"Mendoza is set....Garciaparra waits...here comes the 3-2 pitch....fouled off over the 1st base dug out...its still 3 and 2," the voice of Red Sox play by play man Sean McDonough boomed in his thick New England accent as he called the early May Yankees/Red Sox game.
I had just gotten the chance to sit down after a long day of work, taking my son to little league, eating dinner and helping my wife clean up afterwards. Now comfortably planted in my LazyBoy to enjoy the rest of the ballgame between my Red Sox and the hated Yankees on a quiet Tuesday Night, I twisted open the cap of a cold Heineken and brought the icy green bottle to my lips.
Intently, I focused on Nomar Garciaparra fidgeting in the batter's box as he awaited another 3-2 pitch.
"Down one here in the bottom of the 8th with the bases loaded....it would behoove Boston to get a run or two across here because if they don't they'll have to face Rivera, the Yankees almost unhittable closer in the 9th," Jerry Remy surmised in his usual splendid job as color analyst. Just then the pitch left the pitcher's hand.
Rising ever so slightly towards the TV screen, I immediately fell backwards into the chair, deflated when Nomar swung and missed....strike 3.
"SSSHHIII...," I started to curse when my wife Carol, walked meekly into the room. "How's the game going?" she asked in a tone that stated her question was only a polite one, that she really couldn't care less 'How the game was going'.
"Down by one going to the ninth," I answered taking another sip of beer. "What do you want....?" I asked, sensing a look of need on her pretty face, telling me she was about to ruin the rest of my quiet, lazy evening.
"Well..." Carol coyly replied," Since you asked."
Carol stayed silent for a few more moments sensing my growing testiness. "What!?" I said agitatedly, as I sat my beer down beside me.
"Well," she finally spoke, moving closer to my chair. "I was wondering, before the Sox go and lose again and you go get tanked again... I forgot to give Mary Mcdonald the cook book she lent me last month back to her at church Sunday....do you think you could run it over to her?"
"Now?!" I asked, amazed she would ask me something so silly this late at night. "Look honey....she lives three blocks away... why can't YOU just take it over?" "It's 10 after 10, she's probably in bed anyway," I added, as rationally as I could.
"She's not that old Charlie," My wife answered sarcastically. "She's only 55. She doesn't go to bed with the chickens."
"And to answer your other question," Carol continued," I just did my nails and they haven't dried yet. Can't you just listen to the rest of the ball game on the radio on the way over?"
Looking at Carol's hands as she extended them towards me to prove she had just coated them with a Cherry Red gloss, I saw that they were in fact still shiny and wet. Sighing loudly, I tried brushing the sudden drowsiness out of my eyes and ate my words, knowing it would be fruitless to argue.
I almost asked 'why can't you just give it to her next Sunday in church?', but I knew the sooner I got the book over to Mary's, the sooner I could come home and finish a few beers before going to bed.
Taking the cookbook that Carol had dropped on my chest, I sat up, put my sneakers on and went out into the driveway to get in the car.
"Thanks Honey," Carol said from the front door patronizingly, with a smile of satisfaction on her face from once again playing me like a puppet.
On the verge of exasperation, I turned the key in the car's ignition, slipped the car into reverse and began backing down the driveway.
As I tuned in the ballgame on the radio, my mood only worsened when I heard the groans from the Fenway faithful through my car speakers. "Grand slam home run for Bernie Williams...Yankees lead 7 to 2..." The announcer's voice said direly.
"DAMN," I cursed, slapping the radio off.
Smacking my hands on the steering wheel twice to relieve my anger, I then reached down and put the car in drive for the short trip over to Mary McDonald's house to return the cookbook that my wife had not even bothered to use.
* * * * *
Mary was a fifty five year old woman who still was a pillar of our small Massachusetts community. For 17 years she had taught English in our school system. Her late husband Peter had been a successful businessman for a number of years before he was elected to the city council. Peter served on the board for 6 years before he was diagnosed with Cancer and died two years ago.
The McDonald's had been big contributors in the church I grew up in for as long as I could remember. From day one, I had always had a crush on Mary. When I started attending church regularly around age 12, right when my hormones were kicking in, Mary McDonald was the most polished and gorgeous female specimen I had to use for my frequent fantasy fodder.
She was in her early thirties then and had the grace and presence that caused me plenty of sleepless nights and messy sheets as a pre teen and teenager.
As I grew up however, and other girls came into my life, my interest in Mary waned slightly even though she was one of the private pleasures I had to look forward to every Sunday morning.
When I started high school, I had always held out hope that I would be lucky enough to be placed in her English class but it never happened. Unfortunately, I was a mediocre student and Mary spent her days teaching the advanced placement classes.
After I graduated high school and spent 6 years in college, when I finally returned home to settle down, I found out Mary had given up teaching because her husband's business success had enabled her to do more charity work and to stay home and raise their two kids. She had also immersed herself further into the various church programs such as exchange and missionary work.
Although age had stripped her of her youthful and polished figure, for a woman in her fifties, Mary still had a very voluptuous body, a keen sense of humor, an eternal friendliness and still had that intangible poise that never leaves no matter your age. Mary was about 5 foot 4 and I guessed she weighed around 145lbs. She had large breasts that still never failed to fill out the front of the sweaters or business suits she always wore to church. She also had short jet black hair that was dotted with hints of salt and pepper and always had a smile of kinship on her face.
When her husband had finally passed away after his long illness, Mary re-dedicated herself full bore to her charity and missionary work after she had finished grieving. Peter's estate allowed Mary the opportunity not to have to go back to work, and after seeing the way she doggedly went about raising money and making connections in her various capacities, even though she was 20 years older than me, I had developed a deep respect for her energy and vigor.
* * * * *
Parking my car at the foot of the hill that led up to the McDonald's front porch, I cut the ignition and my headlights off, grabbed the heavy cookbook, and prepared to go up and drop it off.
Walking up the steep incline of the McDonald's modest palatial estate, I scanned the front windows of the house trying to determine if Mary was still up. The complete darkness inside gave me a sensation that I was about to feel very awkward after waking this hard working woman up at this late hour.
Even though the light was vividly glowing on the front porch, I just had this feeling Mary wasn't ready to be disturbed. Why I didn't get Carol to call first I don't know......oh that's right, her nails were still wet.
As I approached the door, I balled up my hand into a loose fist and smacked my knuckles against the heavy hardwood door. About 20 seconds went by without any stirring from inside, so I knocked again.
I turned my head to the side and saw that Mary's dark maroon Cadillac was indeed parked at the upper end of the driveway, so I knew she was home. Another minute went by with no response.
"That's it," I thought. "I tried."
I could picture in my head knocking a third time with Mary hurriedly walking down the stairs to see who was disturbing her at such an hour only to see a shadowy male figure walking through her yard back to the car that she would surely recognize in the church parking lot at some point.
I tucked the cookbook back under my shoulder and turned to head back home feeling like a complete putz.
As I descended the steps a little quicker than I had scaled them, hoping Mary wouldn't look out the window and think there was a doorbell ringing prankster in the neighborhood, I stopped at the foot of the steps suddenly remembering the only time I had been inside the McDonald house.
It had been a church mixer I remembered that Mary and Peter had thrown four or five years ago and I recalled spending a great deal of time at the party that night downstairs in the luxurious basement they had built. If memory served, they had put in a large family/TV room, a game room, a wet bar and an office for both Peter and Mary.
Against my better judgement, I turned and took a few steps across the manicured lawn, and sure enough, I did see a shining light coming out of the window of a side room on the house's lower level.
I remembered from my previous visit that there was a door around back that had easy access to the basement and I reasoned that down there in the peace and quiet, Mary was probably able to get a lot of her busy work done.