“And by that you mean?”
She smirked. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”
The public address speaker’s voice rose in excitement and volume. “And now for your hometown Flying Squirrels, batting leadoff, second baseman, number five, Matt McClure.
A man standing in the on-deck circle tapped his bat on the ground to slip the donut protector off the handle, walked toward home plate, and stepped into the batter’s box.
Everything, at first, appeared to be business as usual. The umpire crouched down. The catcher set his glove and flashed the pitcher a set of signs. Nodding, the pitcher waited a moment, then suddenly took a knee, and using his glove like a microphone sang out the song “Love Shack.”
The other seven players on the field, the catcher, and even the umpire turned their bodies, and in unison, began performing a line dance. The batter remained focused, knees bent, trying to maintain his composure.
Charlie sat forward in his seat with wide eyes. “What in the world?”
Around the stadium, the crowd burst out with resounding laughter. Finally, twenty seconds later, a pitch was thrown.
“What just happened?” Charlie turned to Frankie.
“The Scottsdale Sloths are an exhibition baseball team. They play by their own rules and perform antics like this throughout the entire game.”
Another pitch was thrown by the pitcher, and the batter swung and hit it foul. Fans sitting in the left field lower box cheered as a little boy about ten years old caught the ball and held up his prize.
“You’re out!” the umpire yelled.
Dejected, the batter walked back toward the dugout.
Once again, Charlie looked at Frankie in confusion. Whipping out her phone, she typed in “Sloths’ baseball rules.”
“It says here that if a fan catches the ball, it counts as an out.” She continued scrolling through the page. “Huh . . . the team that scores the most runs in an inning also gets a point. At the end of an hour and fifty minutes, whichever team has the most points wins.”
“This type of baseball, I can get behind.” Charlie clapped his hands together.
“I’m glad.” Frankie leaned over in her seat and kissed him.
“Can I see those rules?”
She handed over her phone. “While you do that, I’ll be right back. I’m going to pick up some ice cream. I saw some being served inside a hat and it looked like a cute souvenir.”
“As long as it’s not a magnet.” He chuckled.
Frankie got up from her seat, ignoring him.
* * *
The teams managed to play a total of four innings before they reached the time limit. The Flying Squirrels had won ten points to eight.
As they stood and stretched, Charlie asked, “Is there anything else you want before we head out? Another jacket? Pennant? More nacho steak fries?”
She bent over to retrieve two large plastic bags of merchandise and her giant stuffed sloth. “No,” she said matter-of-factly, her face burning. “Here, this one is yours.”
“My inflatable sloth costume. This has to be the best work purchase I’ve ever made.” He grinned. “The kids are going to love this. I have it all planned. For the summer showcase, we’ll skate to ‘I Like to Move It’ and you can—”
“I amnotwearing that. It’s too bulky.”
Charlie clutched the bag to his chest. “This ismine. You can dress like a monkey or a lemur or some other elegant animal.”
She gave a fake sigh of relief and wiped her forehead.
They joined the lines of people shuffling toward the stadium exit. “What was your favorite part of the game?” she asked.
