Junior Year Box Set

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.

◊◊◊

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.”

“Can I afford it?” I asked.

I’d had to invest 80 percent of my savings to buy into my uncle’s farm. Here it turned out I would have to put 25 percent down for an ag loan to purchase the property. Then I would need funds for the day-to-day operations. My other concern was that I had zero desire to run a farm. Getting the right management would eat into my profits. Mom would have to convince me this would work. Something I knew for sure was that, when it came to buying farms, Mom could be creative.

“Let me work on this for you. I think I can make this happen,” she said.

I had money coming in from the movie, so I wasn’t worried about the initial investment to buy the farm. The deal with the other farm was I had Mr. Hass and Uncle John to take care of the day-to-day. This farm was too far away from them for them to manage it effectively.