Chapter 4

“So why didn’t Zack want to join us for this victory dinner?”

“I told you, he already had plans to go to a movie with Lizzie.”

“Oh, yeah,” James agreed absently. He swirled the golden liquid around in his glass, watching the beading pattern it left. There were a lot of fat drops that took a long time to slide back down the inside of the glass. Did that mean it was supposed to be a cheap wine or a really good vintage? He couldn’t remember.

He did remember they had started dinner with the best champagne the restaurant could offer. It was a Chinese restaurant that also offered sushi, so was more of a sake and beer place. The wine list was pretty sparse and not of a high quality, but it did offer one really expensive champagne. After all, this was Placida. He wouldn’t know personally, but he supposed even the Nation’s Hamburgers offered a decent chardonnay. Back when he had been putting himself through college, relying heavily on the G.I. Bill with some help from the odd jobs he could pick up after class, he had been lucky to afford a box of chicken chow mein. What a difference environment made ... not to mention Donna’s salary. But, now, he was doing pretty well himself, wasn’t he?

“You remember Lizzie, don’t you?” she asked with only a trace of sarcasm in her voice. “Kind of a pretty blonde, and a set of lungs I’m sure you’d remember?”

“Oh, yeah. Of course I do.” In fact, given Donna’s description, James was sure he had noticed the girl. One of the few girls Zack dated who actually had a decent figure. In fact, it was actually pretty memorable. Now that he remembered it. “Did he take your car?”

“Yes,” Donna answered with an edge to her voice. “I gave him permission.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you did,” he said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice as well.

The day had started with a hangover worse than most. James told himself he deserved a day off for all of the long nights and short weekends during the past year. Even though he knew it was true, his head was throbbing so badly he could not drag himself out of bed that morning. It must have been some party, although it was all pretty hazy after he had ensconced himself at the bar.

By mid afternoon he had been feeling well enough to go out. Feeling guilty about how he had been abusing his body recently, James drove over to the club to see if he could pick up a tennis match. All of the good players were still at work, so he wound up in a doubles match with two older men and one of the better females in the club.

As the ‘strongest’ player in the group, James was paired with the oldest, worst male. He could never remember playing so badly. The others excused him because he was obviously rusty, but James knew the hangover was doing terrible things to his coordination and equilibrium. After losing two sets badly, James begged off from a third set because he had promised to take Donna to dinner. He admitted to himself that he was in such bad shape he would probably have a heart attack if he tried to play anymore.

James’ only consolation was that he left the club before any of his tennis buddies arrived to witness his embarrassment. As he poured himself another glass of wine, he vowed to take more time off and get back into shape.

“Aren’t you going to eat anything?”

James pulled his thoughts back to the table.

“What? Oh. I did.”

“You’ve hardly touched your dinner.”

“I ate most of the sushi, remember? I’m already full.”

“Yeah, but of wine, not food.”

“Look, you’re my wife, not my mother,” James said irritably.

“Aren’t wives supposed to be concerned as well as mothers?”

Donna saw the look on her husband’s face, and made a cutting motion with her hand. James knew the gesture meant: “We’ve had enough of these kind of arguments. Let’s cut it off right here.”

That suited him just fine. The silence lasted until his glass was empty, which amounted to less than five minutes.

“You want some more?” he asked before he polished off the bottle.

Donna shook her head no. Her first glass was still nearly full.

“Fine,” James agreed as he drained the bottle.

Donna didn’t want to get into an argument about that either, so she brought up a subject she had been wanting to discuss with her husband.

“Speaking of being a mother, how come you don’t talk with you son any more?”

James felt an irritating tingling at the spot where his neck connected with his spine.

“What are you talking about?” he lied, as he took a large swallow of the wine. He couldn’t even taste it.

“You know what I’m talking about,” Donna retorted. “You two hardly even talk much any more. And when you do, it’s usually to argue about what he’s doing and why he can’t be working harder at school. I don’t think you’ve forgiven him since he quit the baseball team.”

“What’s to forgive? He said he didn’t want to play any more, and he quit. I’m not going to force him to play if he doesn’t want to.”

James drained the glass and immediately looked around for the waiter. Christ, this was supposed to be his night of celebration for succeeding at what Donna considered the most important thing in life. Was he now going to get reamed out for having neglected Zack for the past year or two while he worked on his career? He needed another bottle of wine if he was going to have to face this kind of crap. Hadn’t they already had this conversation?

“I know you’ve been working hard at your job,” Donna said, as if reading his mind. “God knows I know how hard it is to get ahead at the office and still give your family the time it needs from you.”

I wonder if she really does, James thought. He immediately felt guilty. He knew she did the best she could in that respect. He and Zack certainly enjoyed the fruits of her labor—which meant her financial success—and they both knew she devoted as much time to them as she could. For God’s sake, he realized with a start. Am I getting to be like that as well?

“What do you think I should do?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you invite him to an A’s game? You know how much you two used to love going to the ball game.”

That was very true. They used to have a wonderful time together, sometimes with another father and son. Zack would eat hot dogs and he would have one of those cheese-steak sandwiches he never permitted himself anywhere else, and they would both eat tons of peanuts, which James never liked anywhere else. They would talk about the players and the finer points of the game. The A’s were close to making the playoffs, and maybe now would be a good time to see if the old ballpark still had the same magic for them.

“Okay,” he agreed, as the waiter arrived to take his order for another bottle of wine. “I’ll see if he wants to go this weekend.”

Having gotten the concession she wanted out of him, Donna decided to drop the other battle, which she knew she would probably not win anyhow.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ It was a glorious day at the old ballpark. Maybe Donna had been right. The sun was shining, but it wasn’t too warm. The A’s were playing the Royals, which was fine with James, as he was originally from Kansas City. As most of the people in the Bay Area weren’t, the crowd was pretty small. Even though the A’s happened to be in first place in early September, there were the usual fourteen or fifteen thousand in attendance on a fine Saturday afternoon. Well, that part hadn’t changed. James was happy to pay the price of seats only half a dozen rows directly behind the plate.

Zack morosely munched on a pair of hot dogs, popcorn and soda by his side, and somehow seemed to be ignoring both James and the ball game at the same time. James had just finished a cheese steak sandwich, which was one of the few reasons he liked the Oakland ballpark, and was already sipping on his second beer. By the end of the third inning, James headed for the bathroom and then to pick up another beer. He had still not said one word to Zack since they had bought their tickets, and knew that it was up to him to get the conversation rolling. As they let you buy two beers at a time, James hoped his new pair of brews would help him find something of mutual interest to discuss with his son. From Zack’s attitude towards the game, the A’s prospects for the playoffs did not seem like a great topic.