Chapter 1

"Kirk Barighton takes the base…looks like he's ready to strike folks. If he can hit this ball the Dimmesdale Pirates win!" The TV announcer blared from the aging sound system. With a static crackling following every word. The TV would slightly bounce with sudden random volume fluctuations. But it had never shown to be a problem in the 15 years the TV had been around. Kirk Barighton took a step onto the home plate, picked up his bat and tapped it twice against the ground. It was a minor league game with the Dimmesdale Pirates vs the Ashton Rangers. The game was currently tied at 3 and 3 with 1 runner at 3rd base one swing away from winning the game. Kirk took a batting position; Timmy Turner could only just lean back into the dirty brown couch. Which squeaked as he moved with the soda can in his hand; Timmy wasn't much of a fan of Baseball, but it was an important part of his social life. He had consumed way too much of it throughout his life. Kit took the bat and swung it as the Baseball went flying through the air at rapid speed,, "It's over folks its all over folks. The Dimmesdale Pirates win!" The announcer shouted.

"We won, Timmy! We won!" Timmy sighed and looked over to his best friend that jumped into the air with excitement. Even at the age of 30 she was enthusiastic about the sport as the day she had gotten into it if not more so. Chloe Carmichael, who was shorter than him by five inches. Chloe's blonde hair went down to the bottom of her shoulders. She wore a yellow blouse, blue jeans and pink was a day when both of them got the day off from work as Chloe's schedule was never set in stone. So when they both got the same day off it was a nice change of pace. Chloe's favorite team for minor league Baseball was the Dimmesdale Pirates and would watch/listen to every game she could. "I have a feeling this season is going to be great for the pirates. This is their 2nd win in a row."

"Don't get too excited Chloe," Timmy said, reminding her. The Dimmesdale Pirates had a notorious bad track record being one of the worst teams in the league. False starts had occurred before, but they brought too much money to the league for them to just shut down. Unfortunately the team was managed by one of the dumbest businessmen in the world. "This could be another false start season. They've had good starts before and then plunged into several defeats before ending the season. Even though some of their recent picks are great, remember it's still run by the same idiot who's been running the team for years." Chloe glared at him, but before she could even respond a voice interrupted the conversation.

"Dad! Chloe! Tammy's mad!" A shirking 10 year old voice broke through their conversation taking both of their attention away from the conversation and the TV. The front door to his house flew wide open as his 10 year old daughter appeared in the room. Her face was flustered with rage as she exploded into a furry of incoherent speech. Tammy was average height for her age with brown hair, wearing blue glasses similar to the model her mother wore. Wearing a simple white shirt and a pink skirt; Timmy loved his daughter, but she had special needs. Which gave her a rather forceful personality and made her a handful to deal with. Chloe and Timmy looked at one another as Tammy's tantrum blew past them. Chloe leaned over to the small table near the couch and picked up a spray bottle. Then she took it and sprayed the girl who jumped out of hypnotic trance only to get even more mad. "What was that for?" Tammy screamed.
"Tommy, why is your sister having a meltdown?" Chloe asked, ignoring the girl who was fuming with questions.

Tommy groaned, "You know the dance at Maelstroms hotel downtown? Well the school canceled the trip. And Tammy's mad about it. I've heard non-stop about it since they announced it. And she's mad about it and won't stop talking about it." Tommy said with his fingers twitching as he tried not to lash out at his sister. Knowing that would only make things worse and Timmy just sighed. The city of Dimmesdale was suffering from an ever increasing budget shortfall, one that would last decades if they could ever recover from. So everything was getting canceled.

"Tammy, if you want to go to the dance just ask your dad," Chloe said. "He can take you or I can take you. It's downtown at a hotel with a $15 entrance fee. A 15 to 20 minute drive at most. You don't need to get upset over every little thing Tammy that inconveniences you. I know it's annoying, but that's life. And the reason they're doing it is because the city of Dimmesdale is broke and in massive debt. And they need to save as much money as possible so cutting things like dance are easy ways to save money. That's also why our property taxes keep going up and everything else."

Tammy looked at the ground playing with her feet, "Would you take Tammy to the dance next week?" She asked quietly looking down at the ground.

"Yes Tammy, now relax and come and sit down and also pick up your backpack," Timmy said. Tammy's blue eyes moved to her green backpack that liked to make noise at random times for no reasons and picked it up. Before moving and with that Tommy wandered off to do something else in the house.

"Exactly," Chloe said. "And I know what will cheer you up, an exciting game of Baseball!" As usual with her excitement over almost everything Timmy groaned.

"What's baseball?" Tammy asked.

"What?" Chloe shouted loudly and the 10 year old looked even more confused.

"Tammy I love you, but sometimes you say things. Remember what we told you about thinking before you speak?" Timmy asked.

"Is this one of those things Chloe supper into?" Tammy asked.

"Yes," Timmy said, confirming.

"Oh no," Tammy said.

"Tammy Teberious Turner! No one lives in this house without knowing about the amazing game of Baseball. To the backyard!" Chloe shouted grabbing the 10 year old girl and dragged her through the house before Tammy could fight back or even react. Which only lead to her grumbling and groaning trying to break