Chapter 7

While Ted was out fishing by himself the next day he was thinking about the day before and being with the fellows. He enjoyed hearing the stories about what was going on in the game and having this comradeship. He thought they would probably like to go fishing again and that Ted should get off his butt and go to a Ray’s game.

His thinking of doing that was interrupted when he saw a boat approaching him. The closer the boat came he recognized it as being the fish and wildlife boat. When the boat was alongside his boat he saw that it wasn’t Ken piloting the boat but this was a female officer, a rather attractive female officer with long light brown hair coming out of the back of the baseball-type cap she was wearing.

He could see that she gave a look to the side of Ted’s boat and must have caught the name which had her ask, “Are you the ex-big league pitcher that Ken told me about?”

“I think I am. Where is Ken as he is usually who I see piloting the boat?”

“We split the duty of piloting the boat and checking the shore for violations.”

“Finding any?”

“Some undersize fish, over the limit or out of season fish along with no fishing licenses are what we usually find.”

“I don’t mean to sound chauvinistic but isn’t it a dangerous situation for a single female officer to be involved in dealing with men who may be breaking the law?”

Patting the holstered pistol on her hip she said, “While I have never had to pull it out, this here is the equalizer.”

“I’ll bet you have some interesting stories to tell and I would like to hear them. If it doesn’t present a problem can I take you out or meet you somewhere for dinner?”

“Boy, you are a fast worker and you didn’t waste any time in asking me out. Most of the men I meet are somewhat intimidated by me because of what I do.”

“What’s there to be afraid of if I haven’t broken any laws?”

“True, okay, how about Rudy’s tonight?”

“That’s a family-type restaurant, pick something more upscale as I want to impress you.”

Now she was laughing and said, “The Rosewood?”

“Fine, meet you there at six.”

Starting up the engines on her boat and motoring away she hollered out, “Make it seven.”

Ted didn’t catch any kings but he did catch three snappers. He normally would classify that day as unsuccessful for fishing but he still would be doing a different type of fishing when he went to dinner tonight. He hoped he would be more successful then.

That evening at the Rosewood, Ted was sitting in the lounge having a drink waiting for the officer to enter the restaurant. He didn’t know what her name was and now because it was past seven he was starting to have doubts if she would show. Those doubts vanished when she walked into the lounge wearing a short sleeve white pants suit.

He gave her a, “Wow” when he saw her and the old line of “You clean up well.” His saying brought a smile to her pretty face. He introduced himself to her and she responded by saying her name was Amy Stone. He offered to buy her a drink and she said she would have one at the table.

When they were seated at a table the conversation was the getting-to-know-you type with each of them telling about their lives and how what they did came about. Ted was interested in hearing about some of the violators she caught and she was interested in Ted’s life in the major leagues. It made for a very enjoyable evening and Ted was sorry when it came to an end.

As they were getting ready to leave Ted asked Amy if she was a baseball fan. She answered that she was and he followed up by him asking her if she wanted to go with him the next night to a Ray’s game. He said they were playing the Red Sox. Amy said she would like that and arrangements were made on where and what time he would pick her up.

Ted texted Charlie and said he needed two tickets to the game. The response that came back said for him to go to the will-call window.

Amy looked good when he called for her. She was wearing tan slacks that nicely fit her and a white blouse. Her long passed her shoulders brown hair was in front of her shoulders. She said she was looking forward to the game.

At Tropicana Field, Ted picked up the tickets which were for box seats that were five rows up and just off to the side of the home team’s dugout. The attendance for the game left a little to be desired as Ted would guess it was only around eight thousand.

Amy seemed to enjoy herself being at the game and Ted enjoyed being with her. He didn’t know if she had her pistol with her but her purse was small and because of the tightness of her pants, he didn’t know if she did have one, where it would be.

The game itself was close with the score after six innings of play being two to one in Ray’s favor. With the Ray’s starting pitcher having thrown one hundred and one pitches he was replaced at the top of the seventh inning by Charlie. Charlie in that inning gave up a hit but no runs were scored. In walking to the dugout Charlie knew where Ted was sitting. He pointed a finger at Ted and then put his thumb and forefinger together brought it up to his lips and looked like he was blowing a kiss.

“What does he mean by doing that?” said Amy.