Fantasy GameDerrick Lawson, an aging Minor League pitcher with diminishing skills and desire, has decided that this will be the last game of his career. His son, Bud, who still dreams about baseball, about being a Major Leaguer when he grows up, is saddened by his father's decision. But something far worse is troubling him: his grandfather, his best friend, is in the hospital3⁄4dying from cancer. Being still a young boy, with a young boy's sense of wonder and magic, Bud Lawson thinks that he can do something about that, and he sets off on a journey to find an item that his grandfather had lost when he himself was just a youngster3⁄4thinking that if he can find this long lost treasure he can somehow magically make his grandfather well once again. And magic does indeed occur during Bud's journey, as he travels back in time to 1955, meeting up with his grandfather, who is just a young boy himself. They immediately become the best of friends, and embark on an adventure to try and answer Bud's questions: What is he doing in 1955, and what does he have to do to save his best friend? During Derrick's final game the events of his son's adventure unfold, and the magic that began with Bud finds its way into the events of the day, and into the very heart of the pitcher, returning to him something that he thought was lost forever, and altering the course of his entire life. The end of Bud's adventure and Derrick's final pitch of the game occur at the same time, in a way that is both magical and heartwarming. It is a story of a father's love for his son, a small boy's for his grandfather, and the magic that is still in all of us, no matter what the age. It is a story for baseball fans from eight to eighty, or anyone who just enjoys a good old-fashioned fairy tale. |