Griffith Stadium was a streetcar ride away, on Georgia Avenue and Fifth Street. Wesley walked up to the ticket window; Geordi held onto his arm. "Uh, two, please, for both of today's double header games," Wesley said.

"Here. Fifteen B and Eighty-six R," said the ticket taker.

"Sir, we'd like to sit together," Wes said.

"You can't unless you sit in the Colored Section."

"Then I'll sit in that section," Wesley said.

"Suit yourself," the ticket taker muttered under his breath, "stupid kid," but he did get them two seats together.

They walked up some steps to get to their seats. The stadium was about three-quarters filled. It seemed like every adult was wearing some sort of hat, as were many of the children. Most of the men wore suits, and the women often wore nice skirts. Going to the ballgame was something of an event.

Their seats were near a young woman who was sitting by herself. "Excuse me, Miss," Wesley said, "but I think we have these two over here."

"Ah, I was wondering if I'd get some company," she said. She had a bit of a gentle drawl to her voice.

"We, uh, we haven't been to a game here before," Wes said, "Do you know who the players are?"

"I do," she said, "over there, warming up for us – oh my, we have a terrible team, but we do play with a lotta heart – there's Cecil Travis. He bats cleanup. And that fella over there is George Archie. He has such kind eyes. I got his autograph once. And that man there's Buddy Lewis, the third baseman. He always looks so serious."

"What about the Red Sox?" Geordi asked.

"I, well, let's see, there's Bobby Doerr who plays second base. And next to him, see the one with all the freckles? That's Joe Cronin. He plays third. Oh, my," her voice went down, it seemed, a decibel.

"What's the matter, Miss?" asked Wesley.

"I, your friend, I shouldn't be saying look at this, and you can see that. It's not very nice of me."

"It's all right," Geordi said, "I've heard those words before."

"I just, I don't want to be unkind."

"I get the feeling you can't be unkind," Geordi said.

"Um, this is my friend, Geordi La Forge. And I'm Wesley Crusher."

"My name is Rosemary Parker," she said, "I am glad to know you." She shook their hands and Geordi could feel the lace gloves she was wearing.

"Well, Miss Rosemary Parker, you seem to be quite the fan," Geordi said. "Tell me some more about what you see on the field, okay?"

"Well, hmm, there's Dom DiMaggio, the Little Professor, with his wireframe eyeglasses. And walking near to him is Ted Williams. Oh, it looks like we're about to get started."

The announcer called for quiet and they all rose for the Star Spangled Banner. Wes noticed that the men had taken their hats off so he did the same, and made sure to take off Geordi's cap as well.

Rosemary sang along with the anthem, in a pretty soprano. Then they sat down, and the game began.

"So tell me, Mister La Forge …"

"Please, call me Geordi."

"Uh, Geordi, is that short for Jordan, like the Jordan River of the Bible?"

"Huh, actually, it's just Geordi."

"Oh, how interesting. How do you, uh, how did Mister Crusher come to be your companion?"

"We work together. Or, rather, I work with his mother. But he does some work sometimes, too," Geordi smiled, and the two of them laughed easily.

It was right about then that Wesley realized he was a fifth wheel. "I'm going to see if I can get us some hot dogs. Do you want anything, Miss Parker?"

"It's all right."

"Well, I'd like to get you something, uh, from us," Wes said.

"Definitely," Geordi said, "in payment for your play by play services."

Rosemary looked down. "If you don't mind, can you get me Crackerjacks? I will pay you, of course."

"It's no trouble," Wes said, "Crackerjacks it is." He left and said to himself when he was out of earshot, "now if I can only figure out what Crackerjacks are."

He found a hot dog vendor within the Main Concourse area, and then saw a woman with a box that said Crackerjacks on the side. "Where did you get that?" he asked her. She pointed.

He stood on a line for a while, and could tell he was missing an inning or two, perhaps more. It didn't matter. Geordi was clearly having a wonderful time.

He finally got the box and made his way back to their seats. "Sorry it took me a while," he explained, "the line was long for this. I bet it's really good," he handed the box to Rosemary.

"Oh, it's just, you know, it's just sweetened popcorn and peanuts. I like it for the prize." She opened up the box and offered them some.

"Prize?" Geordi asked.

"You really aren't from around here," Rosemary said, "There's always a little prize in the Crackerjack box. Usually it's a little paper booklet of jokes, things like that."

Wesley dug around a little bit. "Hang on, I think I found it." He took out a small item wrapped in white paper.

"Yes! That's it!" Rosemary exclaimed. She opened it. "It's a little tin ring."

"Tin?" Geordi asked, "Is there any place where we could get more tin? I mean a lot more than this." He turned the little ring over in his hands, feeling its contours.

"Hmm, there's a city dump. There's all sorts of scrap metal in there."

"So they might have iron, too?" Wes asked.

"Probably," she said, "why do you ask?"

"It's, um, well, our vehicle is damaged and we need to repair it," Geordi explained.

"Oh. I wish Freddie were here. He could help you. He was so mechanically inclined."

"Freddie?" Geordi asked, suddenly a bit concerned.

"My brother. Actually, I'm sitting in; this was supposed to be his seat."

"Well, I for one am glad you're sitting here instead," Geordi said.

Wes turned his attention away and instead watched the game. The scoreboard said it was the fifth inning. Ted Williams came up to bat, striding purposefully. No one was on base. Alex Carrasquel wound up and threw.

The crack of the bat was unmistakable. "Oh my God, look at that!" yelled Wesley.

"What? Where?" Geordi asked.

"He hit a home run!" Rosemary exclaimed.

"He just hit it against your team," Geordi said.

"I know," she said, grinning, "And our team is horrid. It's just such a pleasure to witness skill, y'all know what I mean?"

"I know exactly what you mean," Geordi said.

=/\=

"So is that the whole story?" asked Jack.

"Well, that's the home run. Actually, Williams hit two homers in that game, and then another in the second game he played that day."

"But I get the feeling that's not the end of the story," Ellen said.

"Well, of course not!" Cynthia said, "Grandpop didn't even get back to the right time period yet."

"That's right," Wesley said, "there's still a lot more to tell."