Chapter 12

Arlie was checked in at the team's hotel in Philadelphia in time to have a late Monday dinner with Paul Warren and the other coaches. The open date on the road was drawing to an end, but the Orioles' first game against the Phillies remained almost twenty-four hours away.

On Tuesday morning the players would spend three hours working out in the Phillies' ballpark, familiarizing themselves with playing conditions there. For about a third of the players, it would be the first time they'd ever played a game in that particular National League park.

Additionally, Freddie Brumbelow and most of the relief pitchers on the staff would take batting practice, preparing for the rare opportunity (if one could call it that) to appear at home plate during the series with a baseball bat in their hands. Freddie, a former infielder, wasn't entirely unfamiliar with making plate appearances, although his limited talents as a batsman served as a clear explanation for his eventual decision to become a pitcher. The scheduled starters for the other two games in the series, Al Masterson and Shiggie Nomura, also would take batting practice that morning.

Dan was next scheduled to pitch at home on Friday in the opener against the Nats.

Paul said nothing to Arlie over dinner about his side-trip to Wooster, figuring it would only raise eyebrows among the other coaches and lead to a lengthy round of ragging for his pitching coach.

When the group broke up, however, Paul wasn't timid about expressing his curiosity. "So, how'd it go?" he asked. "Did she remember you? Did you sign autographs for your old high school buddies all evening long?"

"Almost nobody remembered me at all," Arlie said, omitting the fact that he'd not been in the room long enough for many to get the opportunity. "But the woman I went to see? Yes, she remembered me. Right away."

"In a good way, right? I mean, was she glad to see you there?"

"Not at first," Arlie said. "I mean, yes, she was glad to see me at first, but when she found out about my connection to Susan, we had some rough moments. It was just like Susan had predicted: her mother's first reaction was to think she'd been lied to."

Paul's understanding of Arlie's previous communications with Alissa Munger was incomplete, so he wasn't able to absorb the subtleties very well. But he was trying: "But you managed to smooth it out, right?"

"We didn't even stay for the class dinner," Arlie told him. "We went to a coffee shop and talked for a couple of hours."

"So it's all okay then?"

"Yes. It was everything I hoped it would be, our reunion. And she's going to be at the house for the weekend. She's there already, actually. She's with Susan and the kids by now."

"Well, that's just great!" Paul said. "Listen, Arlie, what would you think about bringing Martinez up from Norfolk and making him our long-relief guy? I'm getting more and more confident that Dan can hack it as part of the regular starting rotation, but if he's not really going to be available for long relief, we're gonna need somebody who is."

"You'd need to clear a roster spot," Arlie said. "Who would you send down?"

"Turley, I think," Paul said. "It would leave us without much offense on the bench, but having an extra pitcher available seems more and more essential."

"I don't know, Paul. Bill Turley's gotten some key pinch hits."

"He's a very nice luxury item in the dugout," Paul agreed, "but pitching is where we're hurting the most."

"Well, I think Martinez is at least as ready as these kids we've got who are already here and getting shelled. But it's not like you, Paul, to want to carry twelve pitchers."

If I have to keep running four pitchers a game into the lineup, we're going to need reinforcements, even if it is still only June."

"I don't disagree. I guess you ought to go ahead and talk to McPhail about it."

"Yeah. I'm gonna call him today. And I'll talk to Bill Turley. This is gonna come out of the blue for Bill. He's been making a nice contribution, and he's got —- I don't know -— maybe four years of major league experience. Sending him back down will be hard."

"If I know McPhail, he's going to ask you about Turley's trade value."

"You mean he's going to ask me if I have any objection to trading him. McPhail will already know his value."

"We might-could get a young pitcher for him," Arlie said.

"Yeah. It occurred to me. But nobody who's likely to help us that much right away."

"True, but a trade would be good for Bill Turley, and he's earned the consideration. And there would be interest around the league. The other league, too."

"McPhail wouldn't trade him to anybody in the Division, that's for sure. I'll make sure he knows how you and I feel about the possibility of trading Bill. Well, anyway. Hey, Arlie, I'm glad the thing back in Ohio worked out for you."

Better than in my wildest dreams, Arlie thought. But all he said to Paul Warren was, "Maybe you'll get a chance to meet Alissa while she's in town. We're bringing her to the Friday game when Dan's pitching. I know Orlie, at least, will meet her if she's at the game."

"I expect Orlie will be in her usual spot. I hope Dan acquits himself well with Mama -— on and off the field," Paul said.

"Who's more dependable than Dan Preston?" Arlie said.

Arlie made his usual call home shortly before leaving for the park on Tuesday night. Susan told him her mother had arrived more or less on time and that they were enjoying each other's company and talking non-stop about old times.

"You weren't entirely wrong about her reaction to my showing up at the reunion," Arlie said. "She was more than a little bit rankled at first."

"So I heard," Susan said. "But she softened up afterward, didn't she? So you weren't entirely wrong, either."

Arlie wondered just how much Alissa had told her daughter about how much she had "softened up" afterward. From Susan's tone of voice, he concluded that Alissa hadn't yet told her daughter everything.

"Dan's going to pitch Friday against the Nationals," he told her. "That's definitely the game we should take your mom to."

"It won't freak him out, will it? Meeting her on Friday at lunch and then pitching that night?"

"Dan shuts everything else out when he pitches," Arlie said. "Don't let that one worry you. But I talked to him, and he's decided not to come over Thursday night when we get home. It'll be late, and Dan would prefer to meet your mom at lunch the next day."

"Well, your car's at BWI. I guess we'll just see you when you come in the door. And Arlie... ?"

"Yeah?"

"There won't be any need for Plan B: moving my mother to a hotel somewhere to avoid you. She seems entirely at ease, being here."

"Nice to hear," he said.

"Oh, and she said to tell you that you had beautiful children."

"Tell her Dan and I think she has beautiful children, too."

On Tuesday, Susan and the children had taken Alissa on a tour of the inner harbor and the aquarium, and on Wednesday the four of them drove to Washington for a brief look at the nation's capital. It was Alissa's first time in Washington since her high school class' senior trip.

On the way home after a long day in the District, Alissa told Susan that all the sightseeing had been fun, but that she'd prefer a lazy day on Thursday. "Or maybe I could take the children to a matinee or something, and let you get some work done on your book."

"The book's going great, Mom. It's not like you're going to be here for weeks and weeks! I can take a couple of days off from the novel to spend with you with no problem. And you're a good excuse to get the kids out of the house, too."

"It's so nice to see what a great situation you've got here," Alissa said. "This house. This family. I would never have thought that taking a job of this kind would have suited you so well."

"Childcare is my middle name," Susan said. "As you know, I had some previous experience."

"I'll never be able to make it up to you," her mother said, turning serious. "You were the one who made it possible for me to raise the others. You were my rock, Susan."

We all respected you," Susan told her. "We could see how hard it was for you, and all the kids were old enough to know they needed to pitch in and help."

"And we came out of it all right, didn't we?"

"We came out of it great, Mom. And I hope now that Jerry's going to be in school, you can lean back once in awhile and enjoy the fruits."

"Don't tell Jerry, but I'm actually pleased that his school is far enough away that he can't commute! When William lived at home the first two years he was in college, it was like an extension of high school."

"I wish you could take a longer vacation here," Susan said. "It's not like Arlie would object. He's been more excited about the prospect of your visit than I was, even!"

"No, he made very clear, even before I met him in Wooster, that I should feel free to stay as long as I could." She laughed. "At the time, I thought, 'What an amazingly generous man!' But of course I was the only one who didn't know that he had a hidden agenda!"

"Well, I think 'hidden agenda' is a little strong, Mom. Arlie really is a generous person. I think he'd have told you the same thing even if he hadn't known who you were. In fact, come to think of it, his first emails to you were before he knew who you were!"

"Yes, I think you're right about that. But, you know, after all these years, he looks at me the same way now as he did when we were high school sweethearts."

"And how do you feel about that?" Susan asked.

"Well, at first, it made me feel some unease. Well, that's not true, strictly speaking. Because at the very first, when I spotted him at the reunion, my only reaction was pure delight at finding him there!"

"'Pure delight, ' eh? And I worried that Arlie's feelings for you wouldn't be reciprocated. I worried he'd find out in Wooster that he was the only one who still carried the torch."

Alissa shook her head. "The anxiety part came in when I found out who Arlie is now. I mean, it was a little creepy, you know? For him to have written to me like he did, posing as a complete stranger? Playing a role, and not letting me in on it."

"That was the reaction I worried about, when he planned his little ambush," Susan said.

"Well, it was there, all right. But it passed over like a summer storm. It's like I told you. We just abandoned the reunion dinner and went off on our own. And we talked for hours!"

"I'm really glad it went well," Susan said, "but I'm kinda miffed that Arlie turned out to be right and I was wrong about your reaction to him."

"It's like he said, you weren't entirely wrong about my reaction. But you underestimated how much I cared for him still. I couldn't stay angry at Arlie! You should have seen him, with that paper sticker on his lapel that said "SWIFTY McDONALD" in big black letters! It was a hoot!"

"This is going to be so great!" Susan said. "When he gets back, and when you meet Dan tomorrow. I'm not even worried about you and Dan anymore. The way you and Arlie have renewed your relationship. The wonderful, positive way you talk about him! The fact is, Mom, I didn't give you enough credit. I was afraid you were so bitter and sour on men -— maybe about all men -— that you wouldn't cut Arlie any slack. Or Dan, either."

"Well, like we're all getting pretty fond of saying around here, 'You weren't entirely wrong.' I really was pretty down on men in general for a while. More recently, I guess because of Jerry's graduating and my contemplation of some kind of new future for myself, I've done a lot more thinking about such things."

"Any new men in your life, back home?"

Alissa laughed. "No, my thinking hadn't advanced to that point just yet. But if you were thinking I was so bitter about your dad, and about ... that thing at work five years ago. If you were thinking those things had just turned me off completely, well, you were just wrong. I've been trying to come out of my shell for some time now."