Story #10: "The Knuckleball Artist" (Chapter 1)

A disgraced major league pitcher’s last hope lies with a kid who might be as lost as he is. A bittersweet novella.

CHAPTER 1

A BEE PULLING OUT HER LANDING GEAR

Everyone called Reginald “The Yipper” Perry’s Volkswagen Beetle “The Sleepmobile,” but Reg called it by its given name, the “Última Última Edición.” It was the world’s last Beetle, rolled off the assembly line in Puebla, Mexico, on July 31st of 2003. The Última Última was burped out of the car wash and onto the factory parking lot on a Friday at 4:59 PM. One last factory worker, who’d clearly been drinking, ran out to tearfully spin the radio antenna on. Afterwards, thousands of workers lined up to kiss the Beetle’s hood ornament goodbye. It was a birth then a funeral.

Earlier that same afternoon, Reginald had placed a call from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre AAA RailRiders clubhouse to order the Última Última from a dealership in his hometown of What Cheer, Iowa. A friendly Midwestern voice chirped that the last Beetle made in North America was now his. Well, almost his. Reginald was $100 short, but his hometown dealership gave him twenty-four hou…