Part 1 Take me out to the ball game

(sometime near the end of baseball season, 1949)

Lily Deluna was leaving for Europe tomorrow, on a quest to find her missing brother Eddie. Ted Knight had volunteered garage space for her Cord and her Harley while she was overseas. Lily was sure Ted would take great care of them, as she knew he loved fine machinery as much as she did.

Her recent award-winning recap of Vic Valor's career had given her greater national name recognition than her baseball career, and she had capitalized on on her new-found exposure to line up several free-lance travel writing assignments for some national magazines. Her first such article was to write about day-to-day life on an ocean liner, and her editor on this story had even picked up the cost of the transatlantic tickets. Of course, she had to write about first class travel when only going third-class herself, but those are the kind of hardships a journalist thrives on!

It just happened that the Red Sox were in town to play the Opal City Skysox today, and Lily decided to take up Ted's offer to introduce her to the great Ted Williams. She invited her police corporal friend, Fred Johnson, to join her as guests of the Knights at the ball game that night. Even with the uncertainty of Eddie's fate still bothering her, she couldn't conceal her excitement. She hoped Ted had remember to asked Williams to autograph a bat for her. She hoped it would be a fast game.

She was driving the Cord, one last time before she left. She would spend the night at stately Knight Manor, and Ted and Doris were going to drop her at the airport tomorrow. She thought once again that for rich people, they really seemed like regular folks. The rich families who had lived near Redcliff, Ohio, her home town, had never ever mingled with anyone from town - they had servants to do all that. The Knights had servants, of course, but they never let their servants isolate them from the 'regular' world. She wondered if all of the mystery men and women were nice people in their civilian identities?

She picked up Fred on her way. She liked him and she planned to look him up when she got back from Europe, but she had no idea how long she'd be gone, and she didn't want to leave any commitments behind. Fred was a big Skysox fan and would be rooting against the Red Sox, but he, too, looked forward to meeting Ted Williams.

Fred had known that they were going to be attending the game with Ted and Doris Knight, and he knew that the Knights were rich, but he apparently hadn't realized exactly how rich. He couldn't believe it when Lily drove up to the gate and greeted the gatekeeper like an old friend. The grounds were huge, and every inch was carefully tended and manicured. Half a dozen of the landscape staff were occupied trimming and weeding and planting, improving little imperfections that were invisible to Fred and Lily. Some of the Knights' society peers were having a tennis tournament that day, and there were attractive, richly garbed folk on all 6 of the Knights' well-maintained clay courts. There was another group around the pool, and some of the women were wearing suits that made Fred blush.

Lily was amused by this reaction and with a smile she quoted the old saw "The really rich are different from you and me!"

She could tell that Fred was starting to have second thoughts about interacting socially with Ted and Doris. She knew because she had experienced those same second thoughts, the first time she had visited stately Knight Manor, even though she already knew the Knights.

"Don't worry! Ted and Doris are exceptions. They are just like normal people!"

She giggled as she said it, because she knew that, even aside from money, Ted and Doris were not 'just like normal people'. Still, she was sure they would like Fred. After all, he, like they, had dedicated his life to the cause of justice.

"If you say so, Lily. But that swimming pool is bigger than the house I grew up in!"

Well, at least he had an excuse for staring at the women around the pool.

"Are they having some kind of a party? I thought we were going to the ball game?" He was clearly nervous about the thought of having to mingle with all of Opal City's social 'elite'.

"Knight Manor is always like this, Fred. The Knights love to have people around, and their staff can take care of the crowd after we leave for the game. I imagine Ted and Doris have already made their good-byes. Don't worry, we won't be here more than a couple of minutes."

At the end of the long curving driveway, Lily pulled to a stop behind a maroon Lincoln Cosmopolitan convertible. Ted and Lily were sitting on a bench in front of the mansion, waiting for them.

"Out, Fred! I need to introduce you, and we need to change cars!" There's no back seat in a Cord Cabriolet.

The introductions went well, with a minimum of stammering from Fred. Ted and Doris had soon charmed Fred as they charmed anyone they met, and within a few minutes he was totally comfortable. They hopped in the Lincoln, and headed for the ballpark. Ted and Doris made sure to include Fred in the conversation, and by the time they got near the ballpark, Lily knew much more about him than she had earlier. He had grown up in Opal City, had been a Marine during the war, and had fought mostly in France and Germany.

The ball game was very exciting, with the Red Sox winning 6 - 4. This kept them 1 game ahead of the Yankees in the standings. The Skysox went ahead early due to some shabby play by Ted Williams in left field - he didn't run as hard as he could and a couple of fly balls fell in that Lily, at least, thought he should have caught. At least, she was pretty sure she would have caught them. Later, though, he hit 2 home runs for 5 RBI, his first homer bringing the Red Sox into a 4-4 tie and his second one driving in the last two runs, winning the game. Teddy Ballgame was on his way to his second MVP season, and his entire game was showcased that day - superb hitting and average (at best) fielding.

At dinner, once she got over her awe at meeting her idol, she and Ted talked hitting, almost to the exclusion of the other 3. Lily learned more about hitting than she had ever thought possible, and she felt some nostalgia about playing - if she found Eddie before the start of the next season, she just might look up the South Bend Blue Sox and see if they needed a left fielder! But she had some observations on hitting that were new to Teddy Ballgame, too.

Williams presented autographed bats to both Lily and Fred, and she was delighted that he he insisted that she autograph a ball for him. He even had an AAGPBL baseball with him. He claimed it was the ball Lily had hit for her 40th home run and it had cost him $1.50. Even though she didn't know whether to believe her or not, she was flattered that he had at least found an official AABPBL ball.

The Red Sox and Skysox had another game tomorrow, so Williams had to turn in fairly early. The dropped Fred off on the way back to stately Knight Manor. Lily walked him to the door and they shared a kiss before she left. Without being _too_ forward, she wanted to be sure he was aware of her interest. Maybe he'd be available when she got back...

Ted hit the sack, and Lily and Doris sat up talking. Suddenly, a small light in the corner began to flash.

Doris was puzzled "That's an emergency signal from the Chief of Police of Opal City that Starman is needed. But it hasn't been used for years, ever since Ted retired. When he retired two years ago, Chief Chapman promised he wouldn't tell anyone about it. Even Chief O'Dare shouldn't know about it!"

Lily was worried. "Shouldn't somebody check it out? If Chapman told O'Dare, or if Chapman is using it himself, they both know Starman is retired. It must be urgent!"

"Or else, it hasn't been used in so long, it's broken!" Doris responded. Then she sighed. "I suppose we ought to tell Ted about it. But I hate to wake him."

"Doris" Lily spoke up, her voice sounding intense "you don't suppose..." and she pointed at Doris and then herself.

Doris flashed her biggest smile and said 'Why not?" and the two of them leaped into action. "Meet you back here in 5 minutes!" They both headed out of the library at full speed.

5 minutes later, they were both back in the sitting room, although they were both still pulling on pieces of their costumes. Lily was astounded to see that Doris wasn't wearing her regular Starwoman outfit. Instead she was wearing the very revealing Moonflower costume that she had designed for Lily. Lily was wearing the more modest costume of her own design.

"Doris! What are you doing wearing my costume?!"

"I knew you'd never wear such a slinky outfit, and I figured, why waste such a great design? Besides, you know we want to keep Starwoman a secret, so I'm going to pretend to be your sister Moonglory tonight. Say, you wouldn't want to switch costumes, would you? Don't you want to show off a bit? You've certainly got the bits to show!"

"Is that what you call those? Your 'bits'? Aren't you ever serious, Doris?" Lily grinned. She always had fun hanging around with Doris.

"I'm always serious about clothes, dear! I figure, if I'm going to wear a silly costume anyway, I might as well take advantage and strut a little! Besides, how many gals my age can wear something like this and get away with it?"

Lily had to admit Doris had a stunning figure. She wondered if she would ever dare to wear that skimpy outfit herself?

"Maybe when I'm more confident in what I'm doing I'll make the switch. Or, if I hit a beach while I'm in southern Italy. But we may have an emergency right now, so shouldn't we get moving?"

Doris threw a concealed switch, and a part of the library's ceiling slid aside, revealing the night sky. "After you!" She waited while Lily flew through the skylight, and then zoomed off after her.