Book Review: The Shortstop

    Hey, everyone. The pollen has been bad here at the green retreat. We could use some rain. Our creek is dry. My wife and I returned home from our renovation efforts before dark and decided we had enough juice left in our aged veins to walk down the hill to our creek. It is now a creek in name only. There are a couple of places where the creek bottom is damp, but no water. Much to my surprise there was a multitude of tracks in the mud of the creek. Raccoon and deer tracks were plentiful and there was a track that appeared to be that of a dog. Then there was something much bigger and very indistinct. I won't conjecture on that one. There was an old rotten log which had been clawed at and the leaves drifted in along its sides had been rooted around considerably. I suspect a bear was the culprit, though I saw no tracks. A wild boar  could have disturbed the leaves but The clawing was certainly done by something else.
    Working on the old house for the last 4 or 5 weeks has helped to get me in better physical condition. Doing things at which I used to be proficient has been aggravating, rewarding and demanding. We have done things like painting, carpentry, replacing light fixtures, hanging doors, plumbing, roofing and cleaning. What's that old saying about "Jack of all trades, master of none"...?
     You shrinks out there will probably have fun analyzing this dream. I just got out of bed. I was dreaming about going to someone's house. They had a grill and there was a bunch of barbecue ribs on it. They were wrapped in tin foil and were smelling good. Freud would have doubtless told me, "Obviously, old boy, you are screwed up, because your dream had nothing to do with women." Whatever.
     There are still a few dogwoods blooming here on the mountain. There are also some really nice-looking honeysuckle. Big clusters of sweet smelling pink blossoms. When we were kids we would pull the stem and suck the sweet juice out. Hence the name.
    I think that I'll take tomorrow off from any sort of work. That will be the first time in a long time for me. Maybe I'll sit on the deck and read a good book. I just finished re-reading an old book by the legendary Zane Grey. This one is a departure from his normal genre of 'Western' and deals with sports. It is called The Shortstop. I think I've done a review of it, many moons ago. It is a book for boys and a wonderful read. I was in a public library one day and chanced to see it on a table, for sale. They were clearing out some stock and I bought this wonderful old novel for the price of 25 cents. The pages are yellowed and smell older than me. The copyright page says 1909. I believe this particular copy was minted in 1937. It is a hoot to read older books and see the different values, morality and views expressed. I don't belittle their ways; in fact, I find them charming or admirable for the most part. For example, in this book, the hero, a 17 year old boy trying to break into professional baseball, is trying to moralize about whether it is right to play baseball on Sunday or not. An entire town in Ohio is embroiled in a dispute over the subject. That is not the focal point of the story, however.
    In this book, Chase Alloway is working a factory job for $6 a week. He is the sole support of his mother and crippled brother. He is a terrific ballplayer on an amateur basis and decides to try to make it in the paid teams that dot the smaller cities of America. He travels by jumping freight trains and trys out with several teams. But Chase has a deformity known as a crooked eye which makes him both unattractive and unpopular. Chase has a hard time getting work, or friends, because he is believed to be bad luck, due to the eye, and is thought to put a 'hoodoo' (curse) on anyone he is around. Showing the ugly side of those mores which I mentioned earlier, he is run out of town by an angry mob at one point.
     Broke, ragged and friendless, bumming meals at farmhouses, Chase drifts across the middle of the States until finding a place to play in tiny Findlay, Ohio. Once there, he begins to make good. It is a feel good story for young and old and I highly recommend it.
    I know that you gamers will be disappointed if I don't tell you what I've been playing. Well, I bought the much-ballyhooed Infinity Blade 2 yesterday. I have played it quite a bit, somehow, but I fear that a review will have to wait until later in the weekend. If you get bored, check back with us here at the renovator's green retreat.
    I'm CE Wills.