Alchemy and Algebra

Chapter 6

Charlie held Kennedy's hand as they side-stepped past other sports fans across the aisle to their seats at the ball game. Their seats were half-way between home plate and first base, a dozen rows back. The Sargents were a minor league team, but they had a major following this year, and more seats were full than empty in the stadium.

It was a gorgeous late September afternoon: blue sky, warm enough to sit outside in jeans and a sweater, with just enough of a cool breeze to assure the crowd that they wouldn't swelter as they sat in their seats for the afternoon. Although Kennedy considered herself a Sargents fan, she was grateful that Charlie hadn't shown up wearing the over-sized foam military cap so popular among the crowd, nor had he painted his face or brought an air horn.

Kennedy hadn't called Charlie when Chandra had handed her the phone. Instead, she'd emailed and asked for his number, then talked to him by text for a couple of days before finally agreeing to see him again. She'd needed the time to establish firmly that they were not dating and that their relationship was strictly casual. Charlie had balked at first, but had finally relented.

He had, however, insisted on picking her up today. When he'd arrived, she'd hurried out of her apartment before he'd had a chance to introduce himself to the drooling Chandra. Charlie had driven them out to the city's modestly-sized stadium in his tiny Toyota hatchback, back bumper papered with stickers from various events, brands, and schools of thought. When she asked him about them, he said they were holding the bumper together after a run-in with a concrete barrier late one night.

Charlie looked distractingly good today in his dark wash jeans, red knit sweater and lightweight black scarf, looped casually around his neck. Kennedy liked the look so much that, before setting eyes on Charlie, she'd chosen something quite similar. She wore boots over her slim-fitting jeans, and her sweater was white, to better suit her fair coloring, but her black scarf could have been from the same rack as Charlie's.

"How long has it been since you last saw a ball game in person?" Charlie asked once they were settled in their blue plastic seats.

"Oh, not since my first week of my first year here."

"So long? I thought you were a fan."

"I am. I've just been, you know, busy with school and such. If they'd have games over Christmas break, I'd watch a ton of them. Mostly I kept up with the team by watching highlights online and watching the scores in the newspaper."

"If I'd known that, I would have asked you to a game a long time ago. There's nothing like the buzz you get from watching the game with a crowd, seeing it happening in front of you. Real people playing a real game on real... astroturf."

Kennedy laughed. "That's a generous thing to say, considering you've known me for less than a week."

Charlie bumped Kennedy's shoulder with his. "If I'd known you earlier, I would have asked you earlier."

Kennedy was saved from having to reply by a booming voice over the stadium's loudspeaker.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here to throw out the first pitch, the winner of the Simonstone Summer Science Fair, Georgie Hassen!" called the announcer. The crowd cheered as a high school girl approached the mound, accompanied by a couple officials and a few people in Sargents uniforms.

"Oh, I heard about her experiment! She did some very interesting stuff with her analysis of patterns of slime mold growth."

"Good for her, but ick," said Charlie.

Kennedy turned to look at him. "Slime mold are fascinating creatures. They grow these long, skinny tendrils to connect their colonies with food supplies, and the pattern of growth is remarkably similar to that of roads and electrical systems connecting major human centers." Kennedy spread her fingers flat, then touched the tips together to illustrate the phenomenon.