Mrs. Rose’s smile faded slightly. “Oh. You’re going to a party?”
“I — I was invited,” said Freddie.
Mrs. Rose’s smile returned quickly, but Freddie could tell it wasn’t real. “Then you keep your invitation,” she said. “Someone else can take Jimmie. There’s Richard a few doors away from us. And Peter —”
“No, no!” Freddie interrupted. “I’ll go with him trick or treating. I don’t have to go to the party.”
“Don’t be silly, Freddie,” said Mrs. Rose. “You go to the party.”
She stood up, pulled her coat snugly over her shoulders, and started toward the door.
“Don’t worry about it, Freddie.” Her smile still didn’t look real. “You have accepted the invitation to the party. It’s only fair that you keep it.”
Just then somebody turned the knob of the door on the outside. The door opened, and in came Jimmie. A smile a mile wide was on his face as he looked up at his mother and then at Freddie. His big blue eyes sparkled brightly.
“Hi, everybody!” he cried. “Hi, Freddie! Going trick or treating with me tomorrow night?”
11
Freddie stared at Jimmie and nodded. “Sure, Jimmie! Sure, I’ll go with you!”
But his mind was crying out to him — What will Dick say? And what about the next game, and the next? He probably won’t let me carry the ball again. But look at Jimmie. That little guy looks up to me! I can’t refuse him!
“Thanks, Freddie!” said Jimmie, his eyes bright as stars. “I told Mom you would!”
“Jimmie,” Mrs. Rose said softly, “Freddie can’t take you tomorrow night. He’s been invited to a Halloween party.”
The brightness disappeared from Jimmie’s eyes. Disappointment came over his face. “But he just said —”
“He wants to be nice to you,” Mrs. Rose said. She took Jimmie’s hand and opened the door. “Come on, Jimmie. And don’t feel bad about it. Freddie didn’t know you wanted him to go trick or treating with you, or he wouldn’t have promised to go to that party.”
“But Mrs. Rose!” pleaded Freddie. “I said I’d go with him!”
She smiled. “I know, Freddie. But please don’t let this worry you. I’ll find someone for Jimmie. Good night, now. Good night, Mary.”
The door closed behind them, and Freddie turned around and looked at his mom. A smile tugged at her lips, and she shrugged.
“You do what you like, Freddie,” she said.
The next night, he dressed in his pirate’s costume, put on his mask, and went over to Jimmie’s house. He rang the bell. Mrs. Rose answered the door.
“Hello, Mrs. Rose,” said Freddie. His lips spread in a smile below his mask. “I came to take Jimmie trick or treating.”
Her eyes widened. She stared at Freddie and at his costume. For a long minute she acted as if she didn’t know just what to say.
Then Jimmie came running forward. He ducked under his mom’s arm and cracked a big smile at Freddie.
“Hey! A pirate!” he cried. “Are you trick or treating?”
“I’m Freddie,” said Freddie. ≴I’ve come to take you trick or treating. Don’t you have a costume?”
“Freddie?” Jimmie’s face brightened like a jack-o’-lantern. “You bet I do! I’ll be in it in no time!”
Mrs. Rose invited Freddie into the house. It didn’t take long for Jimmie to dress in his costume, a black cat suit with whiskers, pointed ears, and a long tail. Mrs. Rose gave him a paper sack, and together he and Freddie went out the door and down the street.
They stopped at each house, and Freddie let Jimmie either knock or press the doorbell. “Trick or treat!” Jimmie would say, and whoever answered would almost always have something ready to put into the sack. A candy bar, pieces of caramel, packages of nuts or jelly beans.
“Thank you!” Jimmie would reply.
He’s really enjoying this, thought Freddie. I guess I did the right thing by coming with him.
Finally they came to a house Freddie recognized immediately. It was big and white, with a hedge along the walk and tall lilac bushes guarding the front porch steps. This was where Dick Connors lived. Freddie saw figures in costume passing back and forth in front of the lighted windows.
“Let’s not stop here, Jimmie,” said Freddie hastily. “They seem to have a lot of company.”
“That’s all right!” said Jimmie. “Let’s go anyway!”
Freddie laughed at Jimmie’s spunkiness, shook his head, and followed the little boy up the steps to the front door. Jimmie pressed a button. Soon the door opened and a boy in a tiger’s costume looked out at them.
“Trick or treat!” said Jimmie.
“Well, look at this!” the boy said, and pulled the door open wider. “Come on in and join our party!”
Freddie recognized that voice instantly. The boy was Dick Connors.
Jimmie stepped inside. Freddie followed him. The room was filled with boys and girls in costume. They all had their masks on their faces so that it was practically impossible to tell who they were.
Some of them began putting fruit and candy into Jimmie’s sack. Somebody in a white rabbit’s costume put a colored paper hat on Jimmie’s head, and somebody else tied a blue ribbon around the end of his tail. They were having a good time, and Jimmie was laughing happily with them.
Then a tall boy stepped in front of Freddie. He wore a funny mask that completely covered his face and muffled his voice when he spoke.
“You look familiar,” he said. Then, before Freddie could protect himself, the boy lifted his mask.
“Well, look who we have here!” He suddenly let go of the mask. It snapped back against Freddie’s forehead.
Freddie, stunned and angry, yanked his mask back down over his eyes and went to the door. “Come on, Jimmie!” he said. “Let’s get out of here!”
“You shouldn’t have done that!” Dick Connors snapped at the boy who had lifted Freddie’s mask. “Look what you did. You hurt him. How would you like to have somebody do that to you?”
“Okay,” the boy answered. “I’m sorry. He didn’t have to get mad about it.”
Freddie and Jimmie left quickly.
Freddie could make only a guess, but he had a good idea who that boy was who had lifted his mask.
Mert McGuire. His own cousin.
12
At eleven o’clock the next morning, on the A field, the Sandpipers kicked off to the Bluejays. At the same time, on the B field, the Flamingos kicked off to the Cardinals. Until today the Cardinals had won two games and lost one; the Sandpipers had lost two and tied one. They had yet to win a game.
Like small armies, the Sandpipers and the Bluejays rushed at each other. The Sandpipers were in canary yellow, the Bluejays in powder blue.
The Bluejays’ flashy fullback, Art Neeley, caught the kick and ran it back to his twenty-two.
Freddie waited for Ted Butler, or somebody, to come in and take his place in the linebacker slot. But no one rushed in from the Sandpipers’ bench. At last he was being given another chance on defense!
The Bluejays hurried out of their huddle. With a wingback playing a few feet behind and to the right of their right end, the Bluejays’ quarterback began snapping signals.
“Down! Set! One! Two!”
The quarterback took the snap. He hurried back and handed off to Art Neeley. The Sandpipers’ line broke through. Freddie sidestepped a husky tackle and rushed through a hole after Neeley. But Neeley was sweeping around his right end, the ball tucked under his arm.
He plunged past Joey Mills and crossed the line of scrimmage. It looked as if he was really on his way. Dave Summers, one of the fastest linemen on the team, raced after him. He caught Neeley’s arm. Neeley tried to get away. Bucky Jensen rushed forward and tackled him.
The Bluejays had gained twelve yards on the play. Once again it was first down for them.
The ball was on their thirty-four-yard line. Again Neeley carried the ball. This time he plunged through left
tackle — directly toward Freddie.
For a fraction of a second, panic overcame Freddie. Art Neeley was coming toward him — he wasn’t running away from him, not like that boy who had taken little Jimmie’s cards. This was different.
He had to stop Neeley. He couldn’t let him get by.
Right tackle Steve Cook grabbed Neeley, who shook himself loose and looked directly into Freddie’s eyes. A grin came over his lips, as if he were defying Freddie. He pushed out his right hand. Quick as lightning, Freddie ducked and wrapped his arms around the fullback’s knees.
Neeley went down!
The players piled on Neeley and Freddie. The referee’s whistle shrilled, and the players unpiled. Freddie and Neeley were the last to get up.
He met Neeley’s eyes again. This time there was a sort of respectful look in Neeley’s gaze. He had gained only two yards.
On the second down, the Bluejays tried a crisscross buck. The quarterback faked to the left halfback, then handed the ball to the right halfback. The halfback plunged toward the hole in the right side of the Sandpipers’ line.
Freddie and Harry Lott hit him, tackling him a yard behind scrimmage.
Both Freddie and Harry rose, smiling at each other.
“Way to go, Freddie!” Dick Connors said. “You’re doing it now!”
The Bluejays gained three yards on the next play. They punted on the fourth.
Bucky Jensen caught the ball on his thirty and carried it to the thirty-six.
“Twelve pass,” said Dick in the huddle.
Twelve meant that Dick was to pass to Bucky. They tried it, but Neeley knocked down the ball. Neeley seemed to be everywhere.
Dennis plowed through tackle for a seven-yard gain, and Freddie flashed around right end for six more yards and a first down.
The Sandpipers began moving, pushing the ball closer and closer toward the Bluejays’ goal line.
Then, on a double reverse, Dick handed off to Bucky and Bucky to Freddie.
Freddie fumbled! A Bluejay fell on the ball, and the Sandpipers’ chances to score a touchdown vanished.
13
For a while the Sandpipers’ spirits sank. Their shoulders and chins sagged. Dick slapped his helmet against his side disgustedly and shot a dark look out of the corner of his eye at Freddie.
Freddie felt the others glare at him, too. He couldn’t blame them. It was his fault, and he wished that Coach Sears would take him out.
That double reverse was a good surprise play. It could have worked fine. With only thirteen yards to go for a goal, the Sandpipers might have scored a touchdown.
The Bluejays hustled to the scrimmage line, and Freddie trotted to his linebacker spot. Apparently Coach Sears wanted him to remain in there.
The Bluejays tried an end-around run. It worked for an eight-yard gain. Then a halfback plunged through tackle, and it was Freddie who brought him down. The Bluejays made first down on their next play, and the quarter ended. The teams switched goals.
Twice the Bluejays made first downs, gaining ground on passes and line bucks. Then they lost ground on a five-yard penalty charge; one of their players was offside. They couldn’t regain the loss, and the ball went to the Sandpipers.
The Sandpipers moved forward slowly. Then Dick shot a quick pass to Joey Mills. But it wasn’t Joey who caught the ball. Swift as a bird, Art Neeley swooped in, intercepted it, and went all the way for a touchdown!
Then he scored the extra point.
Freddie could hear the Bluejay fans cheering from the sidelines and the bleachers. Cheering for Art Neeley.
The Bluejays kicked off to the Sandpipers. And now the Sandpipers tried to hold on to the ball, tried hard to gain those ten yards in order to keep going. Freddie’s runs through tackle and around the ends, and Dennis Yates’s hard plunges, were bringing them closer to the Bluejays’ end zone. Not even two offside penalties dimmed the Sandpipers’ hopes.
Then Dick fumbled a snap from center, and a Bluejay pounced on the ball!
That did it!
The Bluejays tried pushing the ball the other way. On their own thirty-five, Harry Lott was charged for holding, which gave the Bluejays fifteen more yards.
Freddie shook his head unhappily. It would be like Harry to do such a thing.
The Bluejays tried a surprise play. The quarterback handed off to Art Neeley. Art started running toward the side, then quickly shot a pass. But the Sandpiper safety got under the wobbling ball, caught it, and sprinted down the field!
He crossed the goal line for a TD, and Dennis bucked the line for the extra point.
Now the score was tied.
The game remained tied until the middle of the third quarter, when the Bluejays had the ball on the Sandpipers’ fifteen-yard line. With five yards to go on the fourth down, Neeley went into position to kick a field goal. The ball shot straight between the uprights, and the Bluejays went ahead, 10–7.
Once again the Sandpipers lost hope, letting their shoulders droop and their chins sag.
“Come on, you guys!” Freddie could hear Coach Sears yelling. “Get in there and fight! You can do it!”
Freddie had a glimpse of his mom, too. She was sitting in the third row of the bleachers with other moms and dads.
Bet she knows more about football than a lot of those women, Freddie thought. She had learned it when she used to watch Dad play. Gee, if only Dad could be here …
The Sandpipers could do very little. Coach Sears made replacements. Ted went in for Freddie.
“We could have been far ahead in this game,” said Coach Sears, “if we had kept our wits about us. We have this game to play, and the one with the Cardinals next week. Don’t you want to win?”
Freddie remembered those words when he got back into the game. But it wasn’t until just after the start of the fourth quarter that his opportunity came. Once more it was on a double reverse. This time he took the ball from Bucky without trouble, swept around left end, and went all the way.
Dennis bucked for the point, and the score was Sandpipers 14, Bluejays 10.
Later, when the Bluejays had the ball, Freddie was taken out. He went in again only when the Sandpipers got the ball. He realized after this happened the third time that Coach Sears was playing him only on offense.
What have I done now? he asked himself worriedly.
He looked over at the other field and noticed that the Cardinals-Flamingos game was over; that some of the players were here, watching this game. Among them was his cousin Mert.
There was time for only a few more plays. The Bluejays had the ball on the Sandpipers’ thirty-six. They tried a short pass and gained eight yards. Then Neeley broke lose on a play around left end — and went fifteen yards!
Freddie fidgeted on the bench. He looked at Coach Sears. The coach glanced at his watch, then began rubbing his knees nervously.
The Bluejays tried a line buck. No gain.
“Hold them, line! Hold them!” yelled the Sandpipers’ fans.
Again Neeley carried the ball, going around his right end this time. Get him, somebody! Freddie wanted to shout. Get him!
It was Dennis who pulled Neeley down — on the five-yard line.
Then the whistle shrilled. The game was over.
“Whew! Just in time!” murmured Freddie.
The Sandpipers were the winners: 14–10.
The boys leaped and hugged each other with joy they had not known in a long, long time. This was their first win in two years!
Jimmie walked alongside Freddie on their way home, talking every minute and telling Freddie how wonderfully he played and what a great run that was.
“Fifty-five yards!” said Jimmie, and whistled.
Fifty-five yards? Freddie smiled. He hadn’t realized what it was at the time.
Then along his other side approached Mert, carrying his helmet.
“Well, see you guys finally won a game,” he said. “And I heard you made a TD, Freddie. Congratulations!
“Thanks,” said Fr
eddie. “How did you make out?”
“We won. Thirty-nine to thirteen. I made three touchdowns.”
“You did?”
“I heard you made some nice tackles,” Mert went on. “Must be just talk. The coach was taking you out every time on defense while I was watching the game.”
“We play you next week,” Freddie said. “You’ll have a better chance to watch me then.”
Mert chuckled. “It’s a deal!” he said. “But I think it’ll be an easy win — for us!” He ran off ahead of them, his laughter trailing behind him.
Don’t be too sure, thought Freddie. I’ll have my chance to pay you back for what you did to me at Dick Connors’s Halloween party!
14
For the next several days, the important subject around school was the Sandpipers’ win over the Bluejays. The Monday Evening Times had an article describing the highlights of the game. Freddie cut it out and pasted it in his scrapbook among his other clippings.
This article contained a special piece about him. Freddie was proud, but he didn’t brag about it the way his cousin Mert bragged about his write-ups.
“Special praise is deserved by Freddie Chase, the Sandpipers’ right halfback,” one paragraph read. “His sparkling runs through the line and around the ends were a sight to see. Several times he shook off tacklers for sizable gains. He proved himself on defense, too, tackling big, fast runners such as Art Neeley, the Bluejays’ star fullback. But his most spectacular play was his fifty-five-yard touchdown run….”
Little by little the conversation among the football fans drifted to this coming Saturday’s game between the Sandpipers and the Cardinals. Almost everybody felt that it was going to be an easy victory for the Cardinals. Almost everybody … except the Sandpipers.
“Just wait and see,” said Mert McGuire, smiling with lots of confidence. “We’ll run through you Sandpipers so bad, there won’t be a feather left on you!
Freddie expected Mert to say something about that night at Dick Connors’s party. But Mert didn’t. Either he had forgotten the incident or he didn’t want Freddie to know that it was he who had lifted Freddie’s mask.
Halfback Attack Page 4
