One Branch Dies, Another One Blooms

[Izulde]

"Let me hold my grandson."

"Be careful, Poppa."

"Yes, I will. Just let me hold him.... He's beautiful."

"He is. He's the most beautiful boy in the world."

"Can I hold him for a little while longer, Cecilia?"

"Of course, Poppa."

"Yes.. I'll hold him. Just a little while longer..."

And then Vincenzio Benvuneto closed his eyes, smiled, and died, his newborn grandson in his arms.

[Blade]

Am I jumping the gun? Another Crusader Kings dynasty?

I am hoping!

[fantastic flying froggies]

crosses fingers...

[Izulde]

Sorry to disappoint, but it's not a CK dynasty ;) OOTP, actually.

I imagine I'll fire up another CK dynasty at some point though.

[Blade]

Ok...I was hoping, but I will be reading this one too!

[Izulde]

Thanks. :)

[Izulde]

"It's a shame your uncle's league won't be continuing after his death, Luca."

The lanky, speedy, hard-throwing pitcher nodded in glum affirmation at his best friend's words as he tossed the ball up in the air and caught it in his glove, the rhythm smooth and steady.

"I know, Greg. Uncle Nigel was a great man, probably the greatest in our family. But my cousins don't want the Octopus League to keep going after this year, so it won't."

Greg scratched the underside of his chubby chin and frowned, "That just really sucks... Especially since you were planning on entering the draft this year. You going to take that scholarship offer from Arizona then or are you going to put in for the MLB draft?"

A low laugh left Luca's lips as he shook his head, his unruly dark hair shining from the sun's striking of it, "Not the MLB draft, that's for sure. I probably wouldn't get picked until the later rounds, if at all, so it'll probably be college, though I'd rather just play baseball. I really wish another league would open up."

"Maybe something will turn up. Stranger things have happened. We got a chimpanzee for President, didn't we?"

"That we did, Greg. But still, I think it'd be a miracle for a new small league to open up so soon."

The ball went up in the air again and this time when it was caught, Luca fired a fastball. It blurred, noise whirred, and two seconds later, the exploded shards of a green Jagermeister bottle littered the darker grass.

Greg winced as he looked at the ruins of the liquor they'd shared the night before. If he kept throwing that hard all the time, Luca was sure to destroy his arm.

And then all the dreams would be as broken as the pieces of glass that lay before them.

[Izulde]

All the little pieces falling, shatter.
Shards of me,
Too sharp to put back together.
Too small to matter,
But big enough to cut me into so many little pieces.
If I try to touch her,
And I bleed,
I bleed,
And I breathe,
I breathe no more.

I still see her face even now after all these years. The rain falling down on the bruised, bloated blueberry it became by the time I got there.

It was a cold and nasty March night as March in London tends to be. She had been unhappy for the past few weeks but I thought it was just another one of her spells... a brooding cloud cover that would pass, giving way to her usual sunshine and cheer.

But that night, I knew there would be no more light, not in her life and not in mine.

I left England shortly thereafter and came here to America, throwing myself into my work as an import of British Isles trinkets that the new money of these United States eagerly bought up just to show they had the cash to spend. It made me a very wealthy man, but that mattered little. All hope of happiness with that bashed head on that early spring night. She didn't even have eyes by then. The rats had stolen them away for their profane feast.

And today is a day almost as sad. Nigel Benvuneto, my best friend, is dead. He was a noble and just man, not like the hateful spawn he and his wife produced. I hate them all. They are insolent, indulgent, and understand nothing of life. Everything has been given to them. They do not know pain, suffering, or what it is to struggle.

"Sir?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry to hear about Mr. Benvuneto, sir... but if I may, I have a suggestion."

From most of my employees, I would be in no mood to hear what they have to say just now, but James is different. He has been my friend almost as long as Nigel and I trust him implicitly.

"Very well, what is it, James?"

"I think it would make you better if you started a baseball league of your own to succeed Nigel's. While he stipulated it in his will and in the contracts of the players that none other than his family could run the Octopus League and none of the players could join another league while under contract to the Octopus, there is still the potential for you to continue his legacy in another form."

A good idea James has. One I'd considered for a few brief, wild moments of hysteric grief after first hearing the news. But I'd dimissed it as the imaginings of transient insanity. But here is my most trusted confidant proposing that very thing...

"Look into it, James. Find out if any of the old Octopus groups would be interested in staying on. Assign some people to study other cities and ownership possibilities. We'll do a feasibility study and SWOT analysis and go from there."

"Of course, sir."

The door whispers as James leaves and I find myself staring at its oak finish. Is this a symbol of the portal to finding my long-lost joy?

She would have been sixty-two today.

[Izulde]

New Baseball League Rumoured To Be Forming

The Octopus League may have been one and done, but rumours are circulating that another league may be taking its place.

According to the gossip, British Dreams Imports, a company that imports English, Irish, and Scottish items ranging from ceramic figurines to cookies, is interested in forming a league in the wake of the Octopus's fall. BDI CEO Kenneth Bouknight is a long-time close friend and confidant of the late Nigel Benvuneto, founder of Benvuneto Shipping Industries and the Octopus League.

BDI offices declined comment, as did Bouknight himself.

The Octopus League was a success in its lone season, drawing crowds to its eight cities and providing numerous feel-good stories. It ended in the San Diego Bishops' 4-1 defeat of the Miami Vices in the River Series.

Some of those very Octopus League teams are speculated as potentially being a part of the new league, should it come about. The Vatican has issued a statement expressing interest in keeping the San Diego Bishops as a franchise if a new league forms. NBC, the owners of the Miami Vices and televisor of the Octopus League games indicated that they, too, would like to see their team as part of whatever new league might form.

In other Octopus League-related news, catcher Wayne Dewitt is said to be considering putting his name in for the next MLB draft. The sensational 27 year old lit up Octopus League pitching, leading the league with a .393 average and showing considerable pop with the bat while playing for the New Orleans Mardi Gras.

[Izulde]

Well I'm a little dinosaur
I'm a little dinosaur
I'm a little dinosaur
But I'm planning to go away

Well I am real old don't you know
Born eight million years ago
But they don't love me enough here
And so I'm planning to go away

Oh, if I could go away, I would! Run away from this decaying, dying city with its bloodied underbelly and lost innards of manufacturing might. Dash out of I-94 and into a Route, maybe 66 and maybe not.

Leave the Midwest and never return. But then the Midwest can never leave me entirely can it, Nick and Jay?

But Reconstruction... going West or South to be rebuild North Me... maybe I could do that.

I hope these rumours of a new league are true. The cage door may open then and I might be able to fly for freedom, soaring and seeking sensuality and sublime sexual awakening with a pretty girl in a happy, sun-drowsy state in a sun-blessed state.

Of course, I'd have to say goodbye to them all. Goodbye Josue, goodbye Delbert, goodbye obscure, fat friends, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.

It is a farewell I will do naught but delight in.