​JACK IN THE BOX
Michael Cornell

​The wait had begun.  The tension teemed.
The umpires had gathered around the monitor.
Jackie Jenstrom had jacked one long and tall and
now waited with the rest of the packed home crowd.
Had the ball landed in fan Aaron Goodwin's half-
empty Cracker Jack box above the yellow line or
had the kid reached over and impeded the outfielder's
catching it for the final out of the tenth inning?
Jenstrom stood at second-base and watched the replay
on the large scoreboard screen from every angle,
in slow-mo, in no-mo--
Now the umpire-in-chief had received word from
New York, removed his earphones, turned, stepped
forward and was making the signal to Jenstrom at
second..
It was GO-mo!  Circle the bases!
Jenstrom resumed his stride, this time in a trot to
his waiting teammates at home-plate.
The first game of the series had gone to the
hometown favorites in a walk-off.
Goodwin's catch had counted and
had counted caramel-sweet.