It is a three-plus hour drive, down the I-45, to catch a glimpse of Valverde’s sidearm. An argument for each hour and one wrong turn are well worth the effort, to hear the steerhide of Pudge’s mitt snap all the way up in the Crawford Boxes.
After the final out, we don’t say a word until we get to the Belton Budget Host Inn and order dinner.
No breath about the score or the fact that Ziegenbock really ain’t half bad. Not a word about the man in the crushed-purple-velvet suit, cheetah-print-rimmed fedora—pointing the way towards the post-game-show—with his zirconia topped cane.
We don’t bring up anything about that evening, until years later, as we muse over what was unequivocally our worst road trip. As you list off all our follies, I note the creative liberties you take with the story:
You argue that I got us turned around at the Galleria, in spite of your GPS.
Insist Pujols broke the game wide open off one of Jose’s 3-1 sliders—it was a 2-1 Brian Moehler changeup.
Go brick red fuming over my choice of takeout instead of a sit-down meal, despite not getting back to the motel until 11pm.
I interject. It’s strange we picked this day to reminisce. I tell you about a dream I had the other night, about being trapped in Houston only for you to rescue me.
You wince.
Growl, you’d never ever even so much as drive past that city after what I dragged you through.
When I chide you for your melodrama, that famous half-smirk creeps up your face.
You titter.
Turn your head to the side, pass a hand through your russet curls and confess in your quiet taffy tone, “Well, okay. I might just come find you, if we can get us some of those tortillas again.”
***
df parizeau is a Puschart nominated writer, currently living as a settler on the unceded ancestral territory of the Semiahmoo, Katzie, Kwikwetlem, Kwantlen, Qayqayt and Tsawwassen First Nations. In possession of all of his wisdom teeth, you are much more likely to catch df eavesdropping than writing. A graduate of Simon Fraser University’s Writers’ Studio Program, his work has been featured or is forthcoming in publications such as: mineral lit mag, Funicular Magazine, Thin Air Magazine, and Chapter House Journal, among others.
Rejection Letters 