The San Francisco Splash

by David A. Kelly

  “Who won?” Mike asked.

  “I did!” Ray said, puffing out his chest. “I always beat him fair and square, even if he doesn’t like it.”

  “He probably scooped up your ring when you won,” Kate said. “Tricky!”

  Ray told them how after he and Lenny had finished arm wrestling, a photographer had taken pictures of them with fans. Then Ray had boarded Captain Dan’s boat to look for splash hits.

  “I guess I was so excited about winning that I forgot to put my ring back on,” Ray said. “Let’s go track Lenny down and get it back.”

  As they headed for the door, Mickey called out to Ray, “Don’t forget you’re the guest of honor for that charity event upstairs. You’re going to be late unless you hurry!”

  Ray stopped. “Oh no,” he said. “I can’t miss that event.”

  “Don’t worry, Ray,” Kate said. “Mike and I will go talk to Lenny. We’ll get your ring back!”

  “My dad’s in the Dodgers’ dugout,” Kate said. “I bet Lenny is there, too.”

  After saying goodbye to Ray, Mike and Kate started down the hallway toward the outfield. But Mike stopped abruptly. “Hey, Kate,” he said. “Wait a minute.”

  Kate wheeled around to see Mike dart across the hallway to a souvenir booth. Giants T-shirts sat stacked on the sides. Fluffy white-and-black wool hats that looked like panda heads dangled from the ceiling.

  By the time Kate caught up, the salesperson had put out a series of colorful bracelets on the counter. They came in three colors—orange, black, and white, as well as an orange-and-black-striped version. Kate picked one up.

  “These are MightiBands,” the salesperson explained to Mike and Kate. “They have a special magnetic core that gives your wrist extra power for hitting.”

  Mike fiddled with an orange one. He popped it over his right hand onto his wrist. It was snug, but not too tight.

  “I feel stronger already,” Mike said. He turned to Kate. “Here, try to turn my hand upside down.”

  Kate rolled her eyes. She grabbed Mike’s hand and twisted. He struggled to keep it steady. Just as Kate was about to flip it over, Mike pulled away.

  “Now try the other one, without the MightiBand,” he said.

  Kate took his other hand. This time, she easily flipped it upside down. It seemed like Mike wasn’t even trying to stop her.

  “See how powerful it is?” Mike asked. “You couldn’t move the hand with the MightiBand.”

  “I was just about to flip your hand when you switched,” Kate said. “And you weren’t even trying the second time.”

  “I don’t know about that.” Mike pulled the MightiBand off, took out some money, and plunked it on the counter. “I’ll take it,” he said.

  After Mike and Kate left the booth, they followed the walkway behind left field. On their left was a huge, curvy soda bottle, about eighty feet long. Next to it was a gigantic four-fingered baseball glove.

  “Wow, cool!” Mike exclaimed. “What are those?”

  “If you’d read about the ballpark in the guidebook, you’d know,” Kate said. “The giant soda bottle has slides inside.” She pointed to a gated area. “You climb up those stairs to the top of the bottle. Then you slide down to the bottom!”

  “What’s the glove do?” Mike asked.

  Kate shrugged. “Nothing. It just looks cool.”

  “What are we waiting for? Let’s try the slides,” Mike said.

  Kate stopped him. “Not now. We have to see if Lenny has the ring, remember?” She pulled Mike along. “We can come back later.…”

  As they walked around the outfield, Mike kept holding up the MightiBand on his right hand. “This is great!” he said. “I can’t wait to get up to bat.”

  On the other side of the scoreboard, near center field, they passed a bunch of fans sitting in an old cable car that was behind the center-field seats.

  “I don’t get how cable cars work,” Mike said.

  “It’s simple,” Kate said. “I read about them in the guidebook. Cable cars are pulled along by a heavy steel cable that runs under the streets. San Francisco is so hilly, something was needed to help people move around the city.”

  “That’s cool!” Mike said as they started down the walkway again. “Maybe we can come back and check that out later, too.”

  McCovey Cove with its kayakers was on the left. For a moment, Mike and Kate watched the boaters. Then they kept walking until they came to the Dodgers’ dugout.

  “We’re here to see my father,” Kate told a security guard near the gate to the visitors’ dugout. “That’s him over there. Hi, Dad!”

  Kate’s father waved back from the other side. He spoke to the security guard, who then opened the gate. Mike and Kate slipped into the dugout. A bunch of baseball players stood at the far end. The game was about to start.

  Mike took in all the sights. “Wow!” he said. “It’s like you’re right in the game!”

  Kate told her dad all about Ray’s arm-wrestling match. “We want to ask Lenny Littleton about the ring,” she said.

  Kate’s dad pointed to a stocky older man sitting at the other end of the bench. “That’s Mr. Littleton,” he said. “I know he doesn’t care for the San Francisco Giants, but I doubt he’d ever steal Ray’s World Series ring.”

  “Can we go ask, Uncle Steve?” Mike said.

  Kate’s dad laughed. “No, I don’t want you bothering him,” he said. “But you can ask him if he comes down this way. And, Mike, you might want to be careful in those clothes!”

  Mike leaned against the wall and blushed. His black-and-orange Giants jersey certainly didn’t fit in very well in the Dodgers’ dugout.

  The game started a few minutes later. As Mike and Kate settled back on the bench, Mike drew some funny looks from the Dodgers. He tried to ignore them, but it was hard. Finally, Mike slipped the shirt off. He turned it inside out and put it back on. Now it just looked like a poorly made jersey.

  “I wondered how long that would take you,” Kate said. Mike felt better right away. He could focus on the game again. As they were watching, he fished a worn green tennis ball out of his sweatpants pocket and rolled it from hand to hand. Mike always carried a ball with him. It helped him think.

  The first two innings went by quickly. Neither team scored, but the Giants got close once, with three runners on base.

  Partway through the third inning, the Giants got runners on first and third with only one out.

  The Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher shook off one sign after the other. He waited for his catcher to select the pitch he wanted. At last, he got the sign he was looking for and went into set position.

  It seemed like he was trying to throw a curveball. But the pitch headed straight for the middle of the plate.

  The Giants batter leaned back and unwound on it.

  POW!

  The ball sailed high over the head of the shortstop and the left fielder. It plonked into the top of the soda bottle slide. It was a home run!

  One runner after the other scored. Now San Francisco was up 3–0.

  Mike and Kate were so busy watching the game, they didn’t notice that Lenny had gotten up to stretch his legs. He stopped in front of Mike and pointed to Mike’s Giants sweatpants and inside-out jersey.

  “You sure you’re in the right dugout, son?” he asked in a deep, gravelly voice.

  “Um—um, yeah,” Mike stammered. He looked at Kate for help.

  Kate stood up. “Are you Mr. Littleton?” she asked.

  “I am,” replied the man, bowing slightly. “Lenny Littleton, at your service!”

  “I’m Kate,” said Kate, “and this is my cousin Mike. We heard you had a World Series ring. May we see it?”

  Lenny laughed softly. “Sure,” he said. “I’m always happy to show off my ring.”

  He held out his right hand. On one finger was a huge silver ring. The word DODGERS was set in heavy letters above an oval design. The center of the ring had a gold baseball infield with a small round dia
mond in the middle.

  “Each year they come up with a new design for the World Series rings,” Lenny explained. “So they’re all different.”

  “We saw a picture of the one from when the Giants won the Series,” Mike said.

  Lenny shook his head. “They didn’t deserve to win that year,” he said. “They beat us to end our season with a sneaky play. I always give my old Giants buddy Ray a hassle about that.”

  “We just met Ray,” Kate said. “Did you know his World Series ring is missing?”

  Mike stepped forward, edging Kate aside. “Yeah, Ray thinks you might have taken it!” he said. “Right after he beat you in the arm-wrestling match.”

  Lenny’s eyes grew wide. A sly smile flashed across his face. “That’s it,” he said. “Ray never deserved that ring. I admit it. I stole Ray’s ring!”

  “You did?” Mike asked. “Where is it?”

  Lenny leaned back and made a pitching motion. “Yeah!” he said. “I stole it and threw it into the bay!”

  Mike and Kate gasped. “You stole the ring?” Kate asked. “And threw it in the water?”

  Lenny laughed out loud.

  “I knew Ray didn’t trust me,” he said. “But I never thought he’d call me a thief!”

  Mike folded his arms in front of his chest. “Why’d you steal the ring?” he asked.

  “Like I said, he didn’t deserve it,” Lenny said. “It wasn’t fair that the Giants beat us in that game.” Lenny examined his ring for a moment, then looked up. “But I’m afraid I’m just pulling your leg, kids. I didn’t steal Ray’s ring.”

  “Ray says you asked him to take it off to arm-wrestle,” Kate said. “He thinks you scooped it up after that.”

  Lenny scratched his chin. “No, that’s not what happened. We both put our rings back on after we finished arm wrestling. Ray probably doesn’t remember. He was busy giving high fives to all the fans because he won. He slipped the ring on without thinking.”

  “So who took it?” Mike asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Lenny said. “But it definitely happened after we finished with the arm-wrestling match.”

  Mike scuffed at the ground with his sneaker. “Shoot,” he said. “Ray really wants his ring back. Now we don’t have any good ideas of where it is.”

  “World Series rings are worth a lot of money,” Lenny said. “It’s possible someone took it to sell it to a collector.”

  Kate sighed. “But who?” she asked.

  Lenny tipped his cap to them. “I’ll keep thinking about it,” he said. “I don’t like the Giants, but I hope you find Ray’s ring. World Series rings are important to us old ballplayers!”

  Lenny shuffled back to the end of the dugout. Mike and Kate sat down on the bench again. Kate was deep in thought. Then she turned to Mike.

  “Do you believe him?” she whispered. “What if he was lying to us and he really took the ring?”

  Mike shook his head. “No, when Lenny talked about the ring, it seemed like he was telling the truth. What are we going to tell Ray?” he said.

  Kate leaned back. “I guess you’re right. We’re stuck,” she said finally. “There’s no way to prove whether or not Lenny took the ring.”

  She twirled the end of her ponytail around her fingers. Mike watched the Giants take the field for the fifth inning.

  Kate stood up. “Let’s go for a walk and explore,” she said. “We’re not going to figure it out sitting here.”

  Mike pulled himself up. “Good idea,” he said. “I am getting a little hungry. Maybe we can find some food.”

  “I’m pretty sure we can find food, even if we can’t find the ring,” Kate said.

  They said goodbye to Kate’s father and left the dugout.

  “Hey, I know,” Mike said as they walked up the aisle. “Let’s check out that cable car in center field.”

  On the way toward the outfield, Kate and Mike stopped so Mike could buy a hot dog and some of the Giants’ special garlic fries. Kate got a slice of pizza and chips. They walked along, enjoying their snacks and watching the game.

  After they passed McCovey Cove, they spotted the cable car behind the center-field seats. Mike broke into a sprint. The cable car looked like a small train car with open sides in the front half. Long benches ran toward the back. There were steps below the benches, and wooden poles for the riders to hang on to.

  The words SAN FRANCISCO MUNICIPAL RAILWAY were stenciled on the side of the car. Above the words, the number 44 stood out in bright gold paint.

  Mike scrambled up the single step to the platform at the back of the cable car. He ducked inside as Kate followed.

  Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!

  Mike pulled the rope cord that hung from the ceiling. It connected to a small brass bell at the front of the car. Its bright sound echoed through the car.

  Kate covered her ears. “Yikes! Give it a break,” she said. “It’s not like we’re going to hit anybody!”

  They watched the game for a while from the front of the cable car.

  At the end of the inning, a Giants’ fan photographer walked over with a camera. Mike and Kate scrunched together while the photographer took their picture.

  “Perfect!” the woman said. “If you want to see the picture, go to the fan photo booth near the food court in a few minutes. The camera uploads the pictures to a big display with all the fan photos from today.”

  The photographer waved goodbye and moved on to another group of fans.

  Kate punched Mike in the arm.

  “Hey, what’d you do that for?” Mike asked, grabbing his arm.

  “Don’t you see?” she said. “We can’t prove that Lenny took the ring. But I just thought of a way we might prove that he didn’t steal it!”

  Mike and Kate raced through the stadium, dodging fans carrying hot dogs and garlic fries.

  Kate skidded to a halt in front of a big circular stand. A bank of computers flashed pictures of fans taken from around the ballpark.

  “Remember, Ray said he signed autographs with Lenny and then a photographer took pictures of him with fans,” Kate said. “That was right before the boat ride. I’ll bet those pictures are here.”

  Kate swiped her finger across the touch screen to bring up photos from earlier in the day. A picture of Ray and Lenny flickered up on the screen. They were signing autographs at a table near McCovey Cove.

  Kate dragged her hand to the right and brought up a picture from a little while later.

  “That’s it!” she said, stabbing the screen with her finger.

  Mike leaned over to look at the picture. It showed Ray standing in front of Captain Dan’s boat with his arms around some fans.

  “That was before the boat ride,” Kate said. “Look closely at this picture.”

  Mike shrugged. He didn’t see anything special. “So? It’s a picture of Ray with fans,” he said.

  “Check out his right hand,” Kate said. She pushed the magnifying glass icon on the screen to zoom in.

  Mike studied Ray’s hand. It was draped over a fan’s shoulder. The shiny World Series ring on his finger showed clearly.

  “Ah! I get it! That proves that Ray still had the ring when he went for the boat ride,” Mike said.

  “And there’s the boat in the background,” Kate added. “He put the ring on after the wrestling match, just like Lenny said.”

  “That means Ray lost the ring during the ride,” Mike said. “It also means that Lenny definitely isn’t the thief.”

  “The ring must have come off when he fell out of the boat,” Kate said. She kicked at the ground. “He’ll have to get a diver to look for it. But it may be impossible to find down there.”

  Mike nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right,” he said. He leaned against the booth and looked out at the game. It was the eighth inning. The Giants were winning. But Mike didn’t feel like celebrating.

  The crowd roared as the Giants got the third out and hustled off the field to bat.

  Kate nudged Mike. She poi
nted to the gigantic soda bottle on the left-field wall. “The game’s almost over,” she said. “Let’s take a couple of rides on the slide before we have to tell Ray about the ring.”

  Mike and Kate climbed the stairs of the giant soda bottle slide and took a moment to look around at the top. Behind them was McCovey Cove. Below them, the Giants were batting.

  Kate took a deep breath and plunged down the slide. Mike grabbed the bar over the slide’s round entrance hole.

  “Watch out below!” he said when the attendant said it was okay to go. Mike flung his body feetfirst into the tunnel. “Wow-oh-wow-wee!” he called out on the way down, his voice wavering as he bumped one way and then the other against the sides of the curvy slide.

  “Whoa!” Mike gasped as he slid to a stop at the bottom of the slide. Instead of getting up, he leaned back and looked up at the frame of the soda bottle. “That was even better than hitting a home run in Little League!”

  “It sure was rápido!” Kate added, trying out more Spanish. “You know, fast! But come on, you’ve got to get out of the way!”

  But Mike didn’t budge. He lost himself listening to the sounds of the baseball game in the background.

  Finally, Kate grabbed Mike’s hand and tugged. Mike pulled back, but Kate was strong. She grabbed with both hands and struggled to haul Mike to his feet when suddenly his MightiBand popped off in her hands. Mike dropped back onto the slide.

  “Aha!” Kate called. She dangled the orange MightiBand in front of Mike. “You want it back? Then get up!”

  Mike stood up in a flash. “That’s it!” he said.

  “I know,” Kate said. “See? It worked!”

  “No, that’s the answer to the missing ring mystery!” Mike said. “I know where the ring went!”

  Kate’s eyes grew wide. “Where?”

  Mike smiled. “Give me the MightiBand, and I’ll tell you,” he said.

  Kate passed the bracelet back, and Mike slipped it on. “I don’t think Ray’s ring is at the bottom of the bay,” he said.

  “Where is it, then?” asked Kate.