The Greatest Show on Dirt by James Bailey

Author:James Bailey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Baseball, Minor League Baseball, Durham Bulls, Bull Durham, Durham Athletic Park, Baseball novels, Sports novels
Publisher: James Bailey
Published: 2018-11-13T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Fourteen times. This one probably was a record. In the three hours before lunch Thursday, Carson dropped no less than fourteen references that tomorrow was his birthday. There might have been more, but I didn’t start keeping track until the hints were so deep you couldn’t help but trip over them. Rich and I flashed a count to each other every time he looked away, and we made a game out of who could change the topic first whenever Carson would mention the impending holiday.

Rich finally bit as we were filing out of the park to head for lunch. “So, what’s this one, twenty-two?”

“Twenty-three.” Carson’s freckled cheeks were stretched almost to his ears. I hadn’t seen a kid that excited about a birthday since second grade.

“You want us to take you out to the strip clubs after the game?” Rich asked.

Still grinning like Howdy Doody, Carson glanced from Rich to me, unsure what to say.

“There’s a nice one out toward Burlington,” Rich added. “Or we could stick closer around here.”

“Well, I never—” Carson started.

“Oh, good night,” Emma interrupted. “Y’all are joking, ain’t ya?”

“I dunno.” Rich pried open the passenger’s side door on his Civic. He stood back a moment to let a blast of hot air escape. “Carson sounds kind of interested.”

Emma folded her arms across her chest and shook her cropped head. “What is it with boys and them clubs? Most of them girls got diseases, you know.”

“No they don’t,” I laughed.

“They certainly do! They did a show about ’em on 60 Minutes.”

“Don’t touch the girls, Carson,” Rich said. “She’s probably right.”

Carson’s smile vanished and he turned away. I was guessing he didn’t want Emma to chalk him up as just another pervert that hung around stuffing dollars into strange girls’ panties. Emma opened her mouth as if to speak but closed it a moment later. She backed away from Rich’s car, shaking her head and not looking any of us in the face.

“We were just kidding,” I said. “They wouldn’t let Carson in anyway. He still looks like he’s only fifteen.”

“Do not,” he insisted.

He did, though. That smile was half of it. With a straight up expression he could have passed for a high school senior. But his brush cut and wide eyes reminded me of Homer Price from these chapter books I used to read in grade school.

The temperature in the car had dropped enough for Rich to lean in and unlock the back door. We climbed in, no one saying anything until Rich walked around and opened his side.

“Where do you really want to go tomorrow?” I asked.

Carson, riding shotgun, turned around and flashed his goofy smile at us again. “Well, I’ve been calling for Chapel Hill all season. Maybe ...”

“Sure,” I said. “We can probably swing that. If Emma’s okay with it, I mean.”

She glared at me, then turned to face the window. I could see her in the rearview mirror and she was smiling, biting down on her lip like she didn’t want the rest of us to know she wasn’t really mad.

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