Part 34 (2/2)

”Sorry. I'm really bad at sports.”

”No, you're not.”

”Whatever. I'm gonna go get my stuff and show it to Barr.”

”But your soup's ready,” Meghan said-to the sound of Erin pounding up the stairs to her room.

Moments later, she came back into the room with a Mariners cap on and lugging a ball, bat, and glove. Meghan set a bowl of soup on the table and pointed at the chair.

”Eat.”

Erin wrinkled her nose and set her props in the corner.

I got up and dug salami, olives, and pickled asparagus out of the fridge to round out the snack, and Erin ate her soup while we chatted. When she'd finished, she rinsed her bowl and put it in the dishwasher. Meghan got up, and they both went upstairs.

When they returned, Erin's hair was gooed down to her skull and tucked into the back of her collar. Meghan had drawn thin sideburns and a narrow moustache on her heart-shaped face with eyebrow pencil and smudged a hint of a beard across her chin. Erin put on her shades and struck a pose, then bent to put on her tennis shoes.

”That'd be easier if you could see what you were doing,” I said.

She ignored me, squinting, but after a few more moments gave up and removed the sungla.s.ses.

Meghan looked up. ”Ready?”

”Uh huh,” Erin said, gathering her baseball paraphernalia.

Barr c.o.c.ked his head. ”What's on the ball?”

Erin held it up, turning it in order to see better. ”Just a bunch of names.”

”Let me see,” he said.

She brought him the ball. As I leaned closer, he rotated it so we could see all the signatures.

”Where did you get this?” he asked, reverence in his voice.

”Walter gave it to me. He made me promise not to play with it, but since I don't actually like to play baseball, that was okay. And this isn't playing with it, is it?” She seemed worried.

Meghan had been watching Barr's face. ”What is it?”

He took a deep breath. ”I think it's a 1927 World Series ball. Yankees-see, here's Ruth, and Meusel, and Gehrig. Lazzeri, Huggins, Pennock.” He looked up. ”If it's real, it's worth at least twenty grand.”

Meghan's eyes widened.

”He gave me other ones, too,” Erin said. ”I just thought they were plain old baseb.a.l.l.s.”

Barr stood up. ”Where are they?”

Erin leading the way, we all trooped up to her room. She knelt and dug into the junk on the floor of her closet, pulling out four more baseb.a.l.l.s. All had signatures.

Barr identified one as a Yankee World Series ball from 1928, and another from 1932. The other two he wanted to have someone look at. In fact, he said, we should have the b.a.l.l.s appraised by a professional and then put them in a safety deposit box.

Erin agreed, but still wanted to take one trick-or-treating.

Meghan considered her for a long moment. ”Okay. But take that one-” she pointed to the one Barr said was worth the least, only five or six thousand dollars-”and only this once. These are going to pay for your college.”

Just as Walter had intended. And Grace had probably looked right at them while rifling through Erin's room.

Barr looked appalled as Erin skipped down the stairs with her collector's item. He turned to me. ”She's letting her...?”

I took his arm and led him back downstairs. ”It'll be fine”

”Be careful,” he called out before the front door closed.

In the kitchen, he helped me put away our makes.h.i.+ft dinner. I was starting coffee when the doorbell rang for the first time. I slipped on my sandwich boards and went to hand out miniature Snickers bars to a little dinosaur and a tiny tiger, barely able to walk. I gave one to Mom, too, figuring she could use the energy tonight.

Back in the kitchen, Barr had finished the coffee. I put some of Meghan's peanut b.u.t.ter cookies on a plate.

”Wanna cookie?”

And as Barr Ambrose stood looking me up and down, I realized what I'd said.

He blinked. Slow.

Like a cat about to lick the cream filling out of an Oreo.

Oh.

Oh, my.

I decided right then and there Halloween was my new favorite holiday.

LYE IN WAIT RECIPES.

OATMEAL MILK BATH SALTS.

1 cup powdered goat's milk

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