dude, donât have muscles on muscles. Just all the muscles he needs. And the eye. He sees a thing on the ball and he donât have to wait to communicate it to his arms or wrists or his back, with the way his back rears back and slouches into a reaching swing.
On this night, he hit two home runs and drove in four runs. I could even hear the bat, the way he described it to me. Ever notice how some ball players start out trotting toward first base even before the ball is halfway out of the park because they know itâs gone? Itâs because of the sound and the feel of the bat on the ball. You hit the ball square and it just implodes on you, on the bat, just takes the wind out of itself and goes thump or something. I donât have that swing â thank God Iâm a pitcher â but I seen it in plenty of others. Raul said he was hitting that way that night and his team won and they were all falling over each other on the way out of the dugout to the lockers. He was feeling good when he got back to the clubhouse to strip off his uniform and take a shower.
The good feeling did not last as long as it should have. Raoul said there were two men waiting in the clubhouse and they said he was going to go with them after his shower.
They had cards that said it didnât matter what their names were, they were from government house.
What a miserable shower that must have been, with two goons waiting for you, both of them still wearing sunglasses even though it was nearly midnight.
After his shower, he shaved slowly and then put on his clean clothes. He wore his clothes with style, even though he was a poor kid from the outback, Havana had taught him style in the two years he was playing there. Raul has big square shoulders and a slight build and sort of olive drab eyes. He told the men he was ready, and he wondered what he was ready for.
They all crammed into an East German Trabant, which is a two-cycle car like a motorcycle and is mostly glued together with plastic panels. It makes a VW Beetle look like a Cadillac. Old Fidel, he sure got shit for his bargain with the devil â youâd think for a smart guy he wouldâve at least looked at the kind of cars they would end up sending him for being a Communist. Well, they rattled through Havana that night, over to one of the few buildings with lights on.
Let me tell you, it is scary in a city at night with no lights on in the buildings. You wonder where the bad people are. And for all I know, the bad people wonder where you are.
All the while, Raul kept asking the goons what was going on and they kept saying nothing.
Nada
.
When they got to the government house, the men untangled themselves from the Trabant like three clowns getting out of the car in the center ring and went up the steps. Raul said he had a charley horse from the way he had to sit in back and I believed it, having ridden in a Trabant since then and being two inches shorter than Raul.
When they got inside, they went up another set of marble steps to a landing and down a hall to a big wooden door, the kind of door that is built that big just to intimidate the shit out of you. I mean, nobody needs a door that big for anything. Raul said he was intimidated, but he carries himself with such natural dignity for someone only twenty-three years old that I doubt it showed at the time.
They made him wait alone in an office for a long time. He studied the office while he waited. There was a photo of Fidel on one wall and another of Che and one of Fidel cutting sugar cane with the peasantry.
Then they came for him around one in the morning and took him down another hall to a bigger room.
He sat down in a bigger chair with ornate arms and red cushions. He asked for a glass of water and the goons ignored him.
About two in the morning, Raul looked up and there was Fidel himself sweeping into the room with a small entourage of toadies.
Raul had never seen him up close, just at the May Day rally
On this night, he hit two home runs and drove in four runs. I could even hear the bat, the way he described it to me. Ever notice how some ball players start out trotting toward first base even before the ball is halfway out of the park because they know itâs gone? Itâs because of the sound and the feel of the bat on the ball. You hit the ball square and it just implodes on you, on the bat, just takes the wind out of itself and goes thump or something. I donât have that swing â thank God Iâm a pitcher â but I seen it in plenty of others. Raul said he was hitting that way that night and his team won and they were all falling over each other on the way out of the dugout to the lockers. He was feeling good when he got back to the clubhouse to strip off his uniform and take a shower.
The good feeling did not last as long as it should have. Raoul said there were two men waiting in the clubhouse and they said he was going to go with them after his shower.
They had cards that said it didnât matter what their names were, they were from government house.
What a miserable shower that must have been, with two goons waiting for you, both of them still wearing sunglasses even though it was nearly midnight.
After his shower, he shaved slowly and then put on his clean clothes. He wore his clothes with style, even though he was a poor kid from the outback, Havana had taught him style in the two years he was playing there. Raul has big square shoulders and a slight build and sort of olive drab eyes. He told the men he was ready, and he wondered what he was ready for.
They all crammed into an East German Trabant, which is a two-cycle car like a motorcycle and is mostly glued together with plastic panels. It makes a VW Beetle look like a Cadillac. Old Fidel, he sure got shit for his bargain with the devil â youâd think for a smart guy he wouldâve at least looked at the kind of cars they would end up sending him for being a Communist. Well, they rattled through Havana that night, over to one of the few buildings with lights on.
Let me tell you, it is scary in a city at night with no lights on in the buildings. You wonder where the bad people are. And for all I know, the bad people wonder where you are.
All the while, Raul kept asking the goons what was going on and they kept saying nothing.
Nada
.
When they got to the government house, the men untangled themselves from the Trabant like three clowns getting out of the car in the center ring and went up the steps. Raul said he had a charley horse from the way he had to sit in back and I believed it, having ridden in a Trabant since then and being two inches shorter than Raul.
When they got inside, they went up another set of marble steps to a landing and down a hall to a big wooden door, the kind of door that is built that big just to intimidate the shit out of you. I mean, nobody needs a door that big for anything. Raul said he was intimidated, but he carries himself with such natural dignity for someone only twenty-three years old that I doubt it showed at the time.
They made him wait alone in an office for a long time. He studied the office while he waited. There was a photo of Fidel on one wall and another of Che and one of Fidel cutting sugar cane with the peasantry.
Then they came for him around one in the morning and took him down another hall to a bigger room.
He sat down in a bigger chair with ornate arms and red cushions. He asked for a glass of water and the goons ignored him.
About two in the morning, Raul looked up and there was Fidel himself sweeping into the room with a small entourage of toadies.
Raul had never seen him up close, just at the May Day rally
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