Samantha and Nipper rode the number 4 subway north to Yankee Stadium. She watched the map to make sure they got off at the right station.

“Not like the magtrain at all, is it?” she asked Nipper.

He shook his head. He couldn’t hear her over the noise of the subway.

They were the only two passengers to exit at Yankee Stadium. They marched up from the subway onto a quiet, empty plaza. They saw a dark stadium. The ticket booths were shuttered and the gates were closed.

A poster on a ticket booth displayed the team’s schedule for the month of May. The Yankees were currently playing a three-game series against the Nationals in Washington, D.C.

“Don’t trust a Nat,” Nipper said quietly.

“Oh, come on,” said Samantha, exasperated. “Couldn’t you have checked the schedule before you dragged me all the way up here?”

She looked up at the empty stadium.

“The ride was a big waste,” she grumbled. “And we don’t have much time left in New York.”

Nipper had already turned and bounded up the stairs. He poked his head through a closed entrance gate. He gripped a metal bar with each hand and peered around the grounds, standing up on his toes to get a better view.

A vendor pushing a squeaky cart stacked with T-shirts and hats made his way along the sidewalk. He flashed a hopeful smile. Then he saw that Nipper already had a bobblehead and the complete Yankees wardrobe. The man lost some of his enthusiasm.

“That’s my team and my stadium,” Nipper told the vendor.

“Your team?” the man said, chuckling a little. “I hope you didn’t pay a lot for it.”

Nipper noticed a sign on the vendor’s cart.

LOSING STREAK SPECIAL

90% OFF

Nipper was about to say something to the vendor about his Yankees, how they were going to turn it around, and the magical World Series ring he would wear someday. But the man was already walking away.

“I wouldn’t pay three hundred bucks for those bums,” the vendor said as he rolled his creaking cart away down the sidewalk.

Samantha let her brother pace around the outside of the empty stadium for a few more minutes. Then she led him back to the subway and they headed to Buffy’s castle in the sky.