Stevie felt chills run down his spine. He looked at Susan Carol, who was crying. He thought he might cry too. It had never occurred to him in the last week that their story might have a happy ending. But now, remarkably, it did.
Soon after they had fought their way through the crowds to meet Kelleher and Mearns in the interview room, Major League Baseball announced that Norbert Doyle and Aaron Boone had been selected as co-MVPs of the World Series. Both Stevie and Susan Carol were assigned to write about Aaron Boone. “Doyle is everyone’s lede, and Manny Acta leaving him in is the column,” Kelleher said. “The other sidebar writers will get into what this means to Washington. Tamara and I both think you guys should do Boone.”
That agreed, they awaited the arrival of the game’s heroes. Manny Acta went first. Then came Boone, who joked about his “blazing speed on the base paths” and said, “I really do love Boston, it’s a great city, but I guess I’ll never live here.”
Then, finally, came Doyle. He was asked all the questions you might expect about being surprised to still be in the game (yes); whether he thought Ortiz’s ball was a hit (absolutely); and how amazed was he to be sitting there as the World Series co-MVP having never won a regular-season game in the major leagues (flabbergasted).
Finally, someone asked if he thought his story was likely to become a movie pretty soon.
“No,” he said firmly. “It won’t. I pitched two good games at the right time. End of story.”
Stevie and Susan Carol walked into the hallway a few moments later. They hadn’t gone four steps before they found themselves face to face with David and Morra Doyle, who had security people escorting them to see their dad in the interview room.
Stevie felt himself go tense preparing for a confrontation. Instead David walked up with his hand out.
“Dad texted us before the game that we owe you both an apology and thanks,” he said. “He says you did a lot more reporting than any of us knew and decided in the end there was no story to write.” He looked Stevie in the eye. “I’m sorry I acted like such a jerk yesterday.”
“Apology accepted,” Stevie said.
Everyone shook hands, which made Stevie feel like a grown-up. There were no hugs—which Stevie was grateful for. That would have been too awkward. The Doyles went down the hall to wait for their father to finish talking to the media.
Stevie and Susan Carol continued along the hallway, heading for the Nationals clubhouse to ask Boone some follow-up questions before they went upstairs to write.
“Well,” Stevie said. “We did it again, I guess.”
She put an arm around him for a moment. “You did most of it this time,” she said.
“In the end we didn’t do anything,” he said.
“I know,” she said. “But nothing was the right thing to do. And there’s nothing wrong with just writing a great story about a great World Series, is there?”
“No,” Stevie said. “That is pretty cool, actually. Maybe I’m just a little spoiled.”
“No doubt you are,” she said. “But you did great work this week. I lost it for a while, but you never did.”
“You did lose your cool for a little while.” Stevie grinned.
She rolled her eyes. “So what exactly do I have to do to make this up to you?”
“That,” Stevie said, “is a question I will be happy to think about for a while. Let me get back to you on it.”
“I’m sure you will,” she said, her face lighting up with the Smile. “I’m sure you will.”
THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
This is a work of fiction. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical and public figures, are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical or public figures appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2009 by John Feinstein
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89351-3
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v3.0
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter 1 - Sudden Victory
Chapter 2 - The World Series
Chapter 3 - First Night at Fenway
Chapter 4 - David and Morra
Chapter 5 - Surprise Starter
Chapter 6 - Mystery Meeting
Chapter 7 - Unanswered Questions
Chapter 8 - Sudden Star
Chapter 9 - Silent Treatment
Chapter 10 - The Mystery Deepens
Chapter 11 - Norbert Doyle, Superstar
Chapter 12 - Investigative Reporter
Chapter 13 - Back in Trouble … Again
Chapter 14 - Closing the Loop
Chapter 15 - The Good Cop
Chapter 16 - “Call Me”
Chapter 17 - Meeting with Morra
Chapter 18 - To Tell the Truth?
Chapter 19 - The Bad Cop
Chapter 20 - Jim Hatley
Chapter 21 - Confrontation
Chapter 22 - Back to Boston
Chapter 23 - The Meeting
Chapter 24 - Game Seven
Copyright
Change-up Page 23