The Fourth Stall - Chris Rylander [31]
I remember feeling helpless. Here I was the kid who had the answer to everybody’s problems, but I had no answer for Vince. There was no trick I could pull off that would bring my best friend’s dad back. I’d have given up anything, but it just wasn’t possible. Eventually Vince had sort of found a way to move on. But it still bothers me to this day that I hadn’t been able to do more for him when he needed it most.
“What’s wrong, Vince?” I asked.
“Oh, nothing, just a bad day at school,” he said.
I nodded, but I wasn’t sure I believed him. He’s too smart to have bad days at school. In fact, I’m pretty sure he’s smarter than every teacher he’s had. But I let it go. Everybody was allowed to be in a bad mood once in a while.
“Say, I’m going to head to the office after school to go over some numbers, so you guys can head out without me. I’ll still see you tonight, though, for the game,” Vince said.
“Sure thing,” I said. Vince had never spent much time at the office alone before. I was starting to get a little concerned. I guess the Cubs actually being good was affecting him more than I’d thought.
• • •
That night Vince and Joe came over to hang out and discuss some regular business matters. Joe left when Vince and I switched the TV to the Cubs game at seven.
“Baseball is so boring. How can you stand to watch it all the time?” Joe said as he got up to leave.
“What?” I said. “Not if you know what you’re watching, it isn’t. Baseball is the thinking person’s sport.”
“Plus, I mean, it’s the Cubs,” said Vince.
He looked at Joe with concern. Like a doctor might look at a patient with a massive head injury. Joe laughed and called us crazy one more time before leaving.
“All right, Vince, I’ve got a good one for you,” I said as the first inning got underway.
“Give me your best shot, Trivia Master,” Vince said sarcastically.
It was a relief to see that humorous glow back in his eyes. I guess whatever he’d done back at the office after school had cheered him up.
“Okay, then, in nineteen thirty which Cub had one of the greatest offensive seasons in baseball history with fifty-six homers and one hundred ninety-one RBI?”
“Whew, that is a tough one . . . but, uh, you’ll have to do a little better next time, Mac. The answer is Hack Wilson.”
“Whatever, you cheater,” I said.
“Right, how can I cheat at trivia? I can’t help it if my brain just happens to hold more Cubs knowledge because I’m a bigger fan than you.”
I grinned and threw a handful of popcorn at him.
After a few minutes Vince’s face got really serious.
“What is it, Vince?”
“Mac, you do realize that we’re not going to be able to afford to go to the game at this rate, right?” Vince said.
“What do you mean?”
“Mac! You just promised those bullies almost two hundred dollars for beating up Willis. That’s a lot of cash, my friend. We don’t really have the money for payouts like that.” He sounded as worried as I’d heard him in years. And maybe even a little angry.
“We’ll be okay. Don’t worry, once we get this Staples thing taken care of, then we’ll just work extra hard to make up for it,” I said.
If Vince was telling me we wouldn’t have enough, then that was probably true. Vince was almost never wrong when it came to money. Then again, he was also overly cautious when it came to our finances.
“Do we really have to pay everybody so much? They probably would have worked for less,” Vince said.
“Yeah, okay. I’ll try to be more careful. Sorry.”
“I just think I’d snap if the Cubs make it this year and we miss out on the game. Plus, it’s not like these kids need our money all that bad. These are bullies, Mac. They steal other kids’ lunch money. I just think that if we’re going to blow our chance to go to a Cubs World Series game then it should be for a better cause.”
“Jeez, Vince, I said I was sorry, okay? Don’t you think I know that? I’m just doing what I think is necessary to save our business. Do you have a better idea?” I kind of regretted my tone as soon as the words left my mouth. This was getting too close to a fight for me.
“No, I guess not. I just think sometimes