The past two summers, I challenged some of my students to help me with some columns over the break. They gave me the first and last lines of a potential fictional short story. My task was to take those lines and write the middle. It was a lot of fun, so I’ve asked my students to help me again. This week’s inspiration was provided by Sam Christensen.
I was eating peanuts when suddenly a baseball came flying right at me. My family and I were seated down the first-base line at a Los Angeles Dodgers game, and I was trying to adhere to the old song lyrics, “Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack.” Working on the peanuts, I had been saving the sweet snack for later.
With the baseball hurtling at me, I dropped those peanuts and covered my face. Luckily, my son reached over and saved me by catching the ball with the glove he brought to the game. Not only was I not harmed, but there was a 12-year-old who was ecstatic at his souvenir. Naturally, we had to listen to jactation for the rest of the game as he retold the story of his catch to anyone who would listen.
What a way to start our vacation! But it got even better – after the game, my wife surprised us with passes to the annual San Diego ComicCon! We hadn’t made a lot of solid plans because she had suggested just going with the flow and figuring it out day by day. Little did I know she had snared these passes back in January.
The best part of ComicCon this year was that there was going to be a booth for a new comic book based on the seminal movie, The Sandlot. Since that took place in California, many of the cast of the movie would be there promoting the new comic. My son, Harvey, knew he had to bring the ball he’d just caught; he might even be able to get some autographs right on a genuine Dodgers baseball.
We drove down to San Diego the next day and got in line early so we could get in as soon as the doors opened. My wife had mapped out where some of our main objectives were located in the giant San Diego Convention Center. This was a four-day affair, and we’d only be there two days. We knew the actors from The Sandlot wouldn’t be there until mid-day, so we had time to peruse other panels and check out some vendors.
Harvey and I shared a love of baseball, but we also enjoyed reading comic books. His favorite comics included Thor and The Champions, while I preferred some favorite heroes from my youth like Captain America and Spider-Man. In fact, we had just seen the new Spider-Man movie, and it made me very happy since one of my favorite characters, Mysterio, was part of it.
Mixing baseball and comics with the new Sandlot comic was bound to be a favorite for both of us. My wife made sure I would promise not to say, “You’re killing me, Smalls!” while around the cast of the movie. It was an iconic line, and it would be difficult for me to restrain, but I suppose they’ve heard it a million times.
As we meandered through the immense space, we spent a lot of time just staring. There were so many people dressed up as their favorite characters from comics and movies, and it was fun to see how much effort some people would put into appearing as Wolverine or Batman or Thanos. But one who grabbed our attention was someone who was the spitting image of Stan Lee.
Stan Lee was one of the pioneers of the Marvel Universe. He had helped create so many of the characters that we loved and had died the previous year. No more cameos in Marvel movies for Stan the Man, but here was a doppelganger right in front of us! He had the look and knew the catchphrases like, “Make mine Marvel,” and, “Excelsior!” We shook his hand and kept going.
The Sandlot presentation was everything we hoped it would be, and we even got a limited edition copy of the first issue for free. Plus, Harvey got his ball autographed by Patrick Renna, Chauncey Leopardi, and Marty York, all actors who had played some of the greatest backyard baseball players in that fantastic movie. Naturally, he had to tell them how he had caught the ball and saved my life. They seemed to enjoy the story, and I knew Harvey had a memory he’d cherish forever.
As we left the panel, we were heading to a Marvel panel about their upcoming movies. As we arrived at the hall, we noticed the Stan Lee lookalike again. He was greeting people as they entered and putting smiles on faces. So many people had been saddened by the loss of the real Stan Lee, and it was nice to see this happiness.
However, as we neared him, the man suddenly stumbled back a step, clutching his chest. Before anyone could react, he fell to the floor. I rushed up, calling on my first aid training I had done before I coached Harvey’s baseball team. I checked for responsiveness, and when I found none, I immediately called for help and began CPR.
Just as emergency personnel arrived, the man on the floor gasped and came to. I slid back and let the professionals take over with his care. I was exhausted. My wife gave me a bottle of water and I just sat down on a nearby chair. The ComicCon people were trying to herd people into the hall and I was forgotten in the jumble. But that was okay; at that point, I just wanted to head back to the hotel. And that’s how I revived Stan Lee.
Word of the Week: This week’s word is jactation, which means boasting or bragging, as in, “The constant jactation from my co-worker about his son’s accomplishments made me never want to leave my office.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!