122 Days to Opening Day 2008

Opening Day 2008 for the Timber Rattlers is April 3. That is 122 days from today. This off-season, the countdown will be based on books. Each day between now and Opening Day 2008, I will pick a random book out of my library and excerpt a passage off the page number corresponding with the number of days remaining to the first pitch of the new season. I will try not to repeat a book during the countdown.

This week is Tom Clancy Week at Rattler Radio.

Today’s excerpt is from Patriot Games. Jack and Cathy Ryan are leaving a very safe place where they had dinner.

Ryan finished off his third beer of the evening. It was pretty strong stuff, and he was getting a buzz from it. “Gentlemen, if any of you come to America, and happen to visit the Washington area, I trust you will let us know.”

“And the next time you are in London, the bar is open,” Tom Hughes said. The Chief Warder was back in civilian clothes, but carrying his uniform bonnet, a hat whose design went back three or four centuries. “And perhaps you’ll find room in your home for this. Sir John, with the thanks of us all.”

“I’ll take good care of this.” Ryan took the hat, but couldn’t bring himself to put it on. He hadn’t earned that right.

“Now, I regret to say that if you don’t leave now, you’ll be stuck here all night. At midnight all the doors are shut, and that is that.”

Jack and Cathy shook hands all around, then followed Hughes and Murray out the door.

The walk between the inner and outer walls was still quiet, the air still cold, and Jack found himself wondering if ghosts walked the Tower Grounds at night. It was almost –

“What’s that?” He pointed to the outer wall. A spectral shape was walking up there.

“A sentry,” Hughes said. “After the Ceremony of the Keys, the guards don their pattern-disruptive clothing.” They passed the sentry at the Bloody Tower, now dressed in camouflage fatigues, with web gear and ammo pouches.

“Those rifles are loaded now, aren’t they?” Jack asked.

“Not very much use otherwise, are they? This is a very safe place,” Hughes replied.

Nice to know that some places are, Ryan thought. Now why did I think of that?

Put today’s excerpt in a baseball context.