Be Careful What You Wish For
Careful/Kruh 1 CHAPTER 1. Warm-ups To understand Jonathan Bailey and his obsession, we have to go back to Boston’s old West End, a teeming neighborhood of Italians, Poles, Jews, Albanians, Lithuanians, African-Americans, and pretty much anyone else the rest of the city didn’t want. They were as diverse a group of people as have ever been crammed into one tiny plot of land, with nary a white collar in the bunch. Tough as nails and loaded with strong opinions on everything from taxes to the Holy Ghost, but on this day it was a sure bet that everyone was in agreement on one thing: with Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, and a host of other stars, the Red Sox were sure to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the seventh and final game of the World Series. “Dad, there’s no sound!” It was about six in the afternoon on October 15, 1946, and Theodore Bailey of 29 Joy Street had his head and hands inside an old, wooden console radio. The urgency in his son Alexander’s voice was clear. “Don’t you think I know that?” came the agitated, muffled response from behind the speaker. “But the game, dad, the game.” Careful/Kruh 2 “Son, I’m trying as hard as I can to fix it,” Theodore said tenderly as he poked his head out from behind the console. “But I can’t make any promises.” Alexander tried to mask his frustration, but what nine-year-old has that capacity? His father smiled sadly.
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