"Mookie"



I went to this Major league Baseball game. About ten minutes before the game both seats around me where still open. So I thought for sure I was going to have plenty of room during the game.
Then in the middle of the "Star Spangled Banner" a rather large man started moving through the far end of my row. I tried not to take note, but his loud presence was to much to ignore.In his hand he held a small green box with "Mookie" written in gold letters on the side of the box.
I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when this large gentleman stepped up to the seat on my right. He whispeared to the green box and placed it on the seat on my right. Then he continued to the seat on my left, and he sat down beside me.
Suddenly the air was filled with a combined scent of moth balls and cheesecake. My only hope was that the smell was coming the man and not the box.
The man introduced himself as Jay and I took his hand in mine in a friendly hand shake. His hands felt pastyt and warm.
On inspection of Jay's clothes, he was wearing a pair of plad shorts that only golfers would be caught wearing. The waist of his shorts wheren't buttoned and his over streached brown belt was unbuckled and hanging at his sides. On his shirt he had written, with a red majic marker "I'm with Mookie --->"
I turned back to the green box sitting to my right. On the opposit side, from the gold lettering, there was what looked like a swinging doggie door. I felt the temptation to bat the door and see what was hiding inside. But I rasited with the ideas of might appear.
On my left I noticed Jay reaching into his over stuffed pocket. When he pulled his hand out he now held a baby food jar that was now full of, at least four dozen flies.
Jay smiled at my puzzled face and shook the small jar. He then pointed to the green box.
I turned to my right and the doggie door was now slowly swinging and there was a a big black hairy tarantula. The only humorus thing I could find was that the large spider was wearing a blue and yellox beanie cap with a red spinning prepellar. On each of his eight long legs the spider was wearing tiny baseball mits.
Jay snickered then suddenly got serious. He turned to Mookie and said "Mookie, Ball!". Jay's thick arm was now pointed toward the feild. Mookie suddenly bolted off his box down his seat and started running through the rows. I lost sight of him, but by the startled crowd in some places gave away Mookie's position.
Just seconds later the batter hit a foul ball. The ball headed into the stands where the crowd had last parted for Mookie. The ball hit a mit but there was no people that could have caught the ball. A few moments later Mookie reappeared In front of Jay and I. I between his eight mits he now held the foul ball.
Jay took the ball from Mookie and then un screwed the jar of flies. He handed a few to Mookie and they went like this through the whole ball game. By the very end Mookie had caught and retrieved every ball that had landed in the stands.
Just as the game ended and I was about to leave Jay shook the jar again there where no more flies and Mookie was climbing back into his box. I told Jay how impressed I was with Mookie, shook Jay's hand again feeling the same warm pasty feeling, then went home.

A few weeks later I was reading the local newspaper. To my surprise there was an article about Mookie and Jay. The paper discribed everything I had witnessed at the baseball game.
At the very end they said that Jay was mourning the lose of Mookie. I read on in a state of shock. It turns that Mookie was at another ball game. He had gone to retrieve a foul ball, and again cleared out every other fan sitting in the section the foul landed in. Well just as the ball was almost to the ground, another fan came from behind, and not noticing Mookie he stepped forward caught the ball and made a large crunch sound.........
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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