Chapter 14

Samantha Suzuki came by the house in the late morning again, just two days later. She had another, smaller, packet of fan mail for Shiggie, and a note to me, in an envelope, from Herb Mitchell, the Player Personnel guy. Once again, she managed to extend her visit for almost an hour, despite presumably having duties back at the Warehouse offices.

The young woman was pleasant company, and she was behaving more or less normally toward all three of us, but it was peculiar behavior, all the same.

I figured maybe she had a crush on Shiggie.

The note from Mitchell asked me to come by -- with Amy -- to his office. He specified that we come without Shiggie. Now what? I showed the note to Amy.

"Maybe he's heard we're sleeping together, and he doesn't approve," Amy said.

"That seems unlikely. I think you're probably the only one who had big hang-ups about our getting it on."

"I got over it," Amy said, smiling sweetly.

"Yes, thank God, you did!" I answered. "This has got to be about Shiggie. Otherwise, Mitchell wouldn't have excluded him so explicitly. After all, you can carry on a pretty good dialogue in Shiggie's presence without his knowing what's happening."

"Maybe Mitchell just thought doing that would be discourteous."

"That would be a first for him -- worrying about common courtesy."

But Amy and I did as we'd been told. We told Shiggie we had to go out to get groceries, and hoped he wouldn't volunteer to come along. He didn't. The two of us headed for Mitchell's office.

Herb Mitchell didn't pull any punches. "Is the Jap kid a queer?" he asked me. Amy gasped at the man's astonishing crudity, but said nothing.

"Shiggie?" I asked, stalling for time to think of what to say to Mitchell.

"No. Emperor Hirohito, I'm talking about," Mitchell said, the sarcasm thick. "Yeah -- Squiggy!"

"Shiggie," I corrected.

"Whatever. Is he bent, or not?"

"Shiggie is the club's best pitcher at this moment," I said. "He behaves himself, he stays in shape, and he has been a credit to the Orioles' organization. I don't know about his sleeping habits, and I don't think it's any of your damned business, either!"

Amy reached over and squeezed my hand tightly. I think she approved. If Amy's with me, who can be against me?

"This is fucking important!" Mitchell said. "You two are with him all the time. If he's a fairy, we're entitled to know about it! If it got out, it would hurt the club."

"What makes you think Shiggie is a homosexual?" I asked. I was still stalling, and trying to figure out what to say.

"Mike got a couple of anonymous phone calls. And then, yesterday, one of those Jap news guys asked me the question, point-blank."

"And you said... what?"

"I denied it, and yelled at the Jap for saying such a thing!"

"But now you're not so sure?"

"Well, we need to know! Shit, Sam, you know how it is in the Game. How many fruits can you name, playing ball today?"

"I can't name any active players, Herb. But I damned well know they're out there! Probably in about the same ratio as gay men in the general population."

"Bullshit! Baseball is a rough game! Not too many fairies would want to mix it up on the field."

"Jesus, but you're ignorant!" Amy said. Her first words. I wondered if she knew this asshole was a ranking member of the team's hierarchy.

Mitchell was shocked by her words, and no doubt pissed at this young woman, speaking to him in that manner. But he toned it down a little. "Look. I don't personally give a shit if he's got a goat in his bedroom," Mitchell said. "but it's going to be hard on the club -- and on him, too -- if people start saying he's queer. We're in a pennant race, f'chrissake! Something like this -- it'd fuck up the rotation and pretty soon, we're kissing Tampa Bay ass -- from below."

"Is that why you sent the young woman to our house? Is she supposed to be checking out whether she could get Shiggie to come on to her?"

Mitchell denied it. "I'm not pimping the Jap girl," he said. "I sent her over hoping those reporters would think she was his girlfriend."

"I think some of them do think that already," I said. "But that's not a very nice way to use your employees. Does Samantha Suzuki know about your suspicions?"

"I didn't tell her anything," Mitchell said, "except that I wanted her to spend some time over at the house with him and you guys."

"And she didn't ask why?"

"Well. I told her the reporters might pick up on it, and think she was the kid's girlfriend. I told her it would be good publicity for the club."

"And she didn't object?"