The Hunt – Chapter 6 – Baseball Fields

Chapter 6 – Baseball Fields

  Mary looked over nine candles that were lined up on the countertop next to David’s box.  The first in line were two small candles, squat, matching ones in glass jars.  The first was a pale yellow and she placed it in a box just the perfect size for the candle.  She did the same for the second one, a light blue shade and set it beside the first.

  “You do know that yellow one has a lovely lemon scent and the blue, blueberry,” Mary stated rather than asked.  The twin girls nodded in agreement.

  The next in line was a twelve inch, tapered candle, hot pink and yellow swirl.  Mary withdrew a thin, long sleeved envelope and slid the candle inside it. “This one has a scent, too.”

   “Really?” Chris nodded at her.  “What is it?”

  “Hmmm,  it’s hard to explain it.  You have to see for yourself.”

  “You mean smell it?”  Fred spoke from the end of the line causing some moans.  Mary just smiled.

  A bright red and yellow candle shaped into the number 9 was next to a bright green and white number 11.  A rainbow colored candle spelled out ‘Happy Birthday’ that had thirteen wicks peeking through the top of each letter was next.  Mary pulled out a small rectangular box and set it beside them.  “I assume these go together?”

  “Yes,” Linda answered.  “We have some birthdays coming up.”

  The two boys smiled up at Mary.

  “I knew it,” she smiled back at the boys as she placed the candles inside the box and closed the lid.

  “Uh, this one goes with them,” Chuck stammered pointing to the thick dark blue candle next in line.

  “No, it doesn’t,”  Mary opened a white lunch bag and put the blue candle inside it.  Linda laughed and Chuck glared back at her then smiled.

  The next candle was about four inches wide and varied heights stretched across it.  The appearance looked like it was a used candle as a trail of candlewax streamed down each side.  It, too, was rainbow colored but very random. Mary looked straight at Fred.  “This must be yours.”

  “Yep,” Fred shrugged at her.  “I thought it was funny.”

  “It is,” Freddy said as he watched Mary place it in another white lunch bag.  Mary chuckled.

  The last of the nine candles was a long white candle about twelve inches long with a string of white vines slowly winding around the length of it.

  “Ah, this one matches David’s,” Mary said as she placed a long, white box next to the candle.

  “What’s in David’s box?” Sammi asked as Mary placed her white vined candle in its box.

  “It’s a rose,” David reached for the box with it inside and opened it for the others to see the candle.

  “It’s pretty,”  Jill said as everyone looked at the almost real rose.

  “It is,” Mary said.  “It is one of my favorite ones.”

  “Okay,” Chuck interrupted.  “Mary, what do we owe you?”

  “Nothing.  They were paid for in advance,”  Mary smiled and bowed her head toward them then started to walk to the door.

  “Wait,” David called after her. “Who paid for them?”

  Mary turned and folded her hands in front of her.  “Good luck on your hunt.”  She nodded again and walked through the door leaving the group alone in the room.

  They stood looking back and forth at each other.

  “That was weird, wasn’t it?” Fred asked out loud.

  “What’s going on?”  David asked in return.

  “Only one way to find out,” Sammi said and turned back to the counter and grabbed her candle and headed toward the door..  “Let’s go finish this hunt.”

  The group followed her with their candles in hand out the door where Sammi waited on the landing.  Jill already had the postcard in her hand and said, “It says baseball field dirt.”

  “We have to get some baseball field dirt?” Jenny asked.

  “I guess so,” Chris told his daughter.

  “Which way do we go?” Freddy asked as he started down the ramp.

  “Not so fast, young man,” Linda warned him.  “Let’s figure out a plan.  First, where are the fields?”

  “They are by the park a couple of blocks that way on Fourth,” David said.  “My street.”

  “Mine, too,” Chris said.  “I believe we were next door neighbors.”

  “We were,”  David stepped down the steps.  “We should cross the street here and walk on the sidewalk.”

  The others followed him down the steps and stretched out in front of the Candle Factory forming a long line.

  “Hold hands!”” Fred yelled.

  “Why?” Sammi asked him.

  “Why not?”

  They all joined hands forming a chain in this order; Chuck, David, Jill, Jenny, Sammi, Fred, Freddy, Charlie, Linda, and Chris.

  “Wait!  I see a car coming this way,” Chuck warned.  They waited as a small white truck drove past them. 

  “Okay, go!”  Linda yelled.

  The line moved in a mad dash across the street giggling and laughing as they did so.  They broke hands and turned to regroup in a small huddle.

  “What’s this house?’  Jenny asked them. They all turned to look at large two-story house with a well-manicured lawn with perfectly trimmed shrubs carefully placed in front of the large windows on the bottom level.

  “That,” Fred said.  “Is the Fuller House.  That family owns the Candle Factory.”

  “They just walk to work,” Jill commented.

  “Most people walk to work in this town,” Chuck explained.

  “I worked there one summer,” Sammi said.

  “What? When?” Fred asked in surprise.

  “I was a mail girl,” Sammi explained.  “It was our junior year.  I worked early in the morning and I sorted and delivered the mail to the different departments before 8 o’clock Monday to Friday.  My Mom got me the job.”

  “Why didn’t we know about this, Samantha?”  David asked.

  “You guys slept until noon back then and what you didn’t know wouldn’t hurt you.”

  “Which way do we go?”  Charlie interrupted.

  “Oh, yeah,” Chris responded to the youngest.  “That way toward the churches.”

  Just past the Fuller house they came to a street with a sign proclaiming it Second Street.  A white house stood on the corner with a small sign proclaiming it the Candlelight Mortuary and Funeral Services.  The group crossed the street and the boys ran ahead while the twins drifted to the rear of the pack.

  “What do you think?”  Jenny asked of Jill.

  “It doesn’t matter to me because I think it is nice to see Dad with his friends.  Why does it matter to you, Jen?”

  “I guess I just don’t like this mystery,” Jenny said looking at the adults in front of her. “Dad does look happy.”

  The six adults were gathered in a small cluster as they walked along.  Fred, Chuck and Linda were slightly ahead of Sammi who was closely followed by Chris and David.  It appeared that they were bombarding Linda with comments about their surroundings.

  “Oh, look,” Fred pointed across the street.  “There’s the cemetery.  Remember the time we snuck out of church and scared the girls back there.  David, you wore a sheet and howled, I think.”

  “No,” David laughed.  “That was you.  I was the one in the werewolf mask.”

  “No.” Sammi interrupted. “You both looked like idiots.”

  “Oh yeah.  Who was the one that screamed like a little girl?” Chuck asked her.

  “That was Libby, not me,”  Sammi explained.  “Or maybe it was Fred.  I can’t remember.”

  Fred laughed and said, “Good times.”

  “Freddy and Charlie, do not cross that street!” Linda yelled at the two boys running ahead of them.  “Wait right there for us.”

  “Which church did we sneak out of that time?” Chris asked.

  “I think it was from the Methodist Church,” Sammi said as they came to a stop at Church Street

  “Did you go to different churches?” Linda asked as they stopped at the street where the two boys waited.

  “Yes, we did,”  Chuck replied as he pointed to the building they were standing in front of.  “Me, Fred, and David went to this one, The Candlelight Methodist Church.  Sammi, Chris and Libby went to that one across the street, Sacred Heart Catholic.”

  “Father Dooley and Pastor Brown always did join youth events together,” Sammi added. “We were always together it seemed.”

  “Doesn’t Grandma live down this street?” Freddy piped up.

  “Why, yes,” Chuck answered surprised.  “This is the street she lives on.  How did you remember that?”

  “Fred told me to ask you?”

  Fred shrugged and started to cross Church Street.  The others followed him.

  “Where did you live Fred?” Freddy asked his new friend.

  “Back there.  On Second Street behind that big Fuller house across from the candle place,” Fred told him.

  “That is pretty far from where my Dad lived,” Freddy said.

  “Not as far as going to David and Chris’ house.”

  “Where did they live?”

  “We are coming up to my old house,” David pointed at the house on the corner of the next street.  “Right across from the Catholic Church and the farm over there.”

  “I grew up in the house next to David,” Chris said as they came to stop at the corner of Fourth Street.

  “Where did you live at, Sammi?”  Linda asked her.

  “I lived on Church Street across the street from Chuck, well, sort of.”

  “She lived on the other side of The Malt Shop,” Chuck added.

  “The one across the street from Grandma’s?” Charlie asked.

  “That’s right. Charlie,” Chuck ruffled his youngest son’s hair.

  “What I want to know.” Jenny interrupted.  “Is where are these baseball fields?”

  “Down there,” Chris pointed down Fourth Street.  “Just on the other side of the parking lot next to Grandma’s house.  You should know that, silly”

  “I kind of do.  Let’s go then,” Jenny started to walk down the sidewalk alongside the Catholic Church.  The remaining kids started to follow her.

  “Let’s.” Linda’s voice caused them all to turn toward her. “Cross the street and walk in front of David and Chris’ house.  Slowly, boys!”

  They all crossed and stood in front of a white house with a mailbox with a sunflower cover stationed at the corner of a driveway that led to a single car garage.  A second driveway was next to it with a similar mailbox with a “Welcome” cover.  It led to a matching single car garage attached to another white house.

  “They look the same,” Charlie said. “How do you know who lives where?”

  Fred laughed out loud.

  “You just do, Charlie,” David said to the youngster as, if by demand, both front doors opened.  From the first house, David’s house, a short, stout woman with silver hair stepped on the porch.  From the second house, Chris’ house, a tall, slender woman with shoulder length silver hair stepped onto her porch.

  “Is that you David!” the stout woman called out.

  “Yes, Mom, it’s me,” David gave her a half wave as the woman started down the front yard.  A short, bald man with white hair edging around his head caught the screen door before it slammed shut. 

  “Girls!” a scream emitted from the other house as the twins ran up the driveway.

  “Hi Mom!” Chris called from the street.

   The tall woman hugging a matching girl on either side of her, walked down the drive toward them.  The garage door slowly whirred open and a short, well-tanned man with long, white hair pulled back into a ponytail emerged from it.  He walked a few paces down the driveway and was joined by the first man at the center of the driveway.  They glanced at each other, smiled and nodded, and walked to join the melee that was occurring at the bottom of their respective driveways.

  After the squealing, hugs and introductions had died down, it was Chris’ dad who asked, “So what’s going on?”

  “Good question,” David’s dad followed up.

  “We are on a scavenger hunt!” Freddy answered for them.

  “What?”   David’s mom laughed.  “A scavenger hunt, really?”

  “Really,”  Sammi handed her a postcard.  “We are on the way to the baseball fields,”

  “A candle, baseball field dirt, and a church bulletin,”  David’s mom read out loud.  “Who sent this to you?”

  “We don’t know, Mom,” David answered.  “That’s why we are playing.”

  “Who do you think it is?” Chris’ mom asked.

  “I thought it was you,” Chris answered her.

  Behind them, David’s dad laughed.  “It does sound more like a Laverne and Shirley scheme to me.  What do you think, Robert?”

  “Could be, Bill,” Chris’ dad agreed.  “Sounds like they wanted it a way to see grandkids.”

  “Shirley,” David’s mom spoke up.  “Now I think it was those two.” 

  “You know, Laverne, they have been sneaking around.”

  “I don’t think it was any of you,”  Linda spoke up.  “Because you would have schemed together.  Kids, do you want to stay with your grandparents or come with us?”

  “We want to see this through,” Jenny said.  “Right Jill?”

  Jill looked at her twin and sighed.  “We do.”

  “Yeah,” Freddy added.  “We all got candles!”

  Four grandparents marched with the contestants past the parking lot next to Chris’ house.  The parking lot was full of cars pulling in and out of it.  The group stopped at the corner where Fourth Street crossed Candlelight Drive.

  “Ok,”  Sammi spoke first.  “Everyone hold hands and we are going to cross this street together.  When we get across the street, we are going to plan how we are going to get our dirt.”

  Fourteen people lined up, side by side, and held hands.  Linda looked both ways and began to count,  “One…two…three, go!”  The chain began to move across the street, and for some strange reason, they all yelled.  Several onlookers turned to see what the commotion was only to see a long line of people, laughing and giggling as they crossed the street.

  The baseball fields, as the place was called, was really as extension of Candlelight City Park.  City Park was in a plot of land between Fourth and Fifth Street on each side and Candlelight Drive and Fuller Street on each end .  The Fuller Street side was partially wooded with picnic tables and a walking path winding through it.  A playground area, filled with equipment, was spread out on the rest of the area where kids ran and played.  A basketball court, a tennis court and a volleyball court were bounded by a high, forest green, chain link fence.  The playground and courts were surrounded by benches for parents to watch their kids play.

  There were four baseball fields located on each corner of the remaining park ground.  Each of them were surrounded with small bleachers, which today were filled with people watching their kids play.  Two sets of soccer goals were stacked next to a row of trees that separated the baseball field from the playground..  They were brought out in the outfield during soccer season.  Tall poles divided the four fields into two groups and around the two fields on Fourth Street.  They were lights to allow night baseball on those two fields.  A small building stood on the other side of the baseball field that was closest to the playground that served as the concession stand that was open on gameday.

  “So,” Jenny began.  “How do we get baseball field dirt?  Every field has a game going on it.”

  “More importantly,” Jill added.  “How will we carry the dirt we get?  In our hands?”

  “Good point,” David agreed.  “I have an idea for that.  Can I borrow Charlie a minute?”

  “Sure,” Linda said as David and Charlie were already walking away.

  The group watched them as they headed toward the concession stand.

  “I get it,” Chuck said.  “He’s going to get a cup!”

  “Ok,” Fred said.  “We ought to figure out how we are going to get our dirt.”

  “I think we just go get it,” Freddy volunteered.

  “Freddy,” Linda began. “There are playing baseball.  We can’t just go and stop a game to get dirt.”

  “Why not?” Chris asked.  “They make a change every inning, don’t they?”

  “You mean just run out and grab our dirt and leave?”  Jill asked.

  “I like it!” Fred exclaimed.  “David is on his way back.  Which field do we hit?”

  “This one,” Sammi pointed. “It is the closest one.”

  “Let’s all go to second base,” Jill laughed.  “That would really freak everyone out.”

  “I had to buy this,”  David and Charlie had just returned to the group, each holding red, plastic solo cups.  “What’s the plan?”

  “In between innings,” Jenny spoke first.  “Second base.”

  They all turned to watch the game.  It looked like eleven or twelve year old kids were playing.  The team in the field wore bright red shirts, white pants and red socks.  The caps on their heads were white.  Their opponents wore bright blue shirts, socks and caps.  Currently,  there was a blue shirted player on first and the pitcher, with a long ponytail coming out of the back of her white cap had just brought her arms to her chest and paused.  Suddenly went into motion, raising her leg closest to the batter and drawing her arm with the white ball in it behind her head and swung it forward releasing it at just the right moment.  Almost instantly, the batter started to step toward the pitcher and started to swing the bat.  Ball and bat collided and the level of noise surrounding the field exploded at the same time.   The ball hit the ground and was headed toward the shortstop and the hitter started to run toward first base.  The runner on first started running toward second base and the shortstop stepped toward the ground ball headed toward him.  The fielder picked up the ball and turned toward second and threw the ball toward it.  The second baseman, a small boy with glasses, was waiting there, foot on the base and caught the ball as the runner from first base began to slide in front of the base.  The second baseman hurriedly threw the ball toward first base. A tall, skinny girl with her right foot pushed against the bottom of the base stretched out to catch the ball heading her way.  The ball thudded in her glove just before the hitter’s foot banged on the base.

  “Out!” the older teenage boy who was an umpire yelled above the noise surrounding the field.

  The players on the field cheered and started running off the field toward the first base line.  Behind them, from the left field corner, a small group of people yelled and ran onto the field.  The players dressed in blue started on the field but stopped in confusion as they watched this group arrive at second base, bend down, grab handfuls of dirt and race back toward the left field corner where they came from.  One of the men, grabbed a lagging little boy and ran with him off of the field.  Every one of them was laughing and yelling at each other.

  Jenny and Jill were the first stop at the point on the ground where two red solo cups sat on the ground.  Jenny put her handful of dirt into one of them and picked them both off of the ground.  She turned toward the rest of them and each one of them dumped their dirt into one of the cups.

  “That,” Freddy cried out.  “Was awesome!”  

“Yeah, it was,” Fred agreed with.  “So what’s next?