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Rainout at the Diamond

One of the small nuggets of excitement in this town in the past few years has been the return of minor league baseball to Richmond. The Richmond Flying Squirrels have provided great evenings of fun since making their...um...nest here in central VA. Recall last summer's awesome Fourth of July fireworks night in which we received Chick-fil-A coupons for sandwiches when a Squirrel hit a ball into the "fowl" pole. Sweet!

Last Friday night, R and CJ had tickets for the game. They were hopeful to see Bryce Harper, a young phenom who has been playing for the Harrisburg Senators--a farm club of the Washington Nationals, our root-root-root for the home team. The Senators were to play the Squirrels, and Friday night was the start of the home stand. Except for this....





Even though the P.A. announcers were optimistic that baseball would be played, the radar map suggested something quite different. No, there would be no baseball. In fact, many hours later, R would discover that Bryce Harper was not even at the Squirrels' ballpark on Friday. He had been whisked away by management to another event on the west coast! Even if a pitch had commenced, Bryce Harper would not have been there to take a whack at one.

The Friday night outing was not a total loss, however, as ice cream was enjoyed in the stands, under that umbrella. And, CJ was inspired to write something really special....





Flashing lightning is the spotlight
for raindrops that dance in tap shoes.

tip-tap-click-tip-tap-click

they perform on a silver Acura
frozen at an intersection with a taco bell and a drug store
a sign flashes with a discount for shampoo

tip-tap-click-tip-tap-click

she sighs inside the car,
wrings out a pair of socks
and remembers:
waiting in a pair of green seats
for a game to begin that never will.
Under the shelter of a white and green umbrella
as more performers stream down from the heavens
their entrance proclaimed by drum rolls of thunder
climbing up dirty waterfalls on the stairs
"MAKEUP GAME JULY 23rd"
wading through pools of puddles by the golden light of cars....
the light turns green
the stage moves elsewhere.

Comments

Kelly said…
"I think we should have brought 2 umbrellas." Love that. And her poem is beautiful, as usual. Sorry they were rained out, but everything is an adventure, isn't it?
Sue J. said…
And, they have been rescheduled for next week. So, they'll give it another go....
CJ said…
And, that game has been rained out as well. :(

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