2 – Some More About the Beginning

RUBBERY SHRUBBERY Post 2

   

Welcome to the official Rubbery Shrubbery (RS) blog. It describes the efforts of Yachats (YAH-hots), Oregon, and its citizens—called Yachatians (yah-HAY-shuns), or in some cases, Yahotties (yah-HOT-tees)—to acquire a Major League Baseball franchise. To learn about Yachats (Where Nature Happens Every Day), please go to this page or go to GoYachats.

   

Several faithful chroniclers are writing this blog. Today’s entry again is written by hard-bitten, ex-sportswriter Harrison Grutch. Now a retired Yachatian, he devotes all his time to reporting on Major League Baseball on the central Oregon coast.

   

Some More About the Beginning
by Harrison Grutch

   

The Yachatian sun was shining brightly last Tuesday morning as Big Forbes Crossbowe entered the Drift Inn Café (see Fig. 1) with smoked salmon omelette on his mind. Little did he realize he was about to make baseball history.

   

When Bebe Broadbent (the secret object of Forbes’s wistful musings) and Phyllicida Thronk saw Forbes they waved for him to join them at their booth. No sooner had Forbes gotten himself comfortably seated than Bebe leaned toward him and whispered, “You’re a guy, so you must know a lot about baseball, right?”

   

Forbes was temporarily at a loss, but after an awkward moment of grappling with his internal sprinkler system, he gathered his wits, and blurted out, “Oh, sure! All us guys know about baseball.” His right eye began to twitch.

   

Phyllicida shushed him and whispered, “Hush! Keep your voice down. We don’t want those people in the next booth to hear us.” And she pointed discretely toward “those people.”

   

“Why?” Forbes asked hushedly.

   

“We’ve overheard them say that Yachats might get a major league baseball team,” confided Phyllicida, nodding a firm reassurance in response to Forbes’s stunned look.

   

Bebe giggled quietly, “Pretty cool, huh?”

   

For a moment Forbes was bewitched by Bebe’s fetching chime-like titter. But then, realizing the topic was still baseball and he was supposed to have knowledge of that sport in conjunction with the potential for rampant baldness, Forbes tried to mirror the ladies’ enthusiasm by sputtering, “Wow, that is cool.”

   

From that point everything was spaghetti pudding. Forbes could do little but smile sagely and add, “yep,” or “sounds great,” as Phyllicida surmised which celebrity they could get to throw out the first pitch, and Bebe shared baseball trivia she had picked up from Martha Stewart.

   

At last, Forbes (trying to stay in the conversation) asked about the team’s nickname.

   

Bebe: “Well, the team we’ll get, probably, is called the Nationals. But I’m not fond of that—it reminds me of silly stuff like National Lampoon and the National Debt. Can we rename the team?”

   

Forbes: “Oh, I’m sure we can. We could have a team naming contest!”

   

Suddenly the folks in the next booth were forgotten, and Forbes’s suggestion was greeted with positive yips and screeches. He soared in his heroic moment. And he couldn’t help but try to stay aloft. “…with thousands of dollars in prizes,” he cried out. “And…and…I love you, Bebe Broadbent!”

   

Next Time: Did Forbes blow his credibility with that misblurt about thousands of dollars? Did Bebe ravel or unravel at the declaration of love spouted at her? You’ll find out next time, assuming you’ve added this affable site to your list of favorites. Do that right now.

   

NOTE: Please go to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page to send us expressions of love and admiration for RS or the opposite. We’ll publish all of them on the day the Yachats [insert nickname here] open their initial season in the National or American League, whichever comes first.

   

NOTE AGAIN: Although there is only circumstantial evidence to support this accusation, Dave Baldwin and Eric Sallee are strongly suspected of having close ties with the writers of this blog.