hit a double, but they left him stranded on second base. In the bottom of the inning, the Cardinals leadoff hitter hit a homer to give the Cardinals a 1–0 lead. It was going to be a long night, having to listen to the Cardinals fans explain in detail how the hapless Cubs didn’t stand a chance.
In the top of the second, the Cubs leadoff hitter singled to center field. The next man up hit a ball to the shortstop, who flipped the ball to the second baseman to start the double play. The second baseman tagged the bag for the first out but threw the ball past the first baseman and into the dugout; that let the Cubs base runner take second. I think the Cubs surprised everyone when they sent the man on second to steal third base. The good guys now had a runner on third.
The steal seemed to rattle the pitcher because he walked the batter. Now there were Cubs on first and third. The next batter up bunted, and the catcher grabbed the ball and threw to first, where the pitcher was covering the bag. The man on third scored and the pitcher threw the ball off target to try to double up the man headed to second. When the ball got away, the Cubs runner took third on the second error of the inning. That was when the wheels fell off for the Cardinals. By the end of the inning, they had given up three hits, two errors, and one home run, and were trailing 5–1.
The Cubs picked up another run in the top of the third. In the top of the fifth, the Cubs pitcher was obviously tiring as he gave up two solo home-run shots that helped the Cardinals climb back into it, 6–3. That was how the game ended. I was in baseball heaven, all thanks to Brook Davis.
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On the ride home, I got to know Brook’s parents Ian and Ava better. Ian was a new professor at State, which prompted their move here. They had met at the University of Pennsylvania and fell for each other in their senior year. Ian then enrolled at the University of Chicago to get his Masters and PhD in Political Science. Ava found herself pregnant with Brook and became a stay-at-home mom.
I really enjoyed them. Even with Ava’s money, they seemed to be well-grounded. It wasn’t that they didn’t spend their money; they did. A good example was Brook being able to afford some of the activities she and I got up to on our adventures. Skydiving lessons added up when you had to do 25 to get your license. Each jump cost $300 to $500, depending on what we had to do. Brook also wore the latest fashion, but it wasn’t over the top. Sexy? Absolutely!
I guess I thought all people with money were like Teddy Wesleyan. I was happy to find a family that might have been my next-door neighbors.
I was amused when they gently interrogated me. I must have made a good impression on Ava at the party at their house because she admitted she was the one who told Brook to invite me to the ball game.
◊◊◊ Sunday October 11
I was up and did a quick run first thing. Duke was confused when we didn’t run our usual course, but I didn’t want to push the head issues. When I got home, I made myself busy by getting out the big stewpot and poaching chicken for the week. When I did it, I threw in big chunks of celery, onion, and carrots to make a chicken stock.
When the chicken was done, I skinned and deboned it. I had to rearrange the contents of the refrigerator to fit in the stewpot of chicken stock. Any grease would float to the top when the stock cooled. I would skim the fat off the top and then clarify it after church. The chicken meat I put into containers and stowed in the refrigerator.
Mom came into the kitchen and fixed us breakfast. Dad must have decided to sleep in because he was nowhere to be found.
“I met with Rita James yesterday. She’s really nice; I guess I didn’t know what to expect. We talked about several topics, including where you’ll stay while you’re in LA. I didn’t want you to have to spend a month in a hotel. She volunteered to let you stay at her house.
“Rita’s getting us in touch with someone to help you with your image and with handling the press. She said that there’s already been a buzz about you with the release of the ads for the upcoming movie. If it does as well as they think it will, you’ll become a hot commodity. She already has some ideas for you moving forward,” Mom said.
I told Mom about the baseball game, and then she changed the topic again.
“I looked into that farm you found near the Pearsons. The bank that has it is the one holding your loan on your uncle’s farm. The recent outbreak of avian influenza caused the previous owners to destroy all their chickens. The cost to start over was too much, so they did a deed in lieu of foreclosure. I met with an ag professor at State, and he agreed to go out this week and look over the facilities and see if it’s even worth it. Rumor has it that the bank is desperate to get rid of it, so we can probably get it at a deep discount.”