Levitation

This little snippet doesn’t fit in any prompt, but I’m sharing it anyway. The back story: Back in early 2019, I was invited to write a (different and longer) story about Cool Papa Bell for a collection of baseball stories. It was published in early 2020. A few months ago, I was asked for another contribution, this time for Volume Two. I decided to do something super-short, and I just thought y’all might enjoy this one:

Each time Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman entered the ballpark in the 9th inning, the audio-visual folks would turn the volume way up and play Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir, a pounding, energetic song. The crowd instantly jumps to their feet, yelling and grabbing cell phones, jumping up and down, waving arms. And then, the energy causes the entire Great American Ball Park to levitate at least three feet off the ground (just like the Pentagon during the anti-Vietnam demonstrations). It happens every time this fire-breathing dragon enters the game. I was there when Chapman threw his first 106 MPH flamethrower. I’m pretty sure the park rose another hundred feet. It was absolutely thrilling.