A SAINT IN SIN CITY

MASON MAXWELL

CHAPTER 3

THE LAW OF THE LORD IS PERFECT, CONVERTING THE SOUL (Psalm 19:7)

“Maybe we ought to reconsider things,” Beth had told me on the day before I left our hometown for my second season in pro ball. Her large brown eyes either looked sympathetic, pleading, or angry, I couldn’t tell which.

“Suit yourself,” I shrugged, my male pride and ego not wanting to let on that my heart was breaking.

“Suit myself?” she spit, pushing a long strand of her dark brown hair behind an ear, and then crossing her arms defiantly. “You’re the one that just confessed infidelity. You should be on your knees pleading, not acting like some arrogant big shot, who’s really just a little shot, and probably always will be.”

“But like I said, I never had sex with them, they had sex with me,” I lamely defended.

“Oh, okay,” she replied sarcastically. “Let’s remain a couple then, and whenever you feel the urge, go ahead, and let some floozy have sex with you. As long as you don’t have sex back. Is that the way it works?”

“Beth, I’m just trying to be honest with you. I screwed up, okay? I love you, and I didn’t want a lie of omission between us.”

“Fine,” she said smugly, and with a shrug. “You take care of your needs, and I’ll take care of my needs.”

“Beth,” I soothed.

“Don’t Beth me,” she whimpered, and then began to cry. “I was faithful to you, but not anymore. You want to let women have sex with you, as you put it. Well, I’ll let men have sex with me then. I guess this is what I get for giving it up before marriage. I thought we were in love though.”

“We are,” I tried.

“We are not,” she declared through clenched teeth. “If you’re in love, you don’t fool around with other people. You don’t let them have sex with you.”

I didn’t know what to say, and she asked me to leave. I left town the next day to start the baseball season in high A Cedar Rapids. I hated not knowing if we were truly broken up or not. So I tried texting her.

“Beth do you forgive me? I love you.”

“I love you too. And I do forgive you… But.”

I waited ten minutes for more, but nothing was forthcoming, so I tried. “But what?”

“I need time to sort out our conversation, and your confession.”

“So are we still a couple?”

“I would like that, and I hope so. But I, we, need time to sort things out.”

“Okay, what does that mean?”

“It means I would still like to see you. But I think we should be free to see other people.”

“Are you saying we should have an open relationship?”

“Is that what it is? We aren’t married or even engaged. I just didn’t know the rules. Thanks for setting me straight yesterday.”

“Beth don’t be like that.”

“Like what? You’re now free to mess around with baseball groupies. And I’m going on a date with a guy I work with.”

I felt sick. Beth was a pretty brunette with plenty of male admirers. She was also feisty enough to call up one of the many guys who had shown interest in her. My only comfort was in her fairly strong moral code. We dated for almost a year before I persuaded her to go all the way. So I doubt she would give it up for a guy right away. Or would she?

She had been saving herself for marriage. But her nominal Christian boyfriend wore her down. He sold her on love, commitment, what their peers were doing, and the assurance that they would one day marry. So what was to stop her? She was no longer a virgin, and I knew part of her wanted to even the score.

“I don’t want to. I wouldn’t have confessed my transgression if I did.”

She didn’t reply, and I gave up, uncertain of our relationship status. How ironic. Beth and I started out as a wholesome Christian couple. But I wasn’t as committed to Christ as she. Yet I was blind to what I should have been. Lack of prayer, and time spent in the Word of God, wore down my principles. My desires were of the flesh, not of the Spirit, and Beth had great flesh. Now as I made the lonesome journey a couple hundred miles south, I found myself grieving the loss of my girl, and why? Because I let Saul Sallie manipulate my conscience with his.

Baseball gossip claimed that Saul was done. I knew he wasn’t at the winter league due to a bad injury. Well, good for me. I wouldn’t have to ever see him again. And good for him. If we ever did cross paths, I would tell him off but good. Maybe even punch his big nose.

So imagine my surprise on the first day of spring training, I hear a familiar voice that came from a good natured grin. “Hey Maxwell.”

“Sallie,” I couldn’t help but grin back as we fist bumped. Not only did I not punch his big nose, I didn’t tell him off. At first anyway. “I heard you were out of baseball. Tore up your rotator cuff really bad or something.

“Naw,” he laughed. “Who told you that?”

“I’m not sure, but I thought that was why you weren’t at winter league.”

“No, last game of the season, I took a line drive to my foot, and broke it three places. But I’m fine now, how about you?”

“I’m good,” I tried, but I could feel my face fall.

“Yeah?” Saul replied skeptically.

“Well, as good as can be. My girl and I had a spat right before I left for here.”

“I see,” he said, and forced a smile.

Irritation rose within me. “Yeah, I took your advice, and it went over like a concrete balloon.”

“My advice? I haven’t seen you in eight months.”

“Well, you’re the one that put it in my head to come clean about, you know, messing around with other women.”

“So that’s my fault? I gave you my opinion, not instructions. Besides, if you just recently told her, the statue of limitations has run out on me being any part of the blame. But for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

I shrugged. “It is what it is.”

“So she broke up with you?”

I shrugged again. “Don’t know for sure. But she did say we should both be free to see other people while I play baseball.”

Saul winced. “Once again, sorry, man.”

“How about you? Do you have a special someone now?”

“Naw,” he replied with a shrug, and a little smile. It was as if he somehow knew love was right around the corner.

It was a couple weeks later when I noticed Marcella for the first time. What a babe! Blonde hair, big blue eyes, pouty lips, a lithe physique. It wasn’t long before I detected something more than friends between Marcella and Saul. But low and behold, when I inquired about her, Saul shrugged it off and said she was some type of relative.

Then a few weeks later, with wonder in his eyes, and a goofy little grin, he tells me that Marcella isn’t a blood relative, and that he was in love with her. It wasn’t long after that when I got to know her myself. She was easy to talk to, and after she heard my tale of love and heartbreak, she showed up a couple days later, with Beth.

I don’t know if Marcella was some type of inspiration to Saul, but he was pitching very well, and two months into the season, they were gonna move him up to double A. But then he did something that blew all of our minds. I overheard most of his conversation with our manager.

“What’s up, son?” asked the manager.

“Sir, I won’t be available on Friday evenings or Saturdays anymore,” Saul Sallie said.

There was a long pause as the manager took this in. “You what?”

Saul repeated his statement.

“Is this some type of health issue?”

“No, it’s a spiritual issue.”

“How’s that?”

“It’s my Sabbath.”

“Your Sabbath? Are you Jewish?”

“No Sir.”

“Every week?”

“Yes Sir.”

“How come you are just now demanding not to play?”

“It’s new light I’ve received.”

“What kind of light? You into aliens or something?”

I stifled a laugh before Saul openly chuckled and replied. “No Sir, Bible light, truth.”

“I see, so why Friday night and Saturday, and not Sunday?”

“Have you ever read the Ten Commandments, Sir? From Exodus chapter 20?”

“I know the Ten commandments, but I can’t quote them verbatim.”

“Well, if you look at verses eight through eleven, you’ll see that the Sabbath that God blessed and made holy was the seventh day, not the first day of the week.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don’t have time for any Bible mumbo jumbo right now. Look kid, you have a promising career ahead of you. I’ve been around baseball a long time, and if I was a betting man, I’d bet you’ll not only make it to the bigs, but barring injuries, have a long lucrative career. Don’t blow it by making ridiculous demands when you haven’t completely proven yourself yet. I’ll let you in on a little secret. You’re gonna be called up to double A before the week’s over. If you stick to your guns on this, you’ll be stuck here for a good long while.”

“But you’ll work with me on it?” Saul asked hopefully.

“Yeah, I’ll schedule your pitching around your, ah, Sabbath. But if you’re serious about this, I’ll have to inform the powers that be above me. And at a minimum, they aren’t gonna be happy about it.”

“So be it.”

And so it was. I don’t know whether the Lord truly was with Saul, or whether it was just natural progression that would have happened anyway, but he pitched lights out. He was virtually unhittable for the first six innings every time he pitched. He struck out more than half the batters he faced. Forget about double, and even triple A, most of us thought he should be in the bigs now.

But like the skipper predicted, he didn’t move up as fast as he should have. Yet he couldn’t have been happier spending most of the season in Cedar Rapids. You see, the love of his life resided there. In more ways than one.