Page 47 of Give Me a Reason

When we finished eating, Paisley asked to get ice cream. We’d seen a sign for one free scoop as we walked in. We stood in line, ordering one scoop for everyone when we reached the front.

“Everyone’s carrying bobbleheads. Where are they getting them?” Ireland asked.

The merchandise store was nearby, but I couldn’t see any bobbleheads for sale.

“I’ve never seen bobbleheads for sale at a stadium. They’re always used as promotional items and given away,” Finn said.

Next to the ice cream stand was a game with a small line. A child dropped a plastic coin down, and it traveled between the pins until it rested on a spot labeled with a certain number of points. When it landed on a thousand, the woman went into the back and came back with several orange boxes, baseball hats, cups, and wristbands. “Are those the bobbleheads?”

“Is she giving them away as prizes?” Ireland asked Finn, her tone incredulous.

“I want one,” Paisley said to her father.

“Let’s find out.” Finn grabbed Paisley’s hand and pulled her over to the line.

Finn held his hand out for her ice cream cup. “You should go first.”

Paisley took the coin from the attendant, her tongue between her lips as she concentrated, and placed it to the right of the one thousand slot. The coin hit each pin, going right and then left before landing on one thousand points. “Yes!”

The woman handed her the bobblehead and then moved off to the side.

“How did you do that?” Finn asked Paisley.

“I watched the person in front of us and put the coin in the exact spot.”

Ireland and I exchanged a look before she said, “That was smart.”

“You want to try?” I asked Finn, knowing he was eyeing everyone else walking away with the bobblehead.

“I love bobbleheads, and this particular player doesn’t play for Baltimore anymore. I like him.”

Ireland sipped her soda. “The lady is giving everyone something, and they’re good prizes.”

This time, we all got in line. I won a bobblehead, Finn got a hat, and Ireland got the wristband.

As we walked away, Ireland said, “I can’t believe they’re giving away all this stuff. They’re selling this same hat at the store next to it.”

“I wonder if they just had too much in stock.” We moved off to the side, and I watched as the attendant returned with another stack of bobblehead boxes.

“The bobblehead is for a player who was traded to another team, so they can’t use it anymore.”

“But the hats? It’s a good deal,” Ireland said.

“I want a bobblehead.” Finn dropped Paisley’s hand, giving me his hat, and then asked the attendant if he could play a second time. When she nodded, he took the coin and dropped it on the board. It bobbed this way and that before hovering on a pin above one of the two one-thousand spots. The lady jostled it, and it fell into the slot.

“Can I have the bobblehead? I already got a hat,” Finn asked, and I couldn’t help but think he sounded like a kid.

When she gave it to him, he held the box over his head in victory. I felt a little ridiculous, but we cheered for him anyway.

Finn joined us, took Paisley’s hand, and said, “Now, let’s go play some of the other games.”

We walked across the stadium to the game area. There were a couple of ball toss games, a bounce house, a slide, and a carousel. There weren’t any prizes for these games, so we stayed back as Paisley played the ball toss. The attendant ran around, catching the fallen whiffle balls.

“This is a great event. It’s a good way to bring in people, even ones who don’t necessarily like baseball,” Ireland observed.

We watched for a few minutes, and then Finn asked Ireland, “Can you watch Paisley for a minute? I want to show Aria something.”

“Of course,” Ireland said as she raised a brow in his direction.

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