Would you share a snippet of Peanuts & Crackerjacks with us? One solitary peanut, if you will ;)
Ah, the return to Mansion House Pharma (pre-PE4CHE5) about baseball that briefly pops back in my writing-boycotting summer brain every May when I return to the field and am reunited with our Jed Foster-lookalike umpire (I wonder if him and his ill-advised manbun will have finally parted ways this year?).
It’s mostly just dialogue at this point (surprise, surprise), here’s a handful:
They had all been lunching in Mansion House Pharma’s breakroom when Bridget Brannan burst in, a clipboard in hand. “Ah, perfect! My little rabbits all cozily gathered in their burrow: you make my trapping much easier.”
“What are we getting trapped for this time?” Jed asked with a frown.
“The annual DC Health charity softball tournament,” she answered, to a chorus of groans. “You know McBurney’s dead set on us having a team and beating Dixie Medical. And so far, only Percival, Charlotte and Dr. Diggs have put their name on the roster.”
“Centerfield’s mine, y’all,” Samuel called, leaning back in his seat.
“And I’m pitching,” chimed Charlotte.
“Pitching? In a co-ed tournament?” scoffed Hale.
She tilted her head at him. “I was a starter for UCLA both years we won the NCAA Women’s College World Series. I think I can manage.”
“That leaves eight spots open,” Bridget rallied. “Pick your poison.”
“Shortstop,” Jed and Mary both called at once, and looked at each other in surprise.
“Okay, I take back what I said earlier,” said Hale. “Mary, shortstop in a co-ed tournament?!”
“It’s been my position since I started playing when I was 10,” she explained. “Biggest Red Socks fan in my class. All my friends had Leonardo Dicaprio or Brad Pitt posters, I had Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez.”
“Boooooo Boston,” Henry called through his cupped hands.
Mary stared him down. “Yankees fan, I take it?”
“You know it,” he smirked. “27 World Series, three back-to-back in the 90s over your… zero? Bridget, I’ll take left field. Patrol with my man Sam here.”
“Thank you, Henry. Mary, Jed, we never settled: who takes what?”
“I can take second,” Jed said. “It’s easy shortstop.”
“We can share, swap innings,” Mary counter-offered. “Is that allowed, Bridget?”
“It’s charity slowpitch, dearie. You’ll all be eating chips and drinking beer on the bench while waiting to bat; I’ll go out on a limb and say you can swap positions. And play in a dinosaur suit if you’d be so inclined.”