Picotte Chronicles ~ Baseball Debacle

“Honey, there’s a runner on the field,” I said to my husband as we sat in the living room watching the Red Sox play the Yankees at Fenway Park.

He looked at me incredulously, “You’re kidding! You better call Talon.”

“He’s not answering his phone,” I responded after trying multiple times with it going directly to voicemail.

“Uh oh…” was his only response. My stomach back flipped.

Our oldest was in Boston, traveling there for a week long training for work. It was his first time visiting Beantown and he wanted to make the most of it, along with his co-workers. They had planned many fun excursions, with the grand finale: a trip to the infamous Fenway Park to watch a Red Sox game. My husband was especially jealous. First, he is usually the one traveling (although he wouldn’t admit that to me…) and Boston is a favorite stop that he hasn’t been to in awhile. The other main reason is watching the Yankees play. Growing up in upstate New York, the Yankees are his favorite team and the chance to watch them anywhere is an enviable activity for anyone.

Naturally, Paul had been teasing Talon about the game for two weeks prior to his visit. I wasn’t included in the loop but there was a text chain the day of the game that went something along the lines of Paul dared Talon to run across the field. Being as they’re both in the Navy, Talon joked back and asked if it was a direct order to which Paul replied, of course. Talon then told him okay, I’ll do it in the seventh inning. Paul laughed and that was end of that, he thought.

Fast forward to the game, and I had texted back and forth some with Talon during the first part. About the sixth inning, I quit hearing back but didn’t think much of it, since I figured he was having fun with his friends. Suddenly on the screen, the batter steps out of the batter’s box and laughs. The game pauses ever so slightly and the announcers make a comment of someone extra on the field. The cameras didn’t show the runner, of course, not wanting to encourage that kind of behavior. I laugh and tell Paul there is a runner on the field, to which he fills me in on their prior exchange.

We have another group text with some friends so a screenshot of Paul’s texts with Talon were sent with a comment that we may or may not have a spontaneous trip to Boston coming up. There might have been an inquiry into a good bail bondsman as well. We are very blessed to have some helpful and far more advanced techie friends. Mandy helped us out with doing a location search for Fenway Park on Instagram and was able to find videos posted with the runner on them. About 30 minutes of us thinking that just possibly, our son ran across the outfield in Boston, we were informed via a screenshot on the group text that he was indeed, not that person! I proudly announced that I knew he wouldn’t do that, however I was secretly more than a little relieved.

Needless to say, we finished watching a great baseball game much to my husband’s disappointment because the Yankees lost (just barely…)! After the game, we heard from Talon that his phone had died around the sixth inning. He couldn’t believe what we went through during the game thinking he was possibly in jail and was thoroughly entertained by it. His only regret was not playing it out further and having one of his friends call us asking for bail money! I don’t think my mom heart could have handled that stress!