Today, Joe and Eric were on their best behavior. They stood and sat quietly the whole time. After Mass, my mom and Mrs. Reynolds chatted in the back of the church. Sally was more interested in her fingernail polish than in talking with me. I tried to start a conversation several times but after getting one word answers from Sally, I gave up. I stood there looking at my fingernails even though they didn’t have any polish on them.
“Did you and Sally have a falling out?” My mom asked as we walked home.
“I really don’t know but she seems mad about something.”
“What could she be mad about?”
“Like I said, I don’t know.” I wished my mom would stop with all the questions.
“Did something happen at the movie?”
I couldn’t very well say that Sally thought I took her date away from her. And that we had lied to both our moms. I wondered how I got caught up in the whole thing. “Not that I know of,” I said.
“Well, here’s something that has worked really well for me. All through the years. It doesn’t hurt to apologize in case you hurt someone’s feelings even if you didn’t mean to.” My mom was being really sincere.
I had to admit no one ever seemed to be mad at my mom so maybe it worked for her. I actually thought Sally should apologize to me. For many things, if you want to know the truth. If I had said no to begin with about being her alibi, she would have been mad at me. I went along with her and she still was mad at me. I wouldn’t be apologizing anytime soon. “I’ll think about it, Mom. I really will.”
We went to the Diner for breakfast like we did almost every week. Gramps had pancakes every week. I had bacon and eggs with hash browns every week. I took a bite of my bacon. It was delicious.
“How do you practice softball inside?” My dad asked.
“We’ll play catch and field grounders. The pitchers practice too but we won’t hit. I suppose Coach Richter will have us running back and forth in the gym.” I ate a forkful of hash browns.
“That’s good. It gets you in shape for running the bases.
Gramps spread his butter on a pancake. It had to be on every square inch of the pancake before he put the syrup on it.
“What are you doing this afternoon?” My mom asked.
“I don’t have anything planned.”
“I’m going to walk down by the river,” my dad said. My dad loved the Mississippi River. It was one of the reasons why Red Wing was where it was, he always said. Over the decades, Red Wing had shipped tons of grain from its port. The river was pretty cool, I had to admit. There were sailboats, barges, speedboats, and of course, paddle wheelers. Some of the boats went all the way down to New Orleans. I guess I loved it too.
“Maybe I’ll come with you,” I said.
Chapter Nine
Stealing is Fun
After spending almost two weeks in the gym playing catch and picking up grounders, we were all anxious to be outside. Everyone who tried out for the B-Squad made it so I didn’t have to worry about being cut. Coach Richter had decided who would be in the infield and outfield. We had four girls trying out for pitcher. Sam O’Malley was so much better than the rest of them that two dropped out immediately. The coach said it was perfect to have two pitchers.
The second week in April, we went outside to the ball field behind the school. “You can’t play the game if you don’t know the rules,” Coach Richter said. He was a real stickler for the rules. So he would fire questions at us about things like where to throw the ball, how to run through first base or round it, and how to bunt to get on base. And, of course, fast pitch was different than slow pitch because the runner could steal.
“We play heads up ball,” he said. “Let’s suppose that you get on first base and you feel pretty good about that. Wouldn’t you would feel much better if you were on second base and in scoring position if someone hits the ball into the outfield?”
We all looked at each other, nodded, and said, “Yes.”
“Okay, good. When can you steal?”
“When you’re on first or second base.” Sam O’Malley said.
“Yes, but I mean when can you leave the bases?”
“After the pitcher lets go of the ball,” I said.
“Excellent, McGiver. When the pitcher releases the ball.” “Do you give the signal?” Sheila Donahue asked.
“I do. I’ll be the third base coach when you’re up at bat. When I touch the side of my nose, go on the next pitch.” The coach touched the left side of his nose and then made a fast, forward motion with his right hand. “We’re going to try it right now. I need infielders and no outfielders. Who wants to try third base?”
No one raised their hand. “I will, Coach,” I said.
He nodded. I ran to third with my glove.
“Shortstop?” Several girls raised their hands. “Pearson,” he said.
“Second base?” He looked around the group. “Okay, Zastrow.”
“First? Donahue, go.”
“The outfielders are going to be the runners. The other infielders go to a spot and wait your turn for a grounder. We need a catcher.” Suzy Malone was playing softball for the first time. She had really worked on catching during our inside practices. She ran behind the coach.
“I’ll hit grounders and then the runners will go. Try to get them out. If they get on base, the pitcher will throw to Malone and the batter will try to steal second.” He looked around the bases. “Everybody, ready? Oh, and Malone, try to throw them out at second if you can.”
I got ready. My glove was down. The grounder came sharply down the third base line. I scooped it up and threw to first. The batter was out. I went behind the other two girls waiting at third.
The coach hit to Pearson at short. She bobbled the ball a little before she threw to first so the runner was safe. The coach touched the left side of his nose. Sam swung her right hand back with the ball in it up over her shoulder. Her arm came down and then accelerated in a quick, windmill motion. She released the ball and it rocketed toward home. It was amazing. The runner on first was off, trying to steal second. The ball sailed right over home plate into Malone’s glove. Poor Malone, she got all flustered and threw the ball toward second. Zastrow was waiting with her glove out. Well, the ball went between second and shortstop and right into the outfield on the fly. Malone put her hand up to her mouth and said, “I didn’t know I could throw it that far.”
“Straighten out your throw and you’ve got the runner out,” Coach Richter said.
Next we worked on double plays. Coach Richter hit me a grounder and I threw it to second. Laurie Zastrow was a master of the double play. She snagged the ball out of the air, touched second base, and threw it to first. It seemed like one motion.
“That was fantastic,” the coach said. He hit grounders around the infield. When Zastrow fielded a grounder, Pearson was waiting at second base. She touched the base and threw the ball quickly to first. No problem.
We worked on grounders and stealing for a while and all of us got a chance to run and steal second. Then the coach called all the infielders in and hit some pop flies to the outfielders.
“We still have to have hitting practice. Everyone gets five hits and you run on the last one.”
And so our first practice outside finished. “Good job, everyone. Tomorrow, same place. Remember, our first game is only two weeks away. We’ll play every Monday and some weeks we’ll play on Wednesday too.” We had to get in eight games before June ninth, the date of the championship against Lake City.
I went over to the bench to pick up my jacket and there was Sally walking over toward me. Oh good, I thought.
She waved and I waved back. “Hi, Sam,” she said. Sam was right behind me waving to Sally.
“Do you want to go get an ice cream cone?” Sam said. There was an ice cream shop across from the school that we liked to go to.
“Sure,” Sally said.
“I could use an ice cream cone,” I said.
“Don’t you have t
o be home, Colette?”
“Not for a while.”
“Oh, I think you do. You don’t want to be late.” Sally looked at me the same way she always looked at her sister, Anna. Her eyebrows were knit together and her lips were nothing more than a thin, straight line. She walked away from me. “C’mon, Sam, I’ve got a full hour before I have to be home.”
I stood there while they walked away from me. Sam looked back and shrugged her shoulders but Sally looked straight ahead all the way.
I talked about practice at the dinner table and Gramps loved the idea of stealing bases. No one had asked me about Sally for a week. I guess they all figured Sally and I had had a fight and we’d get over it sometime. From what I saw today, Sally was going to continue to blame me for a long time. And so at this time in my life, I didn’t have a best friend.
I thought of something. “Hey, Dad, do you need anyone to help stock at the store?”
“We probably should hire someone else. When the pharmacy is busy, I can’t do anything else. It’s too much for your mother to stock the shelves, take care of the register, and relieve the person making malts.”
“I know of a person looking for a job,” I said. I hadn’t seen Jake since the day at Musolf’s.
“I think it’s a good idea,” my dad said. “What’s his name?”
“Jake O’Malley.”
“Is he sixteen?”
“Yes.”
“Tell him to stop by after school and we can talk.”
“I will, Dad. Thanks.”
Chapter Ten
Changing Tables
I decided I’d get to school just as the bell rang to avoid standing there while Sally looked at her nails. We filed in for homeroom and there was Sally making sure she didn’t look at me. I didn’t know how long this was going to go on but today I wanted to scream, “I didn’t do anything.”
It wasn’t like I didn’t have any other friends but it was hard to change my routine. Sally and I did things with other girls and then the two of us discussed what so and so said and what so and so did. My mom had been saying things recently like, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” I guess she meant that I should try to make new friends.
At lunchtime, we sat at a long table with about ten of us. Sally sat at the end of the table so she didn’t have to sit next to me. Today she was laughing uproariously with Sam O’Malley. I wondered what was so funny. I looked over at the table next to us and there was Suzy from my softball team. I had never sat at that table but there was an open seat and some of the other girls were also on my softball team.
I stood up and walked to the other table. “Hi, Suzy. Can I join you?”
Suzy looked surprised but didn’t hesitate. “Sure. Here’s a place.” She patted the open spot.
“Thanks.” I sat down next to Suzy. Laurie Zastrow and Mary Pearson were across from me. They both said, “Hi.” I could still hear Sally’s loud laughing.
“I’m glad you came over, Colette, because I wanted to ask you some questions about softball.” Suzy took a bite out of her apple. “I’m really new to it and I don’t know all the rules.”
“I played last year in the summer but I don’t know everything either. You have to listen to the coach.”
“You always know where to throw the ball. I get so nervous sometimes. Then I throw it and the girl’s already on the base or the throw’s nowhere near the base.”
Suzy was right. She really could catch the ball but sometimes her throws had nothing to do with what was going on in the game. I could be standing there by third base with the runner already there and here comes a wild throw from Suzy. “Well, if the runner is at the base or you know you can’t get her out, throw it back to the pitcher.”
“I’ll work on that tonight at practice. I do like catching.”
“You’ll get better at the throwing. Sam isn’t easy to catch and you have no problem with that.” After a while I forgot that I was sitting at a different table and I started to enjoy it. Suzy talked me up to the other girls and pretended that I knew everything there was to know about softball. I decided right then and there that I was not going to sit at the end of my old table hoping someone talked to me or looked at me. I finished my lunch and got up to leave. “Can I join you again tomorrow?”
“Of course, Colette,” Suzy said. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I walked out of the lunchroom and didn’t even glance in Sally’s direction. I didn’t care what she thought.
I had to go to my locker for a minute before I went to homeroom. Down the hall with a couple of junior girls was Jake. The girls laughed at whatever he said. One of them tossed her long hair to the side and then fluffed it up with her fingers all while leaning forward toward Jake. Jake saw me. He came right over to my locker.
“Colette, did you talk to your dad?” Jake asked. “You know, about a job?”
“I did last night. He said to stop over at the store and he’ll talk to you.”
“Thanks, Colette. I can’t thank you enough. Gotta go.” He hustled off.
I noticed the girls who had been hanging on Jake’s movements and gestures had their hands on their hips. I suppose it bugged them that they had been laughing and enjoying themselves and Jake left to talk to me. If that wasn’t enough, there was Sally standing with her chin on her chest. She looked like she was going to come over to question me so I closed my locker and went into my homeroom.
I got my books ready for English class. We had finished The Pearl and now were reading To Kill a Mockingbird. I liked the book but Mrs. Crenshaw loved the book so she was always pointing out secret meanings and themes within the book. I didn’t know how she knew that that’s what the author meant but Mrs. Crenshaw was very sure of herself when it came to books.
Anyway, I saw Sally’s shoes go by and I didn’t look up. I was just too busy getting ready for my afternoon classes.
At practice, Suzy came over to ask me some more questions. I told her I was exactly like her a year ago and I learned by playing.
Suzy said, “Really. I can’t believe it. You’re so confident. Thanks for helping me.”
“Sure. It’s all part of being on a team. We help each other.”
Coach Richter hit the infielders ground balls as usual. We had to field three each. He hit fly balls to the outfield and pop-ups to the infield. Batting practice consisted of five hits each and running on the last one. Sam and the other pitcher pitched to us. Sam was not throwing her hardest but she was still hard to hit. I was glad she was on our team.
“Okay, girls, we’re done until tomorrow,” Coach Richter said. “I’ll tell you by the end of the week who’s starting for our first game and at what position. Everyone will get a chance to play.”
“Thanks, Coach,” I said. I biked home from practice.
Dinner was almost ready when I got home. I had been coming home and then going right up to my room since Sally got mad at me. I didn’t want to answer any questions. I felt different today because softball was really fun and I was going to sit with Suzy at lunch tomorrow. Also, I had talked to Jake at school, much to the chagrin of Sally and others.
“Hi, Mom,” I said. My mom was in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on dinner. She spooned the steaming mashed potatoes into a bowl.
“Hi. How was school and practice?”
“Good. They were both good.”
If my mom was surprised by my good mood, she didn’t show it. She was too busy putting butter on top of the potatoes in various places. The butter started melting immediately so there were little puddles of yellow on top of the white potatoes. She shook some paprika over all of it.
“Should I take this to the table?”
“Thanks, Colette.”
We all sat down and Gramps said “Grace.” “Bless us oh Lord...” he started. We all joined in. “Thank you, Lord, for our food and for our family,” he added.
“Colette,” my dad said, “I had an interesting visit
or this afternoon.”
“Who?”
“Your friend, Jake, came by. He said he’s looking for a job and he’s willing to do anything. He said he’d run prescriptions to people’s houses and stock the shelves. That would really help me.”
Wow. I didn’t think he would go in there right away. “Sounds good, Dad. Are you going to hire him?”
“I told him I’d think about it and get back to him. What do you think? Is he trustworthy?”
“Yes and he’s hard-working too.” Actually, I didn’t know that but he sure wanted a job. For some reason, I had put the incident at Musolf’s out of my mind. Maybe they had forgotten to pay. Yes, that was it. I took a bite of the buttery mashed potatoes.
“Okay. I’ll call him and let him know that he’s got the job.”
Chapter Eleven
Saturday at the Store
The next day at school, I felt light in every way. The things that made me feel sad like Sally not speaking to me and sitting at a lunch table where the people didn’t want me were gone. I couldn’t say that I didn’t care about Sally’s behavior but I had a nice group of girls who wanted me to sit with them. Sally could ignore me all she wanted.
I walked into homeroom and sat down at my desk. I put the books I needed for my morning classes on top of the desk.
“That was fun at lunch yesterday, Colette,” Suzy said. She stood in the aisle next to me with a little smile and waited.
“It was,” I said. It was a funny thing but I didn’t remember that Suzy was in my homeroom. I guess I had always been so busy with Sally that I didn’t even pay attention to the other girls.
Sally came up behind Suzy and stood there. I was just going to say hi when she harrumphed. I turned toward Suzy. “I’m looking forward to lunch today, Suzy,” I said.
Sally’s mouth became much thinner. She had a temper but who wouldn’t with all the stuff that went on at her house. She used to say she had to stick up for herself or she would disappear in her family because they were all so strong- willed. Sally fit right in because she was one of the most stubborn people I had ever met. I had liked that she wouldn’t give in once she set her mind to something. Now, as I looked at her out of the corner of my eye, I didn’t think it was such a great trait to have. Just how long can you stay mad at somebody?
It Starts With a Lie Page 4
