The local sheriff ’s department dispatcher puts out the call: “Calling Sheriff Park.”
Sheriff Park answers, “Go ahead, Bruce.”
“Sheriff, what is your location?”
“I’m parked across from the ballpark.”
“Sheriff, we’ve been getting lots of calls from folks saying they all saw something huge in the sky over the ballpark.”
The sheriff pauses in his reply, because he, too, saw it and can’t explain it. Then he answers, “OK, Bruce, I’ll walk on over and check things out.”
“OK, sheriff. Out.”
Sheriff Park gets out of his car and looks up at the dark night sky, wondering what in the world he saw. Then he sees Matt and his teammates running toward him shouting, “Tim is missing, Sheriff!”
The sheriff raises both his hands up and says, “Stop! Hold it, boys. One at a time, OK?”
Matt says, “My baby brother, Tim, is missing from his seat, sheriff!”
The sheriff asks, “Where are y’all’s uniforms? Why are you boys running around in your T-shirts and shorts?”
Matt answers, “That’s what we are trying to tell you. All our equipment is gone, too. My brother disappeared with it.”
Then Matt takes his cell phone and calls his mother, Nanette. “Mom! Mom! Where is Dad? Come quick! Tim is missing! Tim is missing!” Nanette asks what happened. Matt replies, “He just disappeared out of his seat. I have his crutches here with me.”
That’s impossible, Nanette thinks. Tim can’t get around without his crutches.
“Don’t move, we’re on our way,” she says to Matt.”
Nanette runs into the living room and says, “Herb, put that beer down and come on. Our son Tim is missing.”
Nanette and Herb get in the car and drive to the ballpark. When they get there, Nanette gets out of the car and runs to Matt crying, “Where is my baby boy?”
Herb heads over to Sheriff Park and asks him to fill him in on what has happened to his son, Tim. Within the hour, men are on horses and people are walking in the dark with flashlights, looking for the lost boy. The sheriff stops and searches every car, truck and van until the last one leaves the park.
The sun comes up and still no Tim. Only Sheriff Park, the horsemen, Tim’s parents and Matt are at the ballpark.
Sheriff Park calls up his dispatcher. Bruce answers, “Go ahead, sheriff.” The sheriff asks if there are still some Dixie cups and vodka on his desk.
“Yeah, sheriff. Right where you left it. Do you want me to throw it out?”
“No! No! I’m on my way!”
Tim is sleeping on Mars, in a large crater surrounded by a volcano and deformed mountains. He awakens into a world of amazement. He cannot believe his eyes when he sees a dark black sky with thousands of spectacular white, green, blue and red swirling lights. The swirling light rays cover Tim with a thin cloud of oxygen and moisture that moves with him as he moves about the surface of the planet.
When Tim sees that his braces are off and lying beside him, he quickly puts his hands on his legs. Tim says to himself, “This can’t be true. I really am dreaming.” Then he pinches his leg hard and yells in pain.
Tim stands up and turns around to look around the planet. Strange-looking life forms are zipping around and racing across the surface, trying to put on the baseball uniforms. To Tim, they look like jellyfish with large eyes. It almost seems as if he could see through them.
They move toward him but Tim doesn’t feel fear. It doesn’t seem like they mean any harm. They stand all around Tim. Some are wearing their baseball shirts backwards, which makes Tim laugh and think to himself, “That’s not right!”
When they come closer Tim picks up his walkie-talkie, turns it on and says into it, “Matt, Matt!” but realizes it’s no use. He drops the walkie-talkie on the ground.
Suddenly, the walkie-talkie comes alive with many different voices, saying, “Play ball! You’re out! Strike one! Batter up! He may go all the way!” Tim smiles. He knows they want to learn how to play baseball. They can hear Tim when he talks, but he can only hear them through the walkie-talkie.
Tim now looks all around. He has new friends, and one of them is holding his hand. Tim sees a fifteen-foot meteor carved into a perfect sculpture of Dolly Parton for all to see. Tim doesn’t know who she is but just stares at her bosoms, shaking his head and thinking, “Man, oh man!”
To be continued…
