Page 13 of The Yips

I dialed her number as I walked into my house.

“Hey, hold on. I promised Madre that if you called, I would add her. We’ll pretend it was your idea.”

“Wait, I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things before you do that.”

“Oh, this sounds interesting. Shoot.”

“You remember the chain Gramps gave me when I was twelve?”

“Vaguely, he gave it to you so you could block out Dad’s nonsense.” I couldn’t believe that no one in my family understood the value to me.

“Yeah, well, I lost it a couple of weeks ago and then had those horrendous starts.”

“Bro, you don’t believe that chain had anything to do with it,” she said incredulously. “Oh shit, you do. Baseball players and their stupid superstitions.”

“Well, after I got forced into resting on the DL, I ended up at this bar –“

“Please don’t tell me you turned to whiskey,” she said. We both were sensitive about drinking because we’d watched alcohol turn our father into an asshole. He was tough before he started drinking too much, and it just got worse.

“No, I had a couple of light beers. But the bartender helped me pick some Keno numbers, and we won big, so on a whim, I invited her to the game tonight.” I paused to give her enough time to understand.

“Oh God, I can see where this is going. Now you think that she’s your good luck charm?”

“Why does this sound ridiculous when you say this out loud?” I asked, not exactly embarrassed, but I now fully expected her derision.

“Because it is!”

“Where’s Jake? Is he home? Let’s see what he thinks.”

Josie put me on speakerphone and called her husband, relaying the story to him. When she finished, they were both quiet.

“Why is it so quiet over there?”

“Because fucking baseball players do the dumbest shit,” Jake said.

“It was a perfect game.” I practically shouted, as if that were all the justification I needed.

“I know, man, it’s hard to refute that what happenedtonight needed all the stars to align just right, but there is no way some bartender had anything to do with it.”

Josie interrupted, “How much did you win at Keno?”

“When I picked the numbers, I won $50. When she picked the numbers, we won $1,500.”

“Ah, that’s a pretty loud message from the universe,” she responded, and I could hear her husband sigh in exasperation. Jake knew as well as I did that Josie was always looking for signs from the universe. It was why she had a long-term relationship with both a psychic and a spiritual advisor.

“Get this, one of the numbers was 19.”

“She probably knew it was your number,” Jake said, attempting to explain the coincidence with the most straightforward, most obvious answer.

“Nah, she knows absolutely nothing about baseball. She brought her sister and baby to the game, and although she only knew the basic rules, it was adorable. She asked Carlos’s wife why we got paid so much if being perfect was such a big deal.”

“There’s a lot to unpack with what you just said. She has a baby? Is the father in the picture? Doesn’t he care that his girlfriend and baby are hanging out with an athlete, pretending to bring good Juju?” Josie asked.

“I know very little about her, but she’s on her own with the kid.”

Jake and Josie groaned in unison. “I see red flags, Sam.”

“Why?”

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