A companion piece to "World Series: Boston" in the "Cheers" section.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

"Angela!" Tony yelled from the basement.

"What is it, Tony?" Angela answered as she ran to the basement door, worried that Tony had hurt himself.

"Is the pizza here?"

Was that all? Now she was mad at him for making her worry, "it's here, all the food is here, will you relax?"

"Relax? Cards lose tonight and the Series is over. Over. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Tony; I understand," she humored him, "we go through this every time the Cardinals are in the Series."

"You make it sound like it happens every year," he said as he walked up the stairs to make another trip to the kitchen. He stopped when he saw Angela standing near the front door.

"They have done well in the post-season, yes?" she asked so innocently, pretending to be completely unaware that her attire had struck Tony almost speechless.

"Yes," he conceded; Angela had won that argument by not playing fairly. She was wearing his Cardinals shirt again. She knew what that did to him; starting with the first time she'd surprised him by wearing it all those years ago. Suddenly his thoughts were more consumed with a dilemma, "Angela wearing Cards shirt...game six of the World Series; Angela wearing Cards shirt...game six of the World Series..."

"Tony?" Angela snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"Wha...yeah?"

Angela grinned, "don't worry, honey; either the Cardinals win tonight and the Series goes to game seven and we do this all again tomorrow...or I can console you later tonight." The way she dripped the word 'console' made Tony almost forget baseball even existed. Almost.

The doorbell rang and Tony jumped as though he'd never heard a doorbell before. Angela smiled. "I got it," he said, clearing his throat.

"Just a second, Tony;" she put an arm around his neck and kissed him, silently telling him that win or lose; tonight was going to be a good night.

The doorbell rang again, reminding them that they had invited guests over for the game. Whatever prompted him to do that in the first place, Tony had no idea. Baseball was better with Angela only.

"Guess I should answer the door," Tony said as he pulled away reluctantly.

"Guess you should," Angela agreed reluctantly.

Tony answered the door, letting in his friends from Brooklyn.

"Hey Tony, hey Angie!" Philly greeted them.

"Hello, Philly; did you have a good drive up?" Angela asked.

"Oh yeah great, except for Tiny here wanted to stop every five minutes to go pumpkin shopping."

"What? It's Halloween tomorrow, I need a pumpkin!" Tiny defended himself.

"I'll give you a pumpkin," Philly said, forming a fist.

"Guys," Tony broke in, "there's a pool table, food, drinks and an in home theater in the basement. Can we get down there, please?"

"Sure Tony," Philly agreed.

"Nice top, Angela," Tiny complimented her.

"Thanks, Tiny," she answered, a wicked grin on her face.

Tony grabbed Tiny's sleeve and dragged him to the basement, giving him a 'stop staring at my wife glare'.

Tiny was oblivious to the look, but there was one thing he did notice, "hey Tony, nice shade of lipstick you're wearing."

"Yeah? Nice from someone who hasn't worn lipstick in years," he said as he wiped the lipstick from his mouth. He looked back at his wife just before he went downstairs.

Angela winked at him and though she tried not to smile, she couldn't control herself, a closed lipped smile formed then quickly turned into an ear to ear smile as her heart overflowed with love.

"Go Cards," she whispered to her husband as he turned to follow his friends downstairs. Tony grinned back at her. Angela then went to get the pizza and bring it downstairs. The game was about to begin as she put the pizza on the side table. Tony jumped up from the couch to assist her, they made sure their guests were taken care of, then they sat next to each other and awaited the first pitch.