[soft, distant whisper . . .] "Baseball season, baseball season..." [fades slowly, repeating]
Cubs, 1969 –

A summer day, a pennant race — Fergie Jenkins pitching to Randy Hundley;
Joe Pepitone, Glenn Becker, Don Kessinger, Ron Santo;
Billy Williams, Jose Cardenal, Ernie “Let’s Play Two!” Banks; Leo Durocher in the dugout, Jack Brickhouse in the WGN booth. Park district bus tours to 1:10 pm weekday games, coming back with mini-bats ("kids, don’t swing those at each other!") and real cloth baseball caps in Cubbie blue. Vienna red hots, and Heilmann’s Old Style beer scent on our sneakers, even as we drove past the steel mills (still operating, still erupting smoke and flame) on the way home.

There is an angel with a flaming sword standing between me and that Wrigley Field scene.