The next morning, Penny awoke and began to organize her day. After dressing for a warm day in jeans, a tank top, and tennis shoes, she put away some of the things from her suitcase: toiletries, her vitamins, and the few clothes she had brought with her from Nevada City. She needed to go to the bank and get some more money; she didn’t like to travel with much cash, and although she had a couple, she did not like to use credit cards for anything except emergencies. As she moved around in her cousin's old room, she thought of the handsome Tim and his mysterious past. She realized that she like him and wanted to see him again.
Tim called her about 10:00 a.m. just as she was finishing the cleaning of the kitchen. Her hands were still damp from soapy dishwater and she had a green kitchen apron on.
“How are you?” Tim asked. He seemed a little nervous; his voice had an odd quaver to it and he paused a little after saying hello.
“I’m good Tim; I enjoyed our pizza last night that weighed exactly 1.84 pounds,” she said.
“Yeah, me too. Are you busy today?”
“What did you have in mind?”
“How about we take in an A’s game. Starts at 1:00 o’clock.”
They met at the shuttle station and took BART to the Ring-Central Coliseum station and from there they walked into the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum. The coliseum had been redone since the 2020’s years and now was one of the premier facilities in the country to see a baseball game. Mount Davis had been removed, and the seats were now much closer to the field. She could smell cut grass and roasting meat from her seat.
They sat on the first base side of the field about nine rows above the field. Penny, who had never been to a baseball game, thought this would be fun; there was a carnival feel to the air, and Tim seemed completely at ease. They got hot dogs and beer from a vendor and made themselves comfortable as the first pitch was thrown.
Tim said, “There’s nothing like a baseball game to make me relaxed, especially with good company.” He smiled at her. Penny was still impressed with how big a man he really was. He stood at least a foot taller than her and his long black hair and beard added to his sense of ruggedness. His hand was big; big enough to crush apples she thought, and the muscles in his arm and chest rippled underneath his Oakland A’s t-shirt. He talked like an emcee, explaining all the aspects of the coliseum and the rules of the game, of which she was mostly ignorant. It was hard to believe, sitting next to him at this happy moment, that he had any problems at all.
They watched the first few innings, chatting amiably about baseball, the weather, and the likelihood that the A’s would win, which seemed less and likely as the Angels continued to score. As the game wore on, Penny found herself wondering about his service in the marines and how he had lost his arm. She finally decided to bring up the subject after their second beer.
“Tell me about your service, Tim,” she said. “Do you mind talking about it?”
“Not much to tell.”
“You were in the marines?” she asked.
“Yes, two tours, both in Iran.”
“What did you do?”
He paused, apparently thinking about what to say. “I told you.”
“Were you on the ground?”
“From the beginning. I came ashore with the first wave at Bandar Abbas. I was a systems operator for my squad. I handled the drones and the robots during the invasion.”
“Can you tell me about that?”
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