by Solly, Clare
“But we agreed that you needed to get ready and supervise things going on here,” Hetty reminded her.
Gently brushing past Hetty, Dottie walked into the room where the bar was set up. A pair of khakis greeted her as she walked in the room, “Hey Bart,” she said, and the man stood up, revealing a gray head of hair, and a broom mustache on his face to match.
“Dottie, good to see you,” he said waving. “Eggnog is almost done, and we’ve prepped the hot cocoa. I’ve got a crock pot back here to keep the cocoa warm, and as you can see the glassware is all set up on the bar. I’m already to go.” Hetty groused at Bart’s admission. He leaned in and whispered, “I also have Irish Cream and Whiskey back here for the adults,” he winked. “After all, happy people are more likely to open their pockets and give donations!” He lightly patted her on the shoulder.
“Great, thank you,” Dottie smiled. Then turning to her left she saw the two silver garment racks had been assembled and hangers were hanging from their single bars. Numbers hung from the hooks.
“And I see our friends from the yearbook committee have already been here,” she mused.
“Yup, I think you just missed them. They were upstairs looking at the exhibit for a bit, and then I think they went to go get pictures of the house next door,” Bart relayed. “But they said they would be back by seven-thirty at the latest.”
“Fantastic,” Dottie exclaimed as she turned on her heel and walked to the kitchen. Hetty’s face was getting a little grumpier. “And how are things in here, Don? Oh, hey Mel. I didn’t know you were going to be here so early,” she asked the skinny waitress with the mousy blond hair and big eyes that usually worked breakfast on the weekends.
“Everything is great. I just came to give Don a hand, since he is headed over to the tournament, but we prepped a lot at the diner yesterday. So, I think I’ll get to go over and watch some of the games!”
“See,” Dottie turned to Hetty, “Everything is going to be fine if I’m not here.”
“Oh, fine!” Hetty conceded.
“Besides, Joe will be good at horseshoes because he’s got the baseball arm, but me… I couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn! I doubt we will make it past the second round! I’ll still be available to make everything ready over here. Everything will totally be ready on time. Promise me you’ll stop stressing! I’ll see you in a bit?” Dottie said the last over her shoulder as she headed out the kitchen door.
“We’ll be over soon!” Don said.
* * *
Dottie climbed through the bushes, for old times’ sake which was harder done than said, with the all of the bushes grown back together. That plus the snow that had fallen overnight had built up around the bases of the bushes creating a drift. Joe’s property could sell today, and this might be her last chance to walk through them. She made her way down to the house. A security guard stationed outside on the porch opened the front door for her.
“I’m glad they’ve got you under cover,” she stated. He looked at her confused. “I mean because it’s supposed to snow more today.”
“Yes, ma’am,” was all the stoic man in an all-black suit and tie said.
“Hmm. Just like they are in the movies,” she muttered to herself about the stoic security guard as she was walking through the living room. “Joe?” she called up the stairs.
“In here,” he said from the kitchen. Dottie walked in to find him on the phone, trying to pace, but he was tethered by the cord. “It’s my agent,” he mouthed.
“Oh, I’ll…” she looked at her watch. It was just after two in the afternoon already. Where had the time gone? She pointed at her watch and whispered, “We need to get out there.”
“Be there in a minute,” he mouthed.
Dottie led herself back through the house and ran into a smart looking woman who was dressed in a burgundy suit and matching lipstick, with her brown hair up tied up in a neat chignon. “Hey Dottie,” the woman exclaimed giving her a hug.
“Hey Kate, I didn’t expect to see you here,” Dottie was surprised to see one of the best realtors in the county in the house. “Well, Joe didn’t want to mess around. There are five security and me to let people into the house look it over. And then a couple of the high school kids volunteered to take shifts for the donations to tour the house.”
“Oh. That’s… great.” She realized in this moment that she had equally mixed feelings about Joe selling his house as she did about giving up the museum.
“We think so. I'm gonna do my darndest to sell this house today. He’s done so much work and it looks amazing. I’m sure it won’t be on the market long,” Kate was just a little too perky about the whole thing, Dottie thought.
“Well great. If you see Joe, tell him I went out to the barn,” Dottie said walking out of the house.
“Great. See you later!” Kate shouted after her.
The chatter in the barn could be heard from thirty yards away. The great building still amazed Dottie. From the outside, it was all graying wood that although aged, still was strong and durable. Walking inside through the doors that had been thrown wide open to welcome anyone and everyone, Dottie looked around. She was amazed to see all of the bleachers were packed.
“It’s a ten-dollar donation to get in, ma’am,” a teenager squeaked from the opposite side of the table at the front of the barn.
“Oh, I’m—” Dottie started,
“She’s a contestant. In fact, she’s my teammate.”
The stunned teenager stood and tried to salute and put his hand out to shake all while contemplating jumping over the table when he saw Joe standing in front of him. “Mr. Thomas, it's a great honor to meet you. My name is Kenny. I want to be a catcher just like you,” squeaked the gangly teen who grinned through his mop of a hairdo.
“Hey, Kenny,” Joe held out his hand. “I’m Joe Thomas.”
Kenny looked nervously between Joe’s hand and Dottie’s face. Dottie nodded letting the young man know that it was ok, and it was all really happening. Kenny took Joe’s hand with both of his and vigorously shook it. “Wow. This is… I just can’t…Mr. Joe Thomas, sir. This is one of the best days of my life. Wow. Do you have any pointers for a guy like me? You know, a catcher.”
Joe smiled. This was a regular way for him to be greeted. He had appreciated being in the small town around people who had known him before the fame. Although, he had to admit, it was a proud moment to be able to reach kids who had a similar dream to his own.
“Keep doing all the things coach tells you, especially the taking care of your body,” Joe suggested taking the kid’s hand and shaking it, as well as putting his other hand on the kid’s shoulder. Kenny started to shake out of pure amazement that his hero was talking to him. “Also, be kind. And always, always respect women,” he smiled at Dottie. Then letting go of Kenny’s hand he offered his elbow to Dottie. She looked at him in amazement and looped her hand through his elbow and they walked into the middle of the ring.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
To her amazement, Dottie was much better at horseshoes than she originally thought. When the tournament began all of the pits were full. Two people on each team. The barn was a buzz with excitement. Many friends she knew and had grown up with had shown up to support, both the tournament and the museum. A true feeling of community was in the air, and Dottie cherished it. After feeling like her beloved museum had been forgotten, this turnout meant that it, or at least she meant something. This community wouldn’t let her down. They would put on a great show for them today, she silently promised as she looked around the barn.
It was already established that Hetty should be the master of ceremonies for both the tournament and for the ball this evening. Dottie disliked public speaking and Hetty was more of the public figure with all of her pageant experience. Both owning the diner and all of her experience in pageants made her right at home with making public speeches in front of many people.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” a hush fell over the crowd as Robert c
alled to the crowd. To make it a festive occasion, Robert was to introduce Hetty. She insisted on being announced. Robert took the honor proudly, as his community spirt was high as both the high school principal and a board member for the museum. “Welcome to the first annual celebrity horseshoe tournament.” The crowd cheered excitedly. “Some of you may be wondering why we’re playing a summertime game in the winter. Well, recently during an accident involving the roof of the museum, photos were found of a tournament over a century ago. As many of you know we just had our two-hundredth year anniversary at the school, which is the oldest high school in the country. This tournament was part of our history. Winter horseshoes were an East Haddam tradition that started when a horse got stuck in the pond on campus when it froze. The horseshoe team was nearby and used the horseshoes to free the horse from the ice. The next year to commemorate, they started the winter horseshoe tournament. And those photos can be seen at a new exhibit at the museum. I invite you all to go visit early and often!” The crowd cheered again. “And now I would like to introduce you to the lady of the hour, Hetty Lynnd.”
To raucous applause, Hetty walked to the center and took the microphone from Robert. “Thank you, Principal Sampson!” Loud cheering greeted her again. “Thank you all for coming out today to help raise money for the museum. Now, your entrance fee has done a lot already, but we still have goals to meet to keep this treasured museum open. History costs a lot! So please show your community spirit by purchasing snacks and beverages donated by local restaurants and there are plenty of Dottie’s famous gingerbread cookies, too! And of course, you can just give us your money! There are red donation buckets at the entrance. Feel free to drop in any and all of your cash! And now, without further ado, let me introduce our competitors.”
Announcing the competitors by teams, she introduced those with celebrity pairs first, then the town teams, which got more applause. Saving Dottie and Joe for last, Hetty announced Joe first to a standing ovation. As the applause died down, which took a few minutes, Hetty announced Dottie, “And now the woman of the hour, Dottie Henry.” Loud applause erupted again and Hetty handed the microphone off to Dottie.
“I’m completely overwhelmed,” said Dottie. “Thank you all so much. As you know the East Haddam Historical Society has been around for over a century. The house it is in was donated many years ago, and recently was supposed to close due to a lack of funds and visitors. Although I’m told that we’re very close to meeting our goal to keeping the museum open,” loud cheering greeted her again. “As Principal Sampson said, please come visit the museum. We have an amazing new yearbook exhibit where you can look through and browse the actual yearbooks of more recent years. We also have a database that is on loan from the high school that has scanned yearbooks in it from the turn of the century and farther back so you can explore and research our town history.” Applause broke out. Dottie waited for it to die down before continuing. “We also debuted this week an exhibit starring our own crowned beauty, Hetty Lynnd. You can see her rise to queendom and some of her crowns and gowns!” More cheering. “And, Joe Thomas,” loud cheering required her to pause again. Dottie laughed at it, and Joe waved to the crowd, which made them cheer louder, “Joe has opened his house, and you can walk through for a five-dollar donation. So, if between matches, you want to go tour a house that a major league baseball player grew up in, just head out to the house. It’s also for sale, so if anyone wants to buy it—” more wild applause, “unfortunately, that money doesn’t go to the museum though,” Dottie looked over at Joe and smiled. He winked at her. Dottie handed the microphone back to Hetty.
“Now contestants, head to your pits,” Hetty addressed those standing with her. She then talked to the audience as everyone moved to their playing positions. “Some of you may know that Heather Smolen was supposed to be with us today, but she had a last-minute engagement that she was needed for. Now, to the rules,” Hetty described how the game was played and a quick review of how scoring happened. She also introduced the referees. Then, the play began.
At first Dottie’s throws were very short. Joe coached her telling her to raise her arm just a little more before she let go of the shoe to get it to go farther. By the end of her first game she had hit the post once and gotten very close the other times. Joe, of course had three ringers.
With twelve teams, six advanced. Dottie and Joe barely won their match. If it wasn’t for a ringer on Joe’s last throw, they wouldn’t have made it. Both of the other celebrities made it into the top six. A planned twenty-minute break was announced between each round. Right as their match ended, Joe’s phone rang. He looked at the screen and then at Dottie.
“I… I have to get this. I promise, if it takes more than twenty minutes, I’ll hang up and will be back to play the next round,” he winked at her, then answered the phone and dashed off.
Dottie decided that she needed to occupy her time with something, so she walked up to Joe’s house. It was packed.
“I’ve started to have the security guard hold them at the front. If one person leaves, they can let another in. Too many people in a room and you can’t actually see the house,” Kelly mentioned to Dottie when they found each other. Kelly had stationed herself in the kitchen. Her stack of fliers was getting low.
“Have you had any real interest in buying the house?” Dottie asked.
“Actually, there was a family who have two young children that were interested. They like all the land,” Kelly reported.
“Wow, that’s great. A family would be great here,” Dottie replied.
“And one of your celebrity guests said he was interested in the place. He likes how close, yet far away from the city it is,” Kelly continued, “both took information on the house, and said they would get back to me.”
“Pardon me,” interrupted a shorter lady in her early thirties, with brown shoulder length hair, “but are you the realtor? I hear this house is for sale.”
“Yes,” Kelly said to the lady. Then to Dottie she whispered, “I’ll keep you posted.”
As Dottie meandered back to the barn walked behind two ladies that she recognized from but didn’t remember their names. One was a blonde and the other a brunette Dottie was pretty sure they were two or three years behind her in high school. Their conversation drifted back over their shoulders and Dottie heard every word.
“It’s so great to see Joe Thomas back in East Haddam again,” said the blonde.
“Yeah, I know my husband loves that one of his favorite baseball players is from here,” replied the brunette.
“My husband can’t believe I went to school with him. Mark couldn't believe that I just walked right up to him and said hello,” laughed the blonde.
“Oh, right! Your husband has always fit so well in the community, I always forget that you met him when you were away for college. He fits in so well in the small-town life here,” commented the brunette.
“Well, it’s too bad Joe has to go back to Los Angeles,” replied the blonde.
Yeah. It’s a shame he’s selling his house. We probably won’t ever see him again once he sells the house and goes back to baseball,” sighed the brunette.
Dottie stopped walking. Joe had a job. In Los Angeles. And he was just about to sign his contract for who knows how long. She couldn’t ask him to move back here to this tiny town and give up his dream. Could she do a long-distance relationship? Everyone always said they were hard.
“You ok, Dottie?” Bart’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts.
“No. Um, yes. Sorry, what?”
Bart put a hand on her shoulder as if he wanted to make sure she was steady. “The next round is about to start. Should we?” Bart offered her his arm. A chivalrous gesture. One that Dottie was pretty sure he was offering it also to steady her.
“I was pretty nervous my first football game,” Bart stated as they started to walk toward the barn.
“What?” Dottie turned her head and looked at him.
“You know, when I started m
y first game in high school. I was terrified,” Bart thought she was nervous about playing the next round of horseshoes.
“Ah, right,” she decided to play along. “So, what did you find helped you?” She asked.
Bart didn’t have much time to describe all of the tricks he had but he got through quite a few in the two minutes it took to walk the rest of the way to the barn.
“Thanks, Bart. And good luck,” she said has he dropped her off at her pit. Joe was nowhere in sight, and Hetty was walking out to the center to announce the next round.
“Where’s Joe?” Hetty mouthed to Dottie.
Dottie shrugged and looked around. Then as if on cue Joe came jogging through the bleachers and Dottie pointed.
Spotting him, Hetty raised the microphone and announced the next round.
“Sorry,” Joe said breathlessly as he reached Dottie.
“Everything ok?” Dottie asked.
“Yeah, just… contract negotiations,” Joe admitted hesitantly.
“Oh?” Dottie wasn’t sure if she wanted to know. Instead, she picked up a horseshoe and vehemently flung it. Ding-a-ling-a-ling sounded as her horseshoe hooking around the post for ringer. Her frustration momentarily subsided. She screamed and hopped up and down and hugged Joe. Then she quickly pushed him away and threw the other one. It looked to be half an inch away from the post.
“Great job,” he said and held up a hand for a high five.
“Thanks,’ she lightly and quickly slapped his hand and then looked away. She couldn’t stand it. He was so close. Of course, this would happen. Years after she buried her feelings and then uncovered them, he reveals he feels the same and then they have to try to manage a relationship over a distance? It wouldn’t work. These things just didn’t work. Dottie had to turn off her feelings now. Before they sunk in too deep and she would spend years trying to cover up this broken heart.
“Dottie? You ok?” Joe had lightly touched her elbow. She was standing with her arms crossed tightly looking out at the playing field. Her face was scrunched in anger.