Walsh hands his ticket to the usher and walks into the stadium. DK, Lombardo, Bobby, and Jimmy all follow him through the gate.
"Gotta get the beer." Jimmy reminds
"Of course, not a ball game with out it." Walsh smiles
"Who's pitching today?" Bobby asked
"Gooden vs. Johnson." DK stated
"Pitcher's duel." Jimmy added
"Gonna be one hell of a ball game!" Walsh said
They were looking forward to the day off. It was the dog days of summer and there was nothing better than a Sunday afternoon at the park. They took their seats along the right field line.
A foul ball was hit off of the bat of Joe Giardi and the guys all tried to catch it. Lombardo was the victor of that battle catching the ball with his bare hand.
"Nice hands." Walsh cracked
"I caught it didn't I?" Joe smiled as he held up the ball.
"Show off." DK cracked
"You're just jealous of these hands." Joe quips.
They continue to enjoy the game. It continued into the bottom of the 12th inning with the Yankees trailing the Mariners by two. The Yankees were threatening to tie it back up with runners on first and third. Bernie Williams was on third, Tino Martinez was on first. Darryl Strawberry came to the plate and drilled a 2-1 pitch from Bobby Ayala to centerfield. Williams tagged up and scored. Seattle then made a pitching change to try to get the final out of the game. Mike Jackson came on to pitch with Martinez still at first and two outs. Second baseman Pat Kelly came to the plate and worked the count to 3 balls and 2 strikes. The crowd was on their feet hoping that Kelly would get a hit.
"Come on, come on!" Jimmy said
"Just make contact." Walsh added
Martinez was running on the pitch. Kelly swung and hit a dribbler up the middle that Joey Cora fielded and then flipped the ball to Alex Rodriguez for the force out at second and the ending of the game.
The guys stood and watched as the fans began to empty the stadium.
"A little extra inning baseball." DK said
"Yeah, but it woulda been nice to see the Yankees win." Bobby stated
"Oh well." Lombardo grinned
"Yeah everything's okay, Lombardo caught that damn ball." Walsh cracked
"How did the shortest of all of us grab it?" Jimmy asked
"Pure skill." Lombardo replied
"Pure skill my ass." Walsh cracked
"Yeah." Bobby laughed
The guys headed out. DK and Walsh headed to Walsh's house. He needed to tear down the drywall on one of the walls in the back room that had water damage from a leaking pipe.
"It's a nice place." DK comments looking at the work that needed to be done
"A real fixer upper, but the price was good." Walsh smiled as he got the tools out.
"Got a haligan?" DK asked
"Remember I still NEED to have the wall." Walsh reminded him
"Oh, okay." DK replied as he grabbed a hammer and started working at the wall.
It was eleven o'clock before they had finally finished tearing out the dry wall. The room was a complete mess with the white dust everywhere. Walsh could see the leaking pipe, but he just didn't have the energy to fix it right now. After all, it could wait since he was the only person living there.
"Alright man, I'm outta here." DK said as he yawned, "We gotta be at work at 9."
"Yeah, I hear ya old man." Walsh cracked
"Have a good one." DK said as he left the house.
Walsh locked the door behind him and then starred around the house. It looked like a complete disaster, but it was something to do. He closed the pizza box on the counter and threw a few beer bottles in the trash before he headed up the stairs.
Jimmy was sitting at the bar. He was knocking a few beers back and watching a pretty woman on the opposite end. She had long blonde hair and a nice tan. Jimmy had caught her staring at him a few times. He finally got up off of his barstool and walked down to where she was. There was an empty stool beside her and so he sat down.
"Hey." He said
"Hey." She smiled
"This seat wasn't taken was it?" He asked
"Nope. Just waiting on some tall, dark, and handsome man to come in and have a seat." She smiled again
"Well, I think I fit that description pretty well." Jimmy smiles
"So, do you come by here often?" She asked
"Sometimes after work." He replied
"Where do you work?" She questioned
"I work in FDNY. I'm a firefighter at Squad 55, King and Arthur." He responded
Her eyes lit up and she smiled. "Really?"
"Yep. I love it." He replied
"I'm Giada." She smiled
"I'm sorry, I really should have introduced myself." He apologized. "Jimmy, Jimmy Doherty."
"Well Jimmy, what do you say that we find some place more- quiet?" She asked
He smiled, "Okay."
This couldn't be bad. He met a beautiful woman and she wanted to go find someplace quiet. They headed to her apartment in Queens. Jimmy drove as fast as he could. He knew where this was leading. They pulled up in front of her building. She lived in an apartment on the fourth floor. She opened the door and turned on the light. The answering machine was blinking with 6 new messages. She ignored them, put her keys on the counter and locked the door behind them.
"Nice place." Jimmy commented
"It's quiet." She smiled as she made the first move. She began to kiss him.
Jimmy was enjoying the moment when she took his hand and led him back the hallway to her bedroom. They sat on the edge of the bed and he ran his hand down her side and leg. She unbuttoned the shirt that he was wearing and pushed it off of his shoulders, revealing a white tank top underneath. Soon their clothes were piled on the floor.
Jimmy woke up at 7 the next morning, there was someone banging on the door to the apartment. Giada quickly put her robe on and went to check, Jimmy slipped his boxers on quickly and followed.
"Open up Giada!" A male voice yelled from the other side
"Who's that?" Jimmy asked
"My boyfriend." Giada replied
"You HAVE a boyfriend?" Jimmy asked in shock
"Yeah." She responded
She cracked open the door.
"I left you 6 messages last night." The voice said
"Yeah and I didn't listen to them." Giada responded
"Why don't you open the door so I can come in?" He demanded
Jimmy swallowed hard, he knew that voice.
Giada looked at Jimmy and then back to the door.
"No, I have company." She told him
"Company? You have company?" He said before he broke through the chain latch.
Jimmy stood in shock.
"You son of a bitch!" Bosco yelled
"Bosco, this isn't…" Jimmy replied
"Isn't what? You slept with my girlfriend." Bosco made his way across the room
"I didn't know…" Jimmy started to say when Bosco hit him with a right cross in the jaw.
Jimmy fought back before Bosco gave up after getting in another good shot to Jimmy's right eye. Bosco got up and stormed out. Jimmy rubbed his jaw.
"You're boyfriend is Bosco?" He asked
"Was." Giada replied
Jimmy sighed as he stood up.
Walsh was already at the firehouse before anyone else arrived. He had already stowed his bag and was back in the kitchen when DK and Tommy Doyle came up.
"You do anything after I left?" DK asked
"Just threw the bottles away." Walsh replied as he pulled two slices of toast out of the toaster
Lombardo entered as the kitchen and sat at the table with the newspaper. Jimmy walked up the stairs and tried to turn his head.
"Whoa!" DK stopped him
"What the hell happened to you?" Walsh asked
"Got in a fight." Jimmy replied
"I see the bar was a little rough last night." Lt. Johnson cracked when he entered the room
"That obvious huh?" Jimmy asked
"Yeah, you got a nice shiner there." Walsh pointed out
"Thanks, I got the headache to go with it." Jimmy added
Tommy tossed him an ice pack and then he went upstairs to change.
"That's too light to be from last night." Lt. Johnson pointed out
"Yeah." DK replied as he went upstairs to find out what really happened.
Jimmy turned from his locker.
"So who's the girl?" DK asked his friend
"Her name's Giada." Jimmy offered
"Good Italian name." DK responded
"Yeah, except she had a boyfriend." Jimmy added
"Oh." DK said
"Yeah, Bosco." Jimmy buttoned his shirt.
"Ouch." DK said
"Yeah." Jimmy responded
Before they could finish the conversation the alarm sounded.
"Squad 55 respond for wires down. 122 and Arthur." It called
They headed for the squad and it was business as usual for this bunch of firefighters.