American Pastime Page #5

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I mean,

this is an amazing chance for me.

You're the one who told me I could do this,

I could get out of Abraham. It was you.

You were going there with me.

I can't see you here anyway.

Prisoner, step away from the fence.

Civilian on the outside,

get back away from the fence.

Civilian and prisoner, both of you,

step back away from the fence.

Hey.

How's your brother adjusting

to being back?

He's doing okay.

- He's a hell of a guy.

- Yeah.

Hey, I'm not talking about

the Silver Star or any of that.

That day I picked him up,

we were driving back...

...he never said a word about

what happened in that barbershop.

What barbershop?

Didn't even faze him enough

to bother mentioning it to you, huh?

What are you talking about?

Just a haircut.

That's Ed Tully. He's a barber in town.

Director Watson got permission

for us to go outside of camp.

We are going to their park.

Their home field.

That's great.

Because that is the guy, Dad.

That day in town? This was the guy.

I have to be a part of this.

Mama?

I've been accepted by a college.

I'm gonna go.

Katie. Okay.

Delaware State University. What--?

You wanna go to college in Delaware?

What? College? You never talked

about anything like this before.

I have money saved from my job.

I'll use that to pay for everything.

You're not going.

You're staying in Abraham.

When I get called up,

you're moving with us.

- Billy.

- I've made up my mind.

- I'm not asking for anything from you--

- You're staying with us.

When we go to New York, we're all--

I spent my life hearing about

how things are gonna change.

- How we're gonna go to New York.

- All right, Katie, just--

No, Mama, no.

I don't wanna wait anymore for anything.

I just wanna go.

I wanna do what I wanna do.

You are not leaving home, Katie.

You are not going off to school.

You are not going back to that camp.

- You are not seeing that Jap--

- He's not a Jap!

You look at him and you see the people

who killed Billy Jr.

Well, Lyle wasn't over there.

None of the people at those camps were.

- We're not talking about that.

- What are we talking about, huh?

All this time, talking about them.

How they caused all this,

how they killed Billy.

Why don't we talk about

what it really is?

Why Billy Jr. was even there to begin with,

why he wasn't here at home.

- Katie, that is enough.

- All those years trying to make him like you.

Trying to make him be you.

Forcing him to play baseball.

Making him practice hours

and hours and hours.

- He never wanted it.

- You don't know what he wanted.

- You don't know anything about it.

- He hated it. He hated you!

He couldn't stand being here anymore

until finally he ran away to the Navy.

That is why he was there.

That is why he was killed.

It was you. You who killed him.

- Shut up! Shut up!

- Billy!

- Shut up!

- Billy, no! No!

My father had set up the game

with the Abraham team...

...because he wanted us

to have a chance to prove ourselves...

...to the people of the town.

When I told him I had to be there...

...he never brought up any of the things

that had happened between us in the past.

All he said was,

"You'll have to work hard to be ready."

We're gonna challenge them

to a bet on the game, okay?

All of us together.

All it's gonna take is one quarter.

One quarter will do it.

Come on, give me a quarter.

Look, one measly quarter,

that's all I need.

One measly quarter each. Okay?

- Sweet, kid.

- Put your money on your team.

Give me another one.

Give me another one.

Once again. Once again. Come on.

One quarter, your bet.

Our bet on our team.

All of us in one bet, together.

How's that?

Drop it on in.

Attaboy.

You got it.

We're gonna get there.

Thank you very much.

Welcome to Skinner Field,

home of your Abraham Bees.

We've got a special exhibition game...

...between the Bees and a team

from the Topaz Relocation Camp.

Quite a few people from the camp

came out to take a look.

Probably the first time

they've ever seen a real game.

A little birdie put it in my ear today

that Dapper Don Lemon...

...the scout of the New York Yankees,

is coming by today.

Y'all know what happened

last time Don was here.

Yep, that's right.

Jimmy Hollister was called up

to the big club.

Our Jimmy Hollister.

We decided to treat this like any other day,

act like we didn't know he was coming.

I heard he drives a big fancy car.

A brand-new Roadmaster,

and he doesn't even like driving.

- What the hell is this?

- Twenty-five hundred bucks.

- What?

- Ten thousand quarters.

Every person in camp is in on it.

Twenty-five hundred dollars?

That's a new Cadillac.

Yeah. We like to gamble.

Billy.

These are the guys that wanna put

money on the game.

All right, how much? I'm in.

Two thousand five hundred bucks.

- What, $2000?

- What?

What's the matter, you scared?

Huh, you yellow?

You don't even belong

on the same field as us.

There's no way we can come up

with that much.

And you guys are gonna back down?

Come on, what have you got

that's worth 2500 that can cover the bet?

Little slants just trying to show us

how rich they are.

I have an idea.

This is a league game.

It was decided that a coin toss...

- ...would determine which will bat first.

- Topaz, you will call the coin toss.

Heads.

Heads it is.

We bat last.

Topaz has elected to bat last.

Looks like the Topaz team has decided

to let the Bees lead this thing off.

Everybody...

...we know what we have to do

to win today.

But...

...today is not just about winning.

Today is about dignity.

Dignity of the game,

and the dignity we have...

...here.

Enough.

Let's play ball.

You heard him. Who are we?

- Topaz!

- Yellow!

Let's go, guys.

These guys are little, and I mean little.

It's almost like looking

at a bunch of midgets out there.

Personally, I always get a kick

out of midgets.

You see a midget, you gotta chuckle.

Hey, your Abraham Bees leadoff hitter,

first baseman Ed Tully, steps up.

- Come on, Ed.

- Let's go, Ed.

Do that again. Throw at me.

Throw at me again. Come on.

That had more than "brush back"

written on it.

The pitcher kid winds.

- Strike!

- What?

Attaboy, Lyle, attaboy.

Pitcher fella

has a decent-looking fastball.

- Two!

- There's a fastball right down the middle.

- Out!

- Strike three. He struck him out.

And that's one down.

Next up, we've got catcher Billy Burrell.

We're all expecting Billy to be called up.

No one deserves it more than him.

I've never known a player

who respected the game more.

- Mash it, Billy.

- Go, Billy!

My hat's off to Billy.

I couldn't be happier for him.

- Strike!

- Come on, that's outside.

Hey, it's a little different when you both

have to play fair now, huh?

Just a little bit. Just a little bit.

This time, it's straight up.

- Come on.

- Let's go, Burrell!

Straight up.

Down the line, hooking...

- Foul.

- Foul ball!

- Okay.

- Come on, Billy.

You're out!

Beautiful, beautiful.

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