[legendsport]

Brooklyn, NY: July 1, 1925:

Independence Day was right around the corner and the Barrells were back in Brooklyn - well, some of them anyway. Rufus and Alice brought their five youngest children and Rollie had tagged along to make a two-pronged business trip of it: he planned to talk with the owner of the New York Lucky Five basketball club and he also wanted to meet with one of the two potential suitors for an American Football Association club in New York.

For Rufus, this trip was decidedly not about business. "Remember when we left?" he asked Alice with a nostalgic twinkle in his eye. They had just gotten off the subway train that had taken them from Penn Station in Manhattan to the Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn - the final leg of their trip from Georgia.

"What I remember is uprooting the whole kit and kaboodle and moving to the middle of nowhere, all on the spur of the moment," Alice grumbled in reply. Rufus had a hurt look on his face; Alice, seeing this, added in a softer tone, "I know why we did it, Rufus. It was just... sudden."

"I remember Tommy sleeping in a basket under the seat when the wagon got to the farm, and just look at him now," Rollie said with a chuckle as he gave Tom a playful shove.

Rufus, pride in his voice, nodded and said, "Indeed. 11-0 with a 0.41 ERA for Effingham County. I can guarantee you'd go high in the draft if you weren't already committed to going to college, Tommy."

Tommy blushed a little and shrugged.

Rufus turned to where Fred was walking at the rear of the group. "And next year, you'll be with Freddie. The Gators are going to be hard to beat," he said. Fred simply offered a small smile in response. He hadn't been particularly excited about the trip. Freddie had enjoyed a good sophomore season, hitting .331, though the team itself finished 26-24. He'd also apparently acquired a girlfriend - Rufus knew this only because he kept in touch with Ed Allen, the coach of Georgia Baptist. Allen kept a close watch on "his boys" as he called the players, and knew all about Fred and Miss Charlotte Waterston. Therefore so did Rufus, who'd decided, for now, to keep that tidbit to himself. He'd only embarrass Fred and Alice would not be able to avoid butting in once she heard about it.

"Me 'n Harry never got to live in the big city," Bobby complained, snapping Rufus out of his reverie; Harry nodded in agreement.

"Hey! Me neither!" Betsy added. Rufus saw Tommy roll his eyes.

"That's 'Harry and I,' Robert, and that was just the way things worked out," Alice shot back. Rufus knew his wife was a grumpy traveler and going from rural Georgia to the nation's biggest city was a long trip in more ways than simply mileage.

Rollie glanced at his watch. "Are we heading straight to Powell & Claudia's place? I need to be in Manhattan by five."

Rufus nodded. "That's the plan. We can check into the hotel later on."

Alice loudly exhaled in frustration. "No, let's go to the hotel first. We have luggage, Rufus, and I don't fancy carrying it all over Brooklyn."

Rollie grinned as he saw his father accept the wisdom in his wife's suggestion. "Yes, you're right as usual, my dear," Rufus said. Then he looked around the large train station and said, "Let's find some taxis."

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Powell Slocum had secured a nice brownstone for his family in Williamsburg. Rufus, who had once owned a similar building, was impressed.

Rufus knocked on the door, Alice at his side. Behind them stood Rollie with his younger siblings arrayed beside and behind him on the porch steps.

Rufus and Alice heard running feet and then the door swung open to reveal their grandson. He smiled at them and Rufus heard Alice give a sharp intake of breath and Rufus felt his heart break a little bit himself. The boy's grin was an exact duplicate of their late son's at the same young age.

Rufus forced a grin onto his face, "Well, hello James. How are you?"

James ran outside and hugged Rufus' leg. "Grandpa!" he shouted.

"Well, someone seems to like you," Alice said as she brushed a tear from the corner of her eye.

"James! Let your grandfather be. I'm sure all of our visitors would be more comfortable inside the house," Claudia said as she appeared in the doorway.

The Barrells trooped inside where Alice complimented Claudia on her decorating. Bobby and Harry began poking around, looking for Danny.

"He's not here," Claudia said with a small smile. "He is with Powell."

"Really?" Rollie asked. "That's a bit of a surprise."

Claudia nodded happily.

Rufus snapped his fingers. "That's right, I forgot the Kings are off today. So where are they?"

"They are at the ballpark."

At the word "ballpark," Bobby and Harry froze in near-comical disbelief. Rollie, seeing this, guffawed and told his mother, "Hey, Mom, there's your magic word to get the knuckleheads to stop misbehaving!"

Rufus looked at his youngest sons. "I know I don't need to ask, but do you two want to head over to the park?"

Bobby and Harry began jumping up and down. Rufus saw that Freddie & Tommy were eager as well, but trying to be as nonchalant about it as possible. Rufus gave Alice a questioning look. She smiled and nodded. Rufus looked at Rollie, "You coming?" he asked.

"Sure why not. We'll leave the ladies here to catch up."

Rufus noticed young James looking up at him with a pout on his face. "Hmm... well, if your mother says it's ok, I don't see any reason you couldn't tag along too," he told his grandson.

For a split-second it looked like Claudia was going to say no, but seeing the look on her son's face, she nodded and said, "Certainly. You will be safe with your grandfather and uncles. But be sure to be on your best behavior!"

"Yes, mama," James replied and then grabbed Rufus by the hand. This caused Betsy to ask if she could also go, but Alice was steadfast in refusing. So one of the Barrells was left unhappy.

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At the ballpark, Rufus went directly to the team offices. As a former Kings employee - even all these years later - he still knew his way around. "I'd like to pop in and see if Mr. Presley's around," he told Rollie as they entered the lobby.

Sure enough, old Mrs. McGillicudy was still on duty at her desk. She remembered Rufus well and gushed over Rollie, who she remembered as a "wee slip of a lad" from all those years earlier.

Unfortunately, Mr. Presley was not in the office, having gone into Manhattan for the day to deal with some of his other business. His grandson - and Rollie's old golfing buddy - Eugene Weston was there however and he and Rollie began catching up.

Rufus asked Eugene to give his regards to his grandfather, gave a friendly smile to Mrs. McGillicudy, and headed for the tunnel, with Bobby and Harry in tow and James still holding his hand. Fred and Tom brought up the rear.

"This here is the best sight in the world," Rufus told his boys as they approached the narrow, sloping tunnel that led into the dugout. "When you walk up this tunnel, the whole park opens up before you. The green grass, the stands full of fans, the wide blue sky - unless it's raining of course - and the smells..." he trailed off and sighed.

From behind him Rufus heard Harry say, "Well, let's go see it, Pop!"

Rufus gave a small, slightly sad chuckle and then started up the tunnel.

For Bobby and Harry it was just as their father described - minus the fans, of course. "It's so big," Bobby said as he gazed around in wonder. Harry's attention was immediately drawn to the home plate area where the batting cage had been set up. Standing on the mound, a bucket of balls at his feet, was Powell Slocum. He gazed over at the new arrivals and grinned. "Rufus! Good to see you!"

Bobby and Harry walked towards the cage as Rufus stepped onto the grass and walked towards the mound, with James still holding his hand.

Danny popped out of the batting cage, a bat on his shoulder. "Hey Pop," he said.

"Danny!" Bobby and Harry exclaimed in unison, both rushing over to hug their brother, whom they hadn't seen in months.

The same was true for Rufus and he paused in his walk, running an appraising gaze over his son.

"You look like you're doing well, Dan," Rufus said, and meant it - this version of Danny was much more like his old self than the bitter and broken young man he'd been at Christmas.

"He is doing well," Slocum said as he ambled towards Rufus.

Powell scooped James up and the boy gave him a hug. "Hi, Dad!" the boy said happily. "I like your baseball clothes."

Slocum laughed. "I like 'em too, James."

Rufus was smiling. He turned from Slocum to Danny and shook his head. "This is not what I expected to see," he said.

Danny, a sheepish look on his face, explained, "Well... I was a pig-headed fool and that's no lie. Claudia and Powell have been great. With Claudia's help my leg and arm are much better. I can run and throw again, though nowhere near as well as I could before, of course."

Powell interrupted and said, "That may be true, but I think you're going to be closer to 100% than you will be to 75, Dan."

Danny looked uncomfortable at this, but nodded in thanks.

"So.... I have to ask," Harry said. "Why are you in the batting cage?"

Danny laughed and cocked a thumb at Slocum. "Well, Powell here thinks he can make a FABL ballplayer out of me."

Rufus raised his eyebrows. "Really?" he asked Slocum.

Powell nodded. "Yes, that's true. I did see him play some at Capital. The talent is raw, but it's there. Let's not overlook the fact that he was drafted. These ballclubs don't just waste those draft picks, eh Rufus?"

Slocum reached out his hand and dropped a baseball in Rufus' right hand. "Don't take my word for it. Go on, see for yourself."

Rufus smirked and shrugged out of his jacket. "Too warm for that anyway," he said, handing it to Fred.

He stepped out on to the mound shaking his arm out, and Danny dug in to the batter's box. Harry and Bobby watched from the side, while Tom and Fred went behind the cage and gazed through the netting.

"Give him something hot, Pop!" Tommy said with a grin.

Rufus shook his head. "Keep in mind, boys, I'm over fifty now."

He did still have it though: his first pitch was arrow straight and right over the heart of the plate. Danny swung and to Rufus' practiced eye, the swing was close to textbook; certainly far better than what he'd been showing back at Capital. Having Powell Slocum as your own personal hitting instructor apparently was paying dividends. The hips opened up a tad too wide, but the stride, the swing, the position of the hands, were all rock solid. And the contact was as well. Danny lined the pitch solidly to left-center.

"Come on Pop!" Tommy yelled again.

Rufus grinned and dialed it up a bit. The next pitch was still over the plate, but he had put a little wrinkle in it. Danny tried to adjust, but only managed a weak dribbler. "We haven't gotten to dealing with the fancy stuff," Powell told Rufus with a grin.

Rufus threw about ten more pitches and Danny handled them fairly well. There was certainly room for improvement, but as Powell had said, the makings of a FABL player might be there after all.

"Not too bad," he told his son. "Keep working and you might have something."

Slocum ambled over and said, "That's right. I'm already working on Mr. Presley to see about getting him signed. The Saints no longer hold his rights so he's up for grabs and could be the best-kept secret in baseball."

"I don't know about that last part," Danny said.

The other four boys had wandered over. "Any chance we could... you know?" Tommy asked, cocking his head toward the mound.

Rufus said, "You better not mess up your clothes. Your mother will kill all of us." Then he placed a baseball in Tommy's hand and walked off the mound. He could already hear Bobby, Freddie and Harry arguing over who would hit first.

"Y'all know that the price for this is going out there and rounding up all them balls afterwards, right?" Slocum said with a grin.

The boys collectively had no problem taking that deal.

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