"Whatcha got, Cliffy? Letter from home?"
Cliff Rock plopped down on the visitor's bench at Gentry Field. "Looks like it. Not sure how it found me in Gentry Hills, but there you go."
Andre Jenkins, the backup outfielder for the Lorris Greens, scooted closer on the bench. "From the wife?"
Rock swung his arm and whacked Jenkins in the chest. "And if it is, you're sure as hell not reading a word of it," the star left fielder said with a grin. He turned the envelope over, front to back and back again. "But I don't think it is. Don't recognize the handwriting." He slipped a finger inside the seal and tore it open.
"Jenkins! Get your ass and the rest of you back out here!" That was Jerry Lee, the player-manager and backup backup outfielder.
Jenkins went to the front of the dugout. "What about Rock, skip? Doesn't he have to get back out there too?"
Lee hit a fungo a few feet past Jenkins' ear. The ball hit the back of the dugout and ricocheted back on to the field. Jenkins covered his head and ducked out of the way. "You slug .679 and lead the league in steals, Jenkins, and you can sit on the dugout during practice too. Now get out here!" the manager yelled back.
As Jenkins grabbed his glove from the bench and trotted back out to the field, Cliff took the neatly folded sheet of paper out and opened it up.
Quote:
Mr. Rock,
Just a note of congratulations from your home town on your fine performance in these early months of the season. The Silver Beach community is proud to claim you as one of our own. Should you ever decide that you wish to spend more time in our fine town, please do let one of my people know. Things can be arranged to ensure you spend 35 games a season sleeping in your own bed instead of a kind stranger's.
Very Truly Yours,
Michael Hernandez
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He read and re-read the letter, eyebrows furrowed down in confusion. Certainly he knew who Michael Hernandez was. Anyone who lived in Silver Beach more than a couple of weeks knew him. The man as much as owned the whole town, him and his mining and shipping company. And he owned the Silver Beach Whales as well. The Whales, who'd just fallen behind Hernandez's archrivals from Tifton in the standings.