A Day At The Game

 (In college I took a creative writing class which resulted in a couple of short stories I wrote. I still have them so I'm going to publish them here every once in a while.)

Charlie Bowerman hated his life. He wanted to become a fireman but instead became a financial adviser for the Transamerica Corporation working in the famous Transamerica Pyramid. He was pressured by his overbearing mother to join the business world. His father encouraged Charlie to chase his dream of becoming a fireman but in the end Charlie eventually went to the Cal-Berkeley business school and would later go to work for Transamerica.

And this is where Charlie hates himself. He was pressured into a job he did not want, into a field he feels like he doesn't belong to, by a mother he now despises. Charlie will admit though that there is one bonus working as a financial adviser, what his salary can afford.

As a child Charlie loved the San Francisco Giants. His father took him to his first game when he was three and every year until Charlie was 18 his father would take him to at least one game a year. Their bond over the Giants, baseball, and the feeling they both received from being at the game was euphoric and something they would always have in common.

When Charlie became successful enough and received a very handsome salary, he decided to buy season tickets to the Giants games at AT&T Park. He bought two season tickets, one for himself and another for either his dad or a friend.

Charlie felt alive at the beautiful AT&T Park in the China Basin area. The sea breeze cooled his face, the beautiful view of the San Francisco bay, the Bay Bridge, and the Yerba Buena Island was always breathtaking no matter how many times Charlie has seen that view. Mostly though Charlie just enjoyed being at the game. He loved the nameless fans who sat around him. He loved the way he felt, free. He loved that it brought back those fond memories of his dad teaching him about this beautiful game of baseball.

“Maybe a financial adviser isn't so bad,” Charlie would think whenever he was at the ballpark. One game Charlie always thinks about is the day he met Lucy Envall.

A couple of years ago Charlie decided to skip out on work early and attend a day game at AT&T Park with the Giants playing their hated rival the Los Angeles Dodgers. Charlie loved the atmosphere at the ballpark whenever the Giants played the Dodgers. Giants fans wanted trolley Dodger blood whenever the blue scum would scamper north of Santa Barbara.

On this day the Giants were fighting for a playoff spot in late August. The crowd was in a frenzy two hours before the game even begun. “BEAT LA” was screamed by everyone in the crowd, even people who were buying garlic fries. “I'm free,” a smiling Charlie thought walking to his seats.

Now when Charlie attends games he notices three distinct kind of fans who attend games. 1. The hardcore fan who took heckling to far and made everyone around him uncomfortable. 2. The casual fan who only attended games to be seen. 3. The hardcore fan who knew they were only watching a game and that at the end of the day the game itself had no affect over his life except for the great feeling of just attending a game. Charlie thought of himself as a hardcore fan who didn't take the game very seriously. At least that was Charlies outward persona. Inwardly Charlie lived and died with the Giants. He would brew about his life and job whenever the Giants would lose.

Charlie noticed a father and son seated in front him. “I miss day,” he thought. There was the two vulgar drunks that sat behind Charlie. And then there was a woman who sat to the left of Charlie. Charlie couldn't believe how beautiful her olive skin, green eyes, and brunette hair looked. She was wearing a Giants T-shirt and jeans. She brought a glove with her which made Charlie smile because everyone around him were truly baseball fans.

“Should I introduce myself?,” he thought to himself. Charlie struggled with this thought until after the second inning and the Giants had taken an early lead. He knew by then she should be comfortable in her surrounding.

“Hello,” he said. “My name is Charlie.”

“Why hello,” she said smiling. “My name is Lucy. Do you come to games often?”

Charlie was embarrassed to say he owned season tickets and had been to almost 50 games that season. What would she think of him? Would he be some kind of loser who spend ever waking moment at the ballpark? “Yeah my father and I own season tickets.” He thought that was a good answer. Let her know that you that yes you do come often, but don't let her know exactly how many games you come to.

“Oh that is great,” she said with a wide smile. He didn't know if it was a good sign that her body was turned to him or not. “I wish I could come as often as possible to games with my father,” she said.

“Your dad teach you about the game?,” Charlie asked while trying to make himself look interested (which he really was) in her past.

“Yes he did,” she said. “I grew up in Salinas and my mom died when I was young. My father was a young dad and I'm sure he wasn't sure how to handle a young girl. So when I was kid my father took me to a Giants game at Candlestick Park. I immediately fell in love with baseball. The uniforms, the grass, the fans that sit around you. It's incredibly liberating that I can sit here and be partially unknown while have so much in common with other people.”

Charlies ears perked up like a game dog pointing at a bird. This woman actually knew how he felt. The enthralling feeling of being at a ballpark. Charlie wasn't sure what is was like to climb Everest or parachute but he always figured it couldn't have been more exciting than going to the ballpark and cheering on your favorite team.

“My father also took me to Candlestick and a Giants game and I fell in love as well,” he said smiling. “That's why I bought these season tickets for my father and I can come to games as much as possible. He couldn't come today because it's the middle of the week and a day game and I couldn't find someone else to come to the game with. So I came by myself. Kind of pathetic right?”

He gave up too much information there he thought. She must really think he is pathetic. I mean really he couldn't find someone else to go to the game with? Does he have friends?

“Not pathetic at all,” she said. “I bought this ticket last night on Stubhub and didn't invite anyone else. Sometimes we need to be alone with our thoughts and where else is a good place to be by yourself than at the game? Well technically you're not by yourself,” she said laughing.

All what Charlie could do was just smile back at her. Charlie had never had the best of luck with women. His high school sweetheart joined the Air Force and moved to Germany. He wasn't interested in a long distance relationship. Charlie also had a college sweetheart who came out of the closet two years into their relationship. That was just the way it went for Charlie. That's why he tried to not think of a possible relationship with this woman. “Why break your own heart this early?,” he thought. Also he didn't know the name of this woman yet.

“By the way,” Charlie said with a curious look. “I haven't gotten your name yet?”

“It's Lucy Envall” she said.

Lucy and Charlie would continue chatting about their respective boring lives and cheer on the Giants. They were both equally disappointed when the Dodgers tied the game at 4 in the sixth inning. Charlie told Lucy that he lived in the city and worked at the Transamerica Pyramid as a financial adviser. Lucy told Charlie that she lived in Santa Clara and worked at the Stanford Children's Hospital as a night nurse.

Charlie enjoyed Lucy's company and he had hoped Lucy enjoyed his. Mostly Charlie enjoyed the fact that this woman enjoyed baseball as much as he did. He knew women passionately loved sports, baseball, and even the Giants but he never could find one. Charlie was trying to find a way that wasn't too awkward to ask Lucy if she was seeing anyone. “Just my luck she's also a lesbian,” he thought sarcastically. Luckily for Charlie that awkward moment never came and she wasn't attracted to her same sex.

“Are you seeing anyone?,” she asked curiously.

Now Charlie had answered questions his whole life but he's never had to answer a question that knocked him square in the stomach before. She was so aggressive and passionate. If Charlie wasn't careful he might propose to her right on the spot.

“I am not,” Charlie said stumbling over his own words. “What about you?,” he asked. He began to inwardly panic to himself. Was this really appropriate to ask her he thought?

“I haven't had any luck in the relationship department,” she said.

Lucy once again had more something more in common with Charlie. Lucy also had a high school and college sweethearts and they all ended in disaster. The high school boyfriend told her they could still be “friends” which always meant that the other person was seeing someone else. Lucy found out that her college boyfriend was actually cheating on her with another girl at a different school and found out about the tryst when she found the other girl's panties on his night stand. The breakup with the college boyfriend was particularly distressful to Lucy. She just didn't trust men after that point.

Lucy's mistrust of men further deepened when Lucy's father passed away from stomach cancer right before he graduation. With Lucy's mother passing away early in her life, she had a special bond with her father. He was her guardian, best friend, mother, and father. His passing devastated Lucy and placed her in a deep hole that she wasn't sure she would ever get out of.

If it wasn't for the lead doctor at the Children's hospital working as a mentor and father figure, Lucy may have never trusted men again. The lead doctor looked after Lucy, was her guide when she was training and looked after her at the hospital. Lucy gradually climbed out of her hole but she still hadn't even dated a man since her cruel breakup with her college boyfriend.

There was something though about Charlie that intrigued Lucy. Was it there shared passion for baseball? Was she looking for another father figure in her life? Or was it his innocent looking blue eyes? Oh those eyes. Charlie had eyes like a basset hound. Sweet and innocent. She could look into those eyes and see a man who wouldn't hurt or betray her.

The Giants were down by two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning when they began their comeback. Super rookie Buster Posey and Juan Uribe each reached base with one out. Pat Burrell, the slugger the Giants had picked up off the scrap heap just a couple of months prior, stepped to the plate. Burrell known as a passive hitter took the first two pitches. One ball and one strike. On the next pitch Burrell sent the ball to the right field bleachers to give the Giants a 7-6 lead.

The crowd erupted in euphoria. The father and son hugged each other. The two drunks spilled their beers while high fiving. In the moment of euphoria Charlie and Lucy hugged each other. It was a spur of the moment reaction but it felt right to both of them. They had been through so much in their lives. Failed relationships, deaths, and parental prodding. At that moment they needed each other.

“I'm so sorry,” Charlie said with a concerned looked. “I didn't mean to do that.”

“No problem at all,” she said smiling. “I kind of jumped into your arms.”

Oh how did those arms feel, thought Lucy. The warmth that came from Charlie was beyond comforting. On the flip side Charlie could feel by that hug that Lucy had the same lonesomeness that Charlie felt. Years of sadness turned into 5 seconds of joy for the both of them.

After the game, a Giants victory, the both of them decided to take a walk down the Embarcandero. Charlie wasn't sure if this was a date or not? It felt kinda like a date. It had been so long for the both of them to be in the comfort of someone different.

They both talked about their lives. Lucy's father's death. Charlies prodding mother and the job he despised. They mostly talked though about baseball. About the ballpark. About the surprising run the Giants were making. About Buster Posey and his chances at becoming the National League Rookie of the Year.

Before they realized they had walked all the way to Pier 39. They decided to walk out to where the seals laid in the sun and talked some more about life and baseball. They both had a feeling that something special had just happened and that something special was going to continue.

Two years later Charlie and Lucy were now Mr. and Mrs. Bowerman. They did decided to see each other more and their meeting place became the ballpark. Charlie felt guilty about giving Lucy the other season ticket over his father, but Charlie had explained the situation and received a full blessing from his father.

Despite only knowing each other for a couple of months Charlie had decided to propose to Lucy. He proposed to Lucy at the ballpark during the World Series but not on the stadium cam because they both decided that was too tacky.

The Giants would go on to win the World Series that season. Charlie and Lucy decided to buy three season tickets for themselves and Charlies father. Charlie decided to quit his job with Transamerica and fulfill his dream of becoming a firefighter. Lucy's salary at the hospital was more than enough to cover for the season tickets.

If it wasn't for that day at the ballpark though Charlie and Lucy would have never met and fell in love. If it wasn't for that day at the ballpark Charlie might still be miserable working as an adviser. And if it wasn't for that one day Lucy might not have ever trusted another man again. Dreams do come true at the ballpark.