Last night I finally made my first trip of the 2005 season to Fenway Park, and to make it extra special we had Monster Seat tickets for the evening. (THANK YOU, Alison!!) I joined Cap'n Ho, The Hey and HyperSue, and though the night was slightly marred by the small detail of the Sox losing 9-3, it was a beautiful night in great seats with great friends and so all in all a terrific time.
One event early in the night threatened to ruin the fun, but instead turned out to be the highlight of the evening. The Hey & I entered the park pretty early, and we hung around for a good 45 minutes before heading up to our seats after meeting up with Cap'n Ho. Ho & I got our Monster Seat tickets stamped and went up, but The Hey called out that he couldn't find his ticket, only the empty envelope! (Obviously he'd used the ticket to enter the park.)
The "gate keeper" was sympathetic, but unwavering - there would be no Hey upstairs without the proper ticket. We figured we'd try retracing our steps from when we'd first entered the park. The Hey had to go the long way around to the gate we'd entered through, since he couldn't "short cut" across the Monster, so Ho & I went back down the other staircase and checked at a raffle table Hey & I had stopped at. No luck, of course. We figured we'd have to track down customer relations and plead our case.
The Hey came up from his long trek around the ballpark, and waved us aside. He strode unhesitatingly past us and, in one fluid motion, dipped his arm deep into a covered trash can and back out again... holding his ticket!!
This was about the coolest thing Ho & I had seen in quite some time, but despite our pleadings The Hey seemed uninterested in repeating the trick to see what else he might pull out of the can!
He'd realized while walking back that he remembered throwing the envelope away after entering the park, so when he found the envelope in his pocket later he put the pieces together! Amazingly, it was apparently still right at the top of the trash can when he went back. A little grody, maybe, but sweet! (We made him wash his hands!)
Ticket in hand we all returned to our proper place, the front row of the Monster Seats. The Hey was even rewarded for his ordeal when Baltimore Orioles pitching coach Ray Miller threw him a batting practice ball before game time! (Took the guy three throws to get it up to us but he wasn't giving up!)
I also had a great time spending a couple of innings away from the game, hooking up with an old friend from work that I hadn't seen much of in recent years and chatting with him and his girlfriend under the stands for a while. I'll be seeing more of John from now forward, though, as effective yesterday he's joined my group at work!
A damned shame they lost the game though....
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