He gave the ball a few taps, then glanced at the door. It didn’t open.
Man, he thought as he dribbled the ball across the lawn, she wouldn’t know if I was up in my room, or down in the basement, or even three houses away! For some reason, that made him mad. He pulled his foot back and gave the ball a vicious kick.
Crash!
The ball smashed through a garage window!
Mary was there in seconds flat.
“What happened?”she asked, staring at the shattered glass.
“I — I kicked the ball through the window,”Bundy muttered.
Mary looked like she was about to say something. Instead, she went into the kitchen and came out wearing a pair of rubber gloves. Then she disappeared into the garage. Moments later, Bundy heard the sounds of glass being swept up.
Get in there and help! his brain scolded him.
But Bundy’s feet didn’t move. Not even when Mary started knocking the broken glass out of the window did he offer to lend a hand. Instead, he turned around and went back into the house.
Bundy couldn’t wait to leave for his soccer game that afternoon. Mary was watering the flowers around the house when he banged out the kitchen door.
“Need a ride?”she asked.
“I’m walking with Dewey.”Bundy waited for her to say something more — about the window, about how he’d been acting, something.
But she just nodded and went back to watering the flowers. Bundy stared at her back for a moment, then headed down the driveway.
When he picked up Dewey, he was in a bad mood. Dewey asked him what was wrong. But Bundy couldn’t tell Dewey without telling him about the baby-sitter, too. And he wasn’t ready to do that.
By the time warm-ups were over and the game against the Rangers was under way, Bundy’s mood was pure black.
“Come on, Brant,”he snapped after the fullback missed a tackle.“You’ve got to help Bucky protect that goal!”
A minute later, he yelled at Amanda Caler for a bad kick.
But it wasn’t until the Rangers scored and he threw up his hands, saying,“Oh, great, there goes the game,”that Coach Bradley benched him.
“Until you cool down,”the coach said sternly,“you’re out.”
Bundy was miserable. He’d never been taken out of a game so early before. Knowing he’d let down his coach and team didn’t help.
It can’t get any worse than this, Bundy thought dismally.
Then suddenly, it did.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar figure sit down in the stands. Mary was at the game.
Chapter 7
Bundy went cold all over as he pictured what would happen when the game was over.
“Bundy,”Mary would call,“I came to walk you home.”
“Oh, look,”the other kids would tease.“Bundy’s got a baby-sitter. Bundy, make sure you hold her hand when you cross the street! Does she cut your meat up into little pieces? Will she tuck you all cozy in bed at night, too?”
Bundy groaned.
After halftime, Coach Bradley put Bundy back in the game.
As Bundy raced onto the field, he stole a glance at the stands. Mary wasn’t looking at him.
The score was 1-0 in favor of the Rangers. Now the Rangers were making a threatening move upfield with short passes.
The ball bounced into Bundy’s area. He, Amanda Caler, and Dewey London joined in the mad scramble for it. Two Rangers fought for control of the ball with them.
Suddenly, one of the Rangers got the ball away. She kicked it toward the ’Cats’ goal. It flew toward the right side of the net. It happened so quickly, Bucky Pinter had no chance to stop it.
Goal! Rangers 2, ’Cats 0.
Usually Bundy tried to buck up his teammates when they were behind. This time, he didn’t say a word as they got into position.
At the ref’s whistle, Stookie Norris tapped the ball to Lou Barnes, the tall, strong striker with one paralyzed arm. Lou dribbled forward confidently, then passed back to Stookie.
Bundy raced up closer to Stookie, ready to help out. Stookie passed him the ball.
Bundy dribbled it upfield. He spotted Lou in the clear and directed a sharp kick toward him. But a Ranger stole the ball and shot past him!
Block tackle from the side flashed through Bundy’s brain.
Bundy caught up to the Ranger. He got his left foot into position for the pivot, just the way he had in practice against Eddie. But when he started to swing his right foot around, he stumbled and fell.
Laughing, the Ranger continued to rush the goal. A moment later, the score had jumped to 3-0.
Bundy sat on the grass, listening to the Rangers fans cheer. Then he stood up slowly and walked back to his position.
I’ll bet Mary’s laughing herself silly, he thought.
The game ended a few minutes later.
Just as Bundy feared, when he had finished slapping palms with the Rangers, Mary walked toward him.
He turned beet red. But to his surprise, Mary didn’t even look at him. Instead, she tapped Coach Bradley on the shoulder.
Coach Bradley broke into a huge grin when he saw her.
“Mary!”he cried, shaking her hand. He turned to Bundy.“Bundy, this is Mary. I coached her when she was in junior high. She was one of my best players. Captain of her team, to be exact.”
Bundy gaped.
Mary looked at him with a twinkle in her eye.“Bundy, nice to meet you,”she said evenly.“Too bad about the loss.”
“Yeah.”Bundy’s voice was just a squeak.
“Well, it was good to see you, Coach,” Mary said.“Now I’ve got to get back to my job.”
“Does your job have something to do with soccer?”
Mary slid a glance at Bundy, then started walking to the parking lot.“I’m not sure yet”was all she said.
Chapter 8
Bundy walked home with Dewey as usual. Dewey was disappointed about the game and didn’t say much. That was all right with Bundy. He was too busy thinking about how Mary had acted after the game — and about how he had acted that day.
Like a jerk was the conclusion he came to. Operation Baby-Sitter had been a stupid idea. Ignoring Mary hadn’t hurt anyone but himself.
And Mary, he suddenly realized, had just been following his lead.
Coach Bradley told me to lead the team by example, Bundy mused. Guess the same thing goes for life off the field, too — and for setting both good and bad examples.
And what about Mary? She could have really made him squirm at the soccer field or when he’d broken the window. But she hadn’t.
I wonder why she didn’t, Bundy asked himself. Because she was showing me a good example — how not to act like a jerk, he answered his own question. Boy, I really blew it.
Bundy turned into his driveway. The garage door was open. He glanced inside, expecting to see an open hole where the window should have been.
He stopped short. There was no open hole. A gleaming new window stood in its place!
Mary came out of the house. Bundy stared at her.
“You — you fixed the window?”he asked.
She nodded.“I’ve broken a few windows with soccer balls in my time. My dad taught me how to fix them.”She grinned.“Maybe I’ll show you what to do next time you break one.”
Bundy didn’t know what to say at first. Then he found the words.
“Thanks. For the window, and for —”
Mary held up a hand.
“The way I figure it,”she said,“you don’t want a baby-sitter. And you sure don’t want your friends to find out you have one. Right?”
“You got it,”Bundy admitted.
“I don’t blame you,”Mary said.“But I think you’re stuck with me. So what do we do?”
Bundy remembered what she’d said at the soccer field about hoping her job would include soccer. A slow grin crossed his face.
“Maybe if you helped me with my block tackling,”he suggested,“I could say you’re my private soccer coach ins
tead of my baby-sitter?”
Mary burst out laughing.“You got a deal!”
True to her word, Mary showed up the next morning ready to practice. Bundy worked hard to make up for the way he’d acted.
At first, Mary dribbled at a steady pace in a straight line, showing Bundy how to wait until the ball was away from her foot before making a move.
When Bundy was able to steal the ball almost every time, Mary started to mix up short bursts of speed with slow taps. Now Bundy had to concentrate extra hard before snaking his foot in to steal the ball.
“Keep your eye on the ball, not on me,”Mary advised.
Mary’s shins got some bruises, but she didn’t seem to mind.
While they practiced, Mary told Bundy about her days playing for Coach Bradley.
“It didn’t matter if we screwed up a play,”she said,“even if it cost us the game. But if we got down on ourselves or yelled at each other, he’d let us have it. So as his team captain, I tried to have a good attitude all the time.”
Bundy nodded his understanding. Silently, he vowed to never get down on his teammates or himself again.
Chapter 9
Bundy was pumped for the game against the Torpedoes. He shouted encouragement to his teammates during warm-ups.
When the whistle blew to start the game, the ’Cats roared onto the field. Bundy pounded his hands together. He’d never felt better prepared for a game.
It was the ’Cats’ ball. Stookie nudged the ball out of the center circle to striker Jerry Dinh. Jerry took off like a shot.
Stookie and Lou Barnes raced downfield parallel to him. Jerry wobbled a pass in Lou’s direction. But it went behind Lou.
Amanda snared the ball moments before a Torpedo got it. She booted a strong pass straight ahead to Lou.
“Nice through pass, Amanda!”Bundy yelled.
Lou dodged one Torpedo, then was nearly trampled by two others. Dewey and Amanda raced in to help out.
The ball bounced from foot to foot, then squirted free. Dewey pounced on it and sent it sailing across the field to Jerry.
Jerry trapped it and made his move toward the Torpedo goal. The Torpedo fullbacks fought hard. Then Jerry gave the ball a short, sharp kick, and the ball swished into the net. Goal!
The Soccer ’Cats jogged back into position, shouting with joy. The game wasn’t five minutes old, and already they were on the scoreboard!
But the Torpedoes exploded when play started again. Over and over they threatened at the ’Cats’ goal. Finally, Lisa Gaddy booted the ball hard and high enough to clear it from in front of the net.
Stookie was there to head it to Lou.
“Excellent! That’s using your head, Stookie!”Bundy yelled.“Go, Lou, go! We’re right behind you!”
Lou powered his way through the first line of defense. Then he fumbled and almost lost the ball. He just managed to get a short pass off toward Bundy.
A Torpedo striker beat Bundy to it. Bundy gave chase.
Okay, this is it! he said to himself. Put all that practice to work!
He drew alongside the Torpedo, then got just a little ahead of him. Keeping his eye glued to the ball, he turned his body sideways and reached his foot in.
But he had mistimed the play. Instead of foot meeting ball, it met the other player’s foot. Both Bundy and the Torpedo went down. The Torpedo was awarded a direct free kick.
Bundy was crushed. But he stood up and shook it off as best he could.
“Okay, get ready for the kick!”he yelled to his teammates.
The Torpedo blasted the ball deep into ’Cats territory. Luckily, Alan Minter controlled it and sent it flying back in the opposite direction.
Stookie caught it against his chest, then passed it to Jerry.
Jerry dodged around a Torpedo halfback. The halfback ran after him. The Torpedo tried to steal the ball away, but instead of coming at Jerry from the side, he stuck his foot between Jerry’s legs from behind. Jerry tripped and fell.
Pheet! The ref’s whistle announced what everyone knew. The halfback had committed a serious foul.
“Direct kick!”the ref said.
Jerry jumped up. Because the foul had happened in Torpedo territory, the ball was in a good position to be kicked into the goal. Jerry just had to kick it where the goalie or his teammates weren’t.
Jerry put the ball on the ground where the penalty had happened. The Torpedoes lined up to protect their goal.
Make the goal, Jerry, Bundy pleaded silently. The fans were silent, too.
Jerry connected solidly. The ball took a funny spin that caught the defense by surprise. Goal!
“Yes!”Bundy pumped his fist in the air, then joined the other ’Cats as they swarmed Jerry.
They all hurried back to their positions. When the horn honked, signaling halftime, the score was ’Cats 2, Torpedoes 0.
Chapter 10
As the ’Cats drank water and ate orange slices, Coach Bradley congratulated them.
“There’s still plenty of time for them to win,”he reminded them.“So stay on your toes.”
The ’Cats did. Time after time, the Torpedoes threatened to score. But time after time, the ’Cats pushed them back.
The Torpedoes were determined, though. With ten minutes left to go, they finally scored against Bucky.
“That’s okay — we’re still up by one!”Bundy shouted to his teammates.“Let’s hold ‘em, hold ‘em!”
The Torpedoes were pumped up after their goal. They stole the ball from the ’Cats right after the center kick. With lightning-quick passes, they moved the ball into scoring position. Then the worst thing happened. Ted Gaddy committed a foul in the penalty area. The Torpedoes were awarded a penalty kick.
As the ’Cats and Torpedoes stood back, Bucky Pinter faced off against the Torpedo kicker.
The kicker placed the ball on the ground. He stood still for a moment, then took a few steps and booted the ball hard. Bucky leaped to stop it, but he was too late.
’Cats 2, Torpedoes 2.
“That’s okay — there’s still time to get ahead!”Bundy shouted. The rest of the ’Cats took up the cheer.
But once again, a Torpedo got control of the ball right after the center kick. She streaked down the field toward ’Cats territory.
Oh, no, you don’t, Bundy thought as he pounded after her.
He knew what he had to do — and he did it. He came alongside the striker, got one step ahead of her, and pivoted. With a flash of his foot, he snagged the ball! A moment later, it was Bundy who was racing down the field with the ball!
“Yes! Yes!”Bundy could hear Mary’s voice from the stands loud and clear. Bundy passed off to Lou. Lou made a perfect pass to Stookie, who sent the ball soaring into the net for the ’Cats’ third and final goal.
When the game ended a few minutes later, the ’Cats had chalked another mark in their win column.
After he slapped palms with the Torpedoes, Bundy looked for Mary. He gave her a big thumbs-up sign. Then, without thinking, he called,“See you at home later?”
Mary nodded, grinning, then turned to talk to Coach Bradley.
“Who’s that?”Dewey asked.
Bundy hesitated, but only for a moment.“Who, her?”he said.“She’s my baby-sitter.”
Dewey looked at Mary talking with the coach and simply said,“Cool.”
That night, Bundy finished the letter he’d started to his grandfather.
Dear Grandpa,
How are you? I miss you. Guess what? I“gave the baby-sitter a chance.”And you’ll never believe it, but…
SOCCER ’Cats
#2 Operation Baby-Sitter
Matt Christopher
Illustrated by Daniel Vasconcellos
Bundy Neel is trying hard to be the best soccer captain he can be. He always has an encouraging word for his teammates, and he works extra hard during practices and games. So why does his attitude change out of the blue? His teammates don’t know it, but Bundy has suddenly been saddled with
a… baby-sitter. Bundy can’t believe his parents won’t let him be home by himself — he’s ten years old after all! — and he’s worried what his teammates will say if they find out. There’s only one thing to do: launch Operation Baby-Sitter and get rid of“the girl”! But Bundy doesn’t count on the plan backfiring....
Matt Christopher is the name behind more than seventy-five sports novels for young readers, including the Peach Street Mudders series of baseball chapter books. For information on joining the Matt Christopher Fan Club, please see the last page of this book.
Operation Baby-Sitter Page 2
