The Seer (Chapter 02)

Baseball was our life when we were kids. We grew up in the dirt of the infield and outfield. No grass for us. The town was poor and water was scarce, but we did have a nice wire-mesh backstop with a concrete foundation. Our heroes were Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig and Duke Snider. Also Warren Spahn, Bob Feller, Ted Williams and others. Our own pitcher was also named Bob. He was pretty fast but could not throw a curve. None of us could, but neither could the other teams. I was the only one who knew about Charlie's special powers, because just the two of us were there at the hot springs incident that day. He didn't want me to tell anyone else. I didn't understand why at first, but later came to see that it really was better that way. One day we had a game against Richfield, our biggest rivals. Charlie was at shortstop and I was playing left field. As we were taking the field at the beginning of the fourth inning, Charlie whispered to me, Play this next guy really deep. As soon as Bob starts his windup, you come running toward me as fast as you can. He's going to try to drop one in front of you. I did as Charlie suggested, and the batter hit a short pop fly just out of the reach of the infielders. I came in running at full speed and just managed to catch the ball right before it would have hit the ground. I became a reluctant hero, instantly. I would have liked to give Charlie the credit, but he shook his head to tell me no. to be continued...