One Shot at Forever by Chris Ballard

Author:Chris Ballard
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Hyperion
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Thursday morning dawned blessedly clear. At 1 P.M., the boys fled class and headed for the bus, playing cards on the hour-long ride to Champaign Central High.

Located two miles from the sprawling campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Champaign Central boasted the type of modern amenities a school like Macon lacked. What most impressed the Ironmen, though, was McKinley Field. Not just the bleachers and concession stands but in particular the sign at the gate. It read $2 ADMISSION.

Upon seeing it Mark Miller cracked up, as did Heneberry. “Two dollars? Really?” It was hard to fathom that people were going to pay to watch them play baseball.

But pay they did, and by game time a large, raucous crowd was on hand. Plenty rooted for Potomac, but it felt like even more roared for Macon. One whole section of the bleachers appeared to consist solely of Lynn Sweet fans. There was his buddy Fred Schooley and one of his high school teachers and a bunch of his friends from his Champaign days. And, just down from them, a sturdy man with gray hair standing next to a pretty, older brunette.

Sweet was surprised to see his parents, especially his father. Though the two men were friendly, they shared little in common. Had you met them together, you might not have guessed they were even related.

Lynn Sweet Senior was a true American hard-ass. He grew up in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the black sheep of seven siblings in the family. He left home early, enlisting in the Army right out of high school in 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression. When he got out, he worked in a shipyard and then enlisted again in early 1943, during World War II. While in charge of a relief convoy, Sweet was sent to the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium. When the front lines broke down, he found himself manning a machine gun in the most deadly American battle of World War II. It is said the average life span of a machine gunner in that battle could be measured in minutes. Sweet survived unscathed.

Three years later, he rejoined the military and eventually shipped out to Korea, after which he remained in the service as a quartermaster. In 1963, he retired with the rank of Master Sergeant. To his children’s friends, he became known as “Sarge.”

As Sarge saw it, life consisted of a series of tests, each of equal importance, regardless the context. This manifested itself in myriad ways. One day while Lynn was in college in Champaign, he and some friends were playing a game of tackle football in a city park when Sarge showed up. It was snowing and the grass had turned white, six inches deep with powder in places. “Mind if I play?” Sarge asked. He was almost fifty years old and had lost some of the muscle that once made him so intimidating. Figuring they’d be nice about it, the boys said yes.

On the first play of the

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.