Take Me Out

Take Me Out
By Will Armstrong

         It was about ten o’clock and the weeknight was winding down at the house of Thomas and Nathan, where Jason was hanging out with his friends.  Jason was delivering color-commentary to an old episode of ‘Cops’ when his cellular phone began to ring.  It was Dad.  Normally this was an occasion for Jason to screen his father’s call; it was late, he was with friends.
         “Who is it?” Nathan asked.
         Before he decided to respond, Jason simply unfolded his phone as he walked up to the quiet, unoccupied second tier of the country cabin.  After making his way into the kitchen, Jason answered, “hello?”
         “Hey Jason,” initiated his father in a relaxed but eager tone.  “You know John Wilkins? The lawyer I play golf with on the weekends?”
         “Yeah, I remember him.  What’s up?”
         “Well he…or I guess I should say his firm owns season tickets for the Texas Rangers.  He just has them on deck to seduce his clients I guess, but anyway, there’s nobody to give them to and he offered them to me.”
         Jason’s eyes lit up as he knew what was coming.  “Okay,” he said.
         “I told him that I didn’t really want to go, but I told him that you might be interested.”  Jason was speechless for a moment before his father followed up, “do you think you’d be interested?”
         “Absolutely!” Jason said emphatically, nodding needlessly.
         “Well great.  There’s four tickets, so ask around…maybe see if three of your friends want to go.”
         “Oh yeah, definitely,” replied Jason as he made his way back into view and earshot of his friends.
         “Okay,” concluded his father.  “I’ll tell John and he’ll leave the tickets in our mailbox.”
         “Thanks Dad,” mentioned Jason.
         “Alright, well you might want to thank John when you get the chance.  They’re really great tickets right behind first base.”
         “Wow, will do, bye-bye,” Jason closed his phone.
         By now, both of his friends had directed their attention from the reruns on television to an enthusiastic-looking Jason.
         “What was that?” queried Thomas.
         “Well, what do you guys have on your schedule tomorrow?” Jason inquired.
         “I got nothing,” said Nathan as he shrugged.  “Nothing, as long as my girlfriend doesn’t black-ball me into doing her dirty work.”
         “I have work,” mentioned Thomas.
         “Well, I just got my hands on four tickets to the Texas Rangers game tomorrow,” said Jason.
         “Oh, really?” said Thomas in disbelief.
         “Yeah, really,” confirmed Jason.
         “Fuck, I wonder if I can get off work tomorrow…” worried Thomas.
         While Thomas was phoning his work friend to see if he could pick up his shift, Nathan wore a pensive look.
         Jason picked up on his friend’s vibe and quickly added: “you could take Katie as our fourth person.”
         “Hey, how did you know that’s what I was worrying about?”
         “What can I say? I’ve seen that look before.”
         “Well that’s good,” said Nathan.  “She doesn’t have anything tomorrow and she’ll love to come along.  Hell, its probably the only way I would have been able to go.”
         Thomas set his phone down and exclaimed, “It’s on!”
         “Great!” said an elated Jason.  “That’s four.”
         The emotion in the room quickly settled into restlessness.  Everybody was very excited to have such a great day trip planned.
         “So I’ll meet you guys here tomorrow at about four o’clock?” asked Jason.  “That way we can leave before five-thirty and catch the game.”
         “Yeah that’s fine,” verified Nathan.
         “So awesome, I can’t wait,” said a Thomas, who was grinning ear-to-ear.
         It wasn’t long before Jason left to get some rest for a big day tomorrow.  Humming the tune, ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game,’ Jason made his way over to the mailbox at his house and quickly seized the envelope containing four pristine Texas Rangers tickets and an A-lot parking pass.  Making his way into bed, he tried hard to go to sleep and eventually, succeeded.

         The day went by like a blur, as Jason was having fun merely dreaming up plans for the trip to come.  It was apparent to Jason that they would be taking his car to the game, because it was likely the only vehicle that would last on the 200 mile round-trip.  Nathan's car was wearing a spare tire and Thomas's had a history of breaking down, especially on hot, summer days.
         Jason pondered, while sitting at his office job, what else could make the day more special.  He got the idea to make signs out of posterboard using permanent markers.  That way, the television crews would be sure to notice them.  So after about five minutes of rummaging through the office's back room of unused supplies, Jason found four white posters and some felt pens corresponding to the home team's colors.  He thought about what he would write on the posters, but nothing came to him.  He decided instead to hold them until he and his friends thought of something truly clever to write.