Whom And What They Like by Maureen B. Ocks maureen_b_ocks@yahoo.com Disclaimer: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully and all other familiar X Files characters belong to Chris Carter, 1013 Productions and FOX. No copyright infringement intended. Archive -- OK, just tell me. Spoilers: The Unnatural Keywords - E-Muse/Scullyfic Writer's Block Epigraph Challenge. x-x-x "Is there then any terrestrial paradise where, amidst the whispering of the olive-leaves, people can be with whom they like and have what they like and take their ease in shadows and coolness?" -- Ford Madox Ford, "The Good Soldier" x-x-x Scully was balancing the baseball bat, lengthwise, on her index and middle finger. The dance she did to keep it balanced was quite entertaining and slightly amazing considering the shoes she was wearing. "You're doing pretty well there for a beginner." "Mulder, think like you did when you were with the BSU." "Excuse me?" "Did the subject grow up in a home with males?" "Yes." "Did the subject grow up in a community with other children?" "Yes." "Did the subject spend the first fifteen years of her life on Naval bases where at any given time, a dozen or so young men could be found at the base park playing everything from stickball to pepper?" "The subject is familiar with baseball." "So this is why you raced out of the office today, after defacing FBI property, to play baseball? And to leave me behind to clean up after you." She tries to take her eyes off the bat to give me a glare but if she's keeping the bat in the air, I'm not getting the attention I probably deserve. "I saw a familiar face in the sports section of the 1947 paper." "In the Roswell Daily Record?" "In the Roswell Daily Record." "Who was in the Roswell Daily Record in 1947?" "I thought it was Arthur Dales." "The man we saw in Florida?" "Yep, I thought it was him." "Was it?" "No, it was his brother." "Arthur Dales has a brother?" "Yes, and you'll never guess his name." "His brother's name?" "Guess." "I don't know, John?" "Nope. It's a bit off the beaten path." "Dale?" "Dale Dales, no." "Dana?" "Like your name?" "There are male Danas." "And I'm glad you're not one of them. No, he's not a Dana." "Oh, Fox. His name is Fox." She starts laughing. "No, his name isn't Fox. It's Arthur." "Arthur Dales's brother is named Arthur Dales." "His sister has that name too." "I don't ever want you to complain about being Fox if there is really a woman out there running around with the name Arthur Dales." As she tries to look at me, the bat finally tips over. "Dammit." She picks up the bat and tries balancing it on her fingers again. "So what was Arthur Dales's brother Arthur doing in the paper?" "He was protecting a baseball player from the Klan, among other things." "Ah, the Negro Leagues. Like your shirt by the way." "Arthur the brother had some information about Roswell in 1947 and some other interesting beliefs." "Such as." "Baseball is life." "O.K." She replies in her best skeptical tone. "No. Seriously. At any given game, you have a crowd where attorneys at white shoe law firms sit next to cops and factory workers. The guys on the field are from Texas, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Mexico, Kansas almost everywhere in the world but the town they're playing for. They're there for one reason." "Money." "Love, joy, passion." "That's three reasons and money is four." "Love of the game, lifelong friendships made playing little league, made trading baseball cards. You follow your team passionately, root against your rivals the same way." "The secret of life is passion for baseball." "No, not the secret: the spice, the fun." "So Mr. No Fun this morning is suddenly Fox Mulder, party guy?" "Did you have a good time tonight?" "I had a great time tonight, Mulder. Thank you for inviting me." "Why did you have a great time tonight?" She puts the bat down now and turns her full attention to me. Nothing like a good question to get Scully going. "Because this was fun. Because when I walked up here and saw you hitting, I figured you'd do the guy thing and point me to the bleachers to watch you hit. It was fun playing just to play again." "Did you like to play as a kid?" "Yeah, I had two brothers. If I wanted to spend any time with my father when he'd come home during the summer months, learning to shag flies as Charlie and Bill hit and Dad pitched was required." "They didn't let you hit." "A couple of swings just before we'd go in for the night. It was 1975. Dad was progressive when it came to what he thought his daughters could do, but not that progressive." She smiles at the thought. I smile at her smile and watch her smile grow a little wider. "I'm glad you had a good time tonight." "Everyone loves baseball. And you may have a point, baseball fans certainly cross class and gender lines. You root for your beloved Yankees here, Charlie's son who's seven wants nothing more in life than to be Derek Jeter. I'm guessing that outside the Yankees, you two may not have much in common." "But that's enough, Scully. That's enough." I look at my watch. 9:10pm on a Saturday is way too early to end the night. "You have anything against real ice cream?" "I love real ice cream." "That thing you were eating today..." "I was eating?" "We shared, the thing we shared today, is an insult to real ice cream." "It also has almost no calories. If I knew we'd be playing ball tonight I might have gotten a real cone. Of course I still wouldn't have enjoyed much of it." "Eddie's Sweet Shop is about four blocks from here." "I could use a sundae." "Everybody could use a sundae. Tell me, Agent Scully, I tried to squeeze every last drop out of this sweet life tonight. Did I succeed?" She tossed the bat to me, "Baseball and sundaes, Mulder, you may get the swing of this fun thing yet." x-x-x Kudos to Bone for coming up with such a cool idea. A big thank you as well to the RetroX Team for the topics and the joy of reliving season premieres. Thanks always to Shari who says "sure!" every time I drop one of these stories on her and ask for her help. The DVDs for "The Unnatural" include the two scenes Darren McGavin did for the episode before he got sick. Well worth watching. Even Frank Spotnitz's commentary is worthwhile. Eddie's Sweet Shop is a real ice parlor, just not in Washington D.C. If you're ever in Queens, New York, however, it is a must: http://www.wookieehut.com/cuisine/eddiessweetshop.html Happy Independence Day. The weather is nice, the Yankees are playing the Red Sox and Macy's has fireworks. Does it get any better than that? Well, feedback is a little better, but not much: maureen_b_ocks@yahoo.com