Fathers and sons, rough times and baseball Anyone who has ever had a difficult relationship with their father and looked hard to find a common ground with him will hear familiar notes in Three Flies Up. Dupuis writes of his long, troubled relationship with his father and of how a mutual love for baseball was often the only thing that allowed them to "bond" without striking sparks off each other. When, after years of estrangement, the author returns home to California at age 48 to help care for his father, who is sinking into dementia as his own process of dying begins, baseball becomes even more important as father and son attempt to cope with the gathering twilight-and each other.