Twenty-Five

Diana was back in town with her August newborn. Baby Bee, they called her, a theme carried over into the chocolate cupcakes iced with yellow frosting and bumblebees waiting in a spread for the guests.

There were faces from the old days, mostly girls with more daughters. Baby Bee was soon lulled to sleep in Mom’s arms, “The Baby Whisperer” Carrie calls her, then slept straight through the next carrier, before I took a crack at this whole baby-holding business. Baby-holding is its own art, and I’m not the most comfortable at it. Fortunately I got a nine-pounder right off the bat with Puck so I was never too concerned that I would damage or disturb him in any way.

Puck was waiting at school for Carrie-Bri and myself, walking out importantly as usual in his red World Series hoodie again.

“Mary only pinched me once today!” he declared as we walked back out into the cold.

I’d call that progress.

What wasn’t progressing, however, was my current hope for Indian Summer. No, it was all of 58 degrees as the three of us drove under autumn gray skies to Rose’s office in Maryland Heights to pick up the key to her condo, and then a McDonald’s drive-through for a quick dinner which we ate at her place.

Rose joined us not a long time later to bring Puck to a “taco party” where El Oso picked him up on his way back from work to prep an Ephesians study for Saturday night.

#logistics.

So it was Game #25 on the year for me (thirty-one if you count Spring Training and the Angels in KC) as Carrie and I took our seats in the bleachers between Left and Center Field. It was already post-season atmosphere. You could feel it in the 45,000+.

A light mist of rain hit us in waves throughout the night, which was promising from the about the third pitch off Holliday’s bat. Second-longest home run in Busch III history, a 110-mph shot into Big Mac Land. They didn’t look back.

So between the giggling bachelorette party behind us, a package of Reeses Pieces, and the 54-degree temperature tempered by the Cards blanket Rose bought me just in time, we got through those 8 and a half innings without too much trouble, inching closer and closer to that swiftly approaching post-season berth.