When the Women Come out to Dance (2002) Read Online Free PDF

get 'em to develop the nerve to han g in there."
    "You were up several times--why didn't you ever stay?"
    "I was wild my first, say, five years, I have to admit that.
    But being a southpaw with a blazing fastball, shit, there wa s always a club wanted to have a look at me. Then there was a period I might've been cuttin' up too much. I was having fun.
    Wherever I was I got my picture in the paper for one thing o r another, like brawls they'd say I started. I'd hit a batter an d he'd stand there giving me the evil eye. What I'd do, I'd hol d my glove down by my leg and give him a motion with it lik e I'm saying, 'Come on. You think I hit you on purpose?' He' d come tearing at me and the benches'd empty. Seventy-three , or it might've been '74, I won the big-league bubble-gumblowing contest." Charlie raised his hands like he was holding a basketball. "Goddamn bubble was this big, I swear."
    He knew he had Darwin's attention, the way the man wa s staring at him, but couldn't tell what he was thinking.
    "On the road for something to do, I'd catch balls droppe d from the roof of hotels--put on one of those big mitts catchers use for knuckleballers? It always drew a crowd, only management never cared for what they called showing off. That's W t he kind of thing I'd get sent down for--don't come back till you grow up.''
    "I got a guy," Darwin said, "wants to dive off the roof o f the hotel. What you said reminded me. He calls up, says he's a professional high diver and wants to know how many floor s we have. I told him seven. He goes, 'I'll dive off the roof int o eight feet of water.' And he'll bring his own tank."
    "I'd like to see that," Charlie said. "How much's he want?"
    "Five bills to go off twice a day."
    "Sounds cheap enough for a death-defying stunt."
    "Said he worked in Acapulco."
    "Shit, I'd hire him. He likes high risk, he's no doubt a gambler. Pay him and win it all back at your tables."
    Charlie noticed Billy Darwin's keen, appraising look an d pulled out another idea that might impress him. "Set up on e of those radar guns they use to see how hard the ball's thrown?
    Put in a pitching rubber and a bull's-eye sixty feet six inche s away, a buck a throw. Anybody can throw a hardball a hunnert miles an hour wins . . . how much would you say?"
    "Ten grand," Darwin said without even thinking about it.
    "You have that on a sign by the radar cage," Charlie said.
    "Another one, it says 'Beat the big leaguer and win a hunner t bucks.' These strong young boys come along and look m e over. 'Hell, I can take that old man.' Five bucks a throw--yo u could make some money off me."
    Darwin kept staring at him. "You can still throw?"
    "I can get it up to around eighty."
    "Come on--an old guy like you?"
    "Hell, I'm only fifty."
    Darwin looked at his screen again. "Born in August of '48 , you're pushing fifty-four."
    "I can still throw harder'n most anybody wants to try me."
    "You think," Darwin said, "you could strike me out?"
    "You play much?"
    "High school and sandlot, couple years of industrial ball."
    "You bat right or left?"
    "Left."
    "Yeah, I can strike you out."
    Darwin paused, thoughtful, and then asked him, "What'v e you been doing the past sixteen years?"
    "I was a rep for the Jack Daniel's people, went on th e road with promotions. Then did the same thing for Mille r Brewing."
    "You married?"
    "Divorced, a long time. I have a couple of daughters, bot h in Florida, five grandchildren." Charlie said, "Is this the jo b interview?"
    Darwin had that thoughtful look again. "You really thin k you can strike me out?"
    Charlie shrugged this time. "Step up to the plate, we'l l find out. You want to put money on it?"
    The man kept staring. Finally he said, "How about this? I w hiff, you're my celebrity host."
    Charlie jumped on it. He said, "Hell, I'll strike you out o n three pitches," and wanted to snatch the words back as h e heard them. He saw Darwin smiling for the first time.
    "I'll bet it was your mouth," Billy Darwin said, "kept