Sliding into Home

by Dori Hillestad Butler

  “Well, if the coach told you to show up on Monday, I think you need to be there,” Mom said. She tossed a folded blouse onto the pile on the drier.

  Joelle picked up the green T-shirt she’d worn on Saturday. Mom was probably right. The funny thing was, after everything she’d been through, Joelle wasn’t sure playing baseball for the Hawks was still so important to her.

  For one thing, she wasn’t convinced Coach Carlyle really wanted her to play. The school board had changed their policy. That meant Coach Carlyle had to give her a chance. It didn’t mean he wanted to. Did she really want to play for a coach who didn’t want her?

  Part of her did. Part of her wanted to prove to the Hawks coach and everyone else that she belonged. And that girls could play baseball.

  But part of her wanted to just walk away. She had the Green Sox now. Even though they didn’t have a field, didn’t have teams to play against, and didn’t have a whole lot of support, they were still a team. They were her team. It almost felt disloyal to play for anyone else.

  But what would people say if Joelle didn’t play for the Hawks now that she had the chance? They’d probably figure she hadn’t been that serious about it in the first place. Or maybe they’d think she was some space case who changed her mind at the drop of a hat.

  “Joelle?” Mom said. “What are you thinking?”

  “I don’t know,” Joelle answered in a small voice. It was hard to put her thoughts into words.

  Mom peered closer at Joelle. “What is it, honey?”

  Joelle sank down onto the cold, hard, cement floor. “This may sound weird, but I’m not sure I want to play for the Hawks anymore,” she said finally.

  “What?” Mom came over to Joelle. “Why not?”

  Joelle shrugged and picked at a scab on her ankle. “I loved playing for the Blue Jays back in Minneapolis, but it’s not going to be the same with the Hawks.”

  Mom sat down next to Joelle. “Well, that’s true, honey. No two teams are exactly the same. That’s because the people involved with the teams are different. But you’ll find your place with the Hawks.”

  “Maybe.” Joelle clasped her knees. “I never really thought about the fact that all the other players on the Blue Jays were guys. I don’t think they thought about me being a girl, either. I was just Joelle. But here I think I’d always be the girl they had to let on the team.”

  “Not necessarily,” Mom said. “Not once your teammates get to know you.”

  “Back in Minneapolis, everybody already knew me because I was Jason Cunningham’s little sister. That made things so much easier.”

  Whoa. Wait a minute! Joelle thought suddenly. She turned to face her mother. “Do you think they let me play in Minneapolis because I was Jason’s sister?” Had she been riding on Jason’s reputation her entire life?

  “No, of course not!” Mom shook her head. “It’s true that everybody knew your brother. But you earned your spot on the team just like all the other players.”

  “I guess,” Joelle said. But what if she’d had a big brother who was into art or music or something else? Would she still have played baseball herself or would she have played softball? Maybe she wouldn’t have played either one. Her whole life might have been totally different.

  “You’ve had to find your own way here in Greendale, Joelle,” Mom said. “And I know that hasn’t always been easy. But it’s been good for you, don’t you think?”

  “Maybe,” Joelle admitted. It was true. Everything she’d done in her new town so far, she’d done on her own. Even trying to change people’s minds about girls playing baseball. And that had nothing to do with Jason.

  “I really like playing with the Green Sox, Mom,” Joelle said. It’s great being on an all-girls team.”

  “But remember, Joelle, the Green Sox may never even get off the ground,” her mother pointed out.

  “I know.” Joelle nodded.

  “Well, it’s your decision, honey,” Mom said, putting an arm around her. “But you’re going to have to figure something out by Monday. And you need to talk to that coach. You can’t just not show up on Monday.”

  Joelle’s mind was spinning. Did she still want to play baseball for the Hawks or didn’t she?

  “Congrats, Joelle!” Ryan caught up with her between first and second period at school on Monday. “I heard they’re going to let you play on the Hawks now. That’s great!”

  “Yeah.” Joelle hugged her books tighter to her chest. She knew what she had to do today, but she still hadn’t made any decisions about tomorrow. Assuming Coach Carlyle would even let her start a day late.

  “See you after school then!” Ryan grinned as he turned and started toward his next class.

  “No, wait!” Joelle called him back. “I, um, can’t make it to practice today.”

  Ryan stopped and frowned. “What do you mean?” he asked as kids hurried by them.

  “I have something I need to do after school. Something for the Green Sox.” Joelle had a hard time looking Ryan in the eye.

  Ryan walked back toward her. “You can’t skip practice, Joelle. Especially not on your first day. My dad will freak.”

  “Well, I’ll talk to him about it,” Joelle said, lifting her chin.

  Ryan shook his head. “If you don’t show up, there won’t be anything to talk about. He won’t let you be on the team if you skip practice. Trust me on that.”

  “I wouldn’t be skipping practice. I’d just be starting a day late,” Joelle said. If I decide to play at all, she added to herself.

  Ryan just stared at her. “I don’t get it,” he said. “I thought you wanted to play baseball.”

  “I do!”

  “Well, you sure don’t act like it. Everyone changed the rules for you, Joelle! And then you act like that’s no big deal. You think you can just show up for practice when you feel like it?”

  Joelle could see how it might look like she was being difficult, but that wasn’t it. Not really. “The girls’ baseball league is really important to me, Ryan,” she said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to help get it off the ground.”

  “So, if something else comes up with the Green Sox, you’d blow off Hawks practice again?”

  Well, yeah, Joelle realized. I probably would. She hated the way Ryan was looking at her right now. Like she was some ditzy girl.

  He didn’t understand. But she couldn’t lie to him. Back in Minneapolis, there was nothing she would have blown off practice for. Absolutely nothing. And when Joelle thought about it, that sort of put things into perspective.

  She didn’t belong on the Hawks.

  She belonged with the Green Sox.

  Maybe the Green Sox would never play a real game. But that wouldn’t be because Joelle Cunningham gave up.

  “I heard you blew off the Hawks to do this today,” Brooke said to Joelle when the two of them were walking downtown that afternoon.

  Of course Brooke had heard about her skipping baseball practice, Joelle thought. It would probably be on Channel 6 at five o’clock.

  “Well?” Brooke prompted.

  “Is it possible to go to the bathroom in this town without everybody else hearing about it in two seconds?” she asked.

  Brooke laughed. “Nope. That’s why I can’t wait to move far away from here when I’m older.”

  Joelle didn’t quite know what to say to that. Was Brooke unhappy here in Greendale, too? Neither of them said anything for the next block.

  They came to a stoplight and Joelle pressed the WALK button. “You skipped softball to do this,” Joelle pointed out. “So why is it such a big deal if I blew off baseball?”

  “It wasn’t my first day of practice,” Brooke said. She reached out and gave the button another push.

  “So? You’re the captain. You shouldn’t skip practice any day.”

  The light changed and the girls started across the street.

  Brooke shrugged. “One practice isn’t such a big deal. Not if what you’re doing instead is really importa
nt.”

  “Why is the Green Sox so important to you?” Joelle asked.

  “Why is it so important to you?” Brooke shot back.

  That was a good question. Joelle had to think about it for a minute. Finally she said, “I don’t know. Because it was my idea and then it got a whole lot bigger? Does that make sense?”

  Brooke nodded. “It isn’t just about playing baseball for you anymore, is it?”

  “No,” Joelle admitted. It was also about friendship and loyalty and building something from the ground up.

  Neither girl spoke for a while after that. When they reached the courthouse, Brooke turned to Joelle. “You know what?” she said with a grin. “You’re all right, Cunningham.”

  Surprised, Joelle answered, “You’re not so bad yourself, Hartle.”

  Together they climbed the stairs and went inside the building. Like Coach Shaw had said, it was easy enough to find out who owned a piece of land. All you had to do was fill out a short form and that was it. Property holdings were a matter of public record.

  “Millie Holmes,” Brooke read from the piece of paper in her hand as she and Joelle walked back outside.

  “Do you know her?” Joelle asked hopefully.

  Brooke shook her head. “No. But she lives at 2300 West Park Street. That’s not very far from here. Come on.”

  “What? We’re going over to her house right now?” Joelle asked.

  “Sure. Why not?”

  Why not indeed! Joelle picked up her pace to match Brooke’s. “What are we going to say to this woman when she comes the door?”

  “We’ll think of something,” Brooke said with a shrug. A few blocks later, she turned and marched up to a little brick bungalow. Joelle was right there beside her.

  Brooke gave the door a rap with the brass knocker. Joelle crossed her fingers for good luck.

  A small, elderly woman came to the door. “Yes?” she asked. Her voice was strong and clear. “May I help you girls?”

  Joelle and Brooke both started talking at once. “I’m Joelle Cunningham—”

  “I’m Brooke Hartle—”

  They stopped and looked at one another. Then, Brooke motioned for Joelle to go ahead.

  “I-I’m Joelle Cunningham and this is Brooke Hartle,” Joelle repeated, stammering a little. “We’re students at Hoover Middle School and we’re trying to get a girls’ baseball league started in this district.”

  “Oh yes,” Mrs. Holmes said. “The ladies in my book group have been following your story.” She opened her door and let them in. “What can I do for you?”

  Once they were all seated on Mrs. Holmes’s old-fashioned couch, Joelle started right in. She talked about how hard they’d worked to put together a league. Then Brooke told the older woman that there weren’t enough fields in Greendale for all the baseball and softball teams. And she mentioned the empty lot in her neighborhood.

  “We know it’s actually your property, Mrs. Holmes,” Brooke rushed on. “But kids have been playing ball there for as long as I can remember. So we were sort of hoping that you’d give us permission to hold practices and play some of our games there.”

  Brooke sat back on the couch. She looked like she was holding her breath, waiting for an answer. Joelle could hear the loud tick-tocks from the grandfather clock in the hall.

  “Well, I don’t know,” Mrs. Holmes said thoughtfully. “Harold and I had always planned to build on that lot. But now that Harold is gone, I’m not sure what to do with the property. Let me talk to my lawyer and see what he says.”

  Joelle’s heart sank when she heard the word “lawyer.” Lawyers knew about all the terrible things that could go wrong if people played on someone’s property. The lawyer would probably say no. And so would Mrs. Holmes.

  But Mrs. Holmes seemed like the kind of woman who gathered information and then made her own decision. Maybe she’d say yes.

  They could hope, anyway.

  What else could they do?

  Chapter Nineteen

  Joelle knew she had to talk to Coach Carlyle. She couldn’t just let him assume she’d changed her mind about playing for the Hawks. She had to tell him the truth. Face to face. And that wasn’t going to be easy.

  “Do you want me to go with you?” Elizabeth asked her before school on Tuesday morning.

  “No.” Joelle took a deep breath. “This is something I have to do on my own. Will you wait for me outside his office, though?”

  “Sure.” Elizabeth squeezed Joelle’s hand, then walked a little way down the hall.

  Joelle knocked on Coach Carlyle’s door.

  “It’s open,” he called.

  Joelle swallowed hard, then went inside. The coach was entering stats into his computer. He didn’t even look up.

  Joelle cleared her throat.

  “Yes?” Finally the coach turned around. There was no expression on his face whatsoever.

  Joelle had gone over what she wanted to say again and again in her mind. But somehow she couldn’t remember how her little speech was supposed to begin.

  “Can I help you?” Coach Carlyle asked.

  “Um …” Joelle fidgeted with the strap on her backpack. “I just wanted to say … it was nice of you to give me a chance to play for the Hawks, but … I don’t think I’m going to play. Not this year, anyway …”

  “Okay,” Coach Carlyle replied. He turned back to his computer.

  Okay? Wait a minute! Didn’t he at least want to know why she wasn’t going to play? Was he that mad at her for not showing up yesterday? Ryan had warned her that his dad didn’t give second chances.

  But Coach Carlyle didn’t look angry. He didn’t look glad, either. He just looked … like he didn’t care.

  “Was there something else?” Coach Carlyle asked when he realized Joelle was still standing there.

  Joelle frowned. Maybe none of this was ever about her. Maybe Coach Carlyle was just following the rules when he told her she couldn’t play. And then again when he said she could play. Maybe he personally didn’t care one way or the other whether she was on the team or not. She’d never even considered that possibility.

  “No. I guess not.” Joelle turned around and left. What more was there to say?

  She saw Elizabeth at the end of the hall surrounded by a group of kids. Ian, Caitlyn, and Stephanie. And they were all talking about her. Again. None of them had seen her yet.

  “So, she’s not going to play for the Hawks at all?” Ian asked. He actually looked disappointed.

  “I think maybe she wants to concentrate on the girls’ baseball league,” Elizabeth explained.

  Joelle stopped and leaned against the wall. Should she just walk up to them? Or stay put and listen?

  “I saw the Green Sox on TV,” Stephanie said. “They got kicked off the field at their first game.”

  “Yeah, that was so unfair!” Caitlyn put in.

  “Well, we haven’t given up yet,” Elizabeth said. “Joelle and Brooke are still trying to find us a place to play.”

  “Are you on the Green Sox, Elizabeth?” Caitlyn asked, sounding surprised.

  “Actually,” Elizabeth said, “I am.”

  Joelle smiled to herself. Way to go, Elizabeth, she told her friend silently.

  “But you’re not really a jock,” Caitlyn said.

  Joelle opened her mouth to protest. It was one thing for kids to say stuff to her, but she wasn’t going to let anyone put Elizabeth down.

  But before Joelle got a single word out, Elizabeth spoke up on her own. “You don’t have to be a jock to play in our league. You just have to like baseball.”

  Joelle stopped short again. She’d never heard Elizabeth sound so confident.

  “Well, that’s great! Good for you!” Stephanie said to Elizabeth. Caitlyn nodded.

  “I hope you guys find a field,” Ian said. Then he, Stephanie, and Caitlyn moved on.

  Elizabeth stayed behind. “Hey,” she said when she noticed Joelle. “How did it go with Coach Carlyle?”

&
nbsp; “Okay. No big deal,” Joelle answered. “I heard what you said just now. Does that mean you’re going to stick with the Green Sox?”

  “Yeah,” Elizabeth said as they started down the hall together. “I guess it does. I know I’m never going to be the best player on the team, Joelle. But I like playing. And I like hanging out with you guys. So as long as nobody expects any miracles, I’m in.”

  “Excellent!” Joelle turned to her friend. “And you know what, Elizabeth? You just might surprise yourself out there on the field sometime.”

  Yeah, right,” Elizabeth said, blushing. “Like I said, no miracles, okay?”

  “Okay,” Joelle said. But as far as she was concerned, miracles were always possible. Especially when you worked hard and believed in yourself.

  To Joelle’s disappointment, there was still no word from Mrs. Holmes a few days later. How long did it take to talk to a lawyer, anyway?

  “I almost wish she’d just tell us no so we can move on and figure something else out,” Joelle grumbled as she poured her cereal on Tuesday morning.

  “Be patient, honey,” Mom said as she kissed the top of Joelle’s head. She was heading off to work. “These things take time.”

  Joelle reached for the milk carton. Patience had never been one of her virtues.

  The good news was, last Saturday’s TV coverage had created a lot of interest in their league. People were calling and asking how they could get involved. Others were sending cards and letters offering support. Some even sent money.

  “Don’t give up,” Dad said. “Something will work out.”

  “Hey, do I ever give up?” Joelle asked as she spooned cereal into her mouth.

  That night after supper, Joelle was carrying her dishes back to the kitchen when she saw Elizabeth charging through the backyard. Before Joelle could even set her plate on the counter, Elizabeth had hopped up onto the Cunningham’s deck and started pounding frantically on their sliding glass door.

  Joelle’s dad came into the kitchen behind Joelle. “Where’s the fire?” he asked with a chuckle as he let Elizabeth in.