by Tim Green
The coach let that sink in before he continued. “Look, I’m telling you Jack is thirteen, Josh. We’re not breaking any rules. I need this job just like you need your home run derby. And you’re the one who can shut this rumor right down, Josh. Benji will listen to you, and the team will listen to Benji, and we can put this whole ridiculous thing behind us.” The coach leaned back. “I’m glad we got to talk like this, Josh. Just you and me.”
“And me! I’m talking!” Laurel shrieked from the swing as her shirt flounced up into her face at the high point.
“Yes, you are.” Coach Swanson turned and grinned at her. “You’re talking good. And you keep swinging!”
“I’m going to the moon!” she howled.
“Me and your brother will have to get a rocket ship and meet you.” Coach Swanson patted Josh on the shoulder. “We’re a team.” He waved to Laurel. “You hang on tight! Good-bye!”
“Bye-bye!”
Josh watched Coach Swanson stalk around the corner of the house without another word. He fumbled with his phone, digging it free from his pocket and dialing Benji.
“Heavy hitter two, at your service,” Benji said.
“Benji. Come over here.” Josh was breathless. “We gotta talk.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
JOSH CALLED JADEN AND got her to come over as well. The three of them sat on the back steps, watching Laurel. Josh knew his mom would be home any minute.
“Dude, what’s this all about? What’s so top secret that you couldn’t text me or tell me on the phone? And why are you here?” Benji gave Jaden an insulted look.
“I’m the brains,” Jaden said.
“I wanted an unbiased opinion,” Josh said. “Benji, you can’t call Ty Rylander.”
“What? Your dad didn’t have the number?” Benji wore a Titans cap, and he pulled it down low on his brow. “Our internet should be up soon. If not I’ll go to the library and Google it. That’s not such a big deal.”
“No, I mean you can’t call him. Not now, not ever. I won’t be able to get into the derby if there’s a stink.”
“Now that’s a problem.” Benji flipped the brim of his hat up so they could see his face in all its horror, anger, and shock. “Are you telling me you don’t want me on the Titans? Dude, I know you can’t be saying that. Who hit the winning home run in the national championship game at Cooperstown? Was that Jaden? Was that Esch or Sheridan or you?”
“You hit it, Benji,” Josh said.
“Yes, I did.” Benji’s face showed great satisfaction. “And how about that diving catch I made in Albany in the World Series qualifiers? This Swanson knows none of that, and he’s ready to cut me because why? I’m big boned? So I can’t run like a deer. Big deal. Remember the Babe? Who doesn’t know Babe Ruth was big boned too? Swanson deserves everything he gets, and when my mom unleashes the Death Star, he’s gonna wish he never heard of Titans baseball.”
“First, you don’t know that Swanson is going to cut you from the team. Second, if you call Ty Rylander and Nike pulls their sponsorship, it’ll take weeks to get another coach, weeks I need to be adding to my home run total. And if Jack Sheridan really is older than thirteen, then the whole team might even get disqualified. I’m the one who needs a house, Benji. You gotta have mercy on me.” Josh sniffed and looked away. “I mean, Bricktown?”
“Dude, you cannot be crying,” Benji said.
Jaden swatted him. “Be nice, Benji. Ever since you hit that home run in Cooperstown you’ve been a little high on your horse.”
“Since I never rode a horse in my life, I’m not even gonna dignify that with a response, Miss Smarty-Pants.” Benji swatted at her with his hat. “I thought we were all friends here.”
“If we’re friends, you’d be thinking about a plan to stay on the team without causing trouble with Nike.” Jaden scolded Benji with her finger. “I’ve been thinking about this thing for my story. If Coach Swanson is cheating, why can’t I find out without involving Rylander? I mean, I can investigate it myself, and my article doesn’t have to appear until November first—after the season and Josh’s contest.”
“Okay, tell me the plan on just how you’re going to do all this and still help me from getting cut?” Benji huffed on his fingernails and wiped them on his shirt. “Go ahead, tell the heavy hitter so he can consider his options.”
“I don’t have one . . . yet.” Jaden looked at Josh. “Do you?”
In that moment it hit him. Josh had a monster idea.
“I do,” he said. “Poker.”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
BENJI JUMPED TO HIS feet and paced the grass in front of the steps. “We’re talking about serious stuff here, and I’m trying to help out by seriously weighing the heavy hitter’s options—and you’re goofing around? What does poker have to do with any of this?”
“Like, how you bluff, right?” Josh got excited. “The other person can’t see your cards, and you can raise the bet to scare them into thinking you’ve got a killer hand. They fold and you win, even though you had nothing. But you’ve got something, Benji. Just don’t act afraid.”
Benji shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m not a bluffer. My face turns colors when I lie.”
“Didn’t you just lie about not having time to fill out your informational sheet?” Jaden asked. “Painting your garage? Give me a break.”
“Now it’s okay to lie? See? This is why I always say, leave the girls behind. Like my dad says, they’re a devious bunch. Devious, sneaky, very hard to predict, and generally up to no good.” Benji snorted at his own wisdom.
“I didn’t say it was okay to lie.” It was Jaden’s turn to snort. “You’re amazing. Truly amazing.”
“Thank you. Yes, that is very true.” Benji stood and checked himself up and down with appreciation.
“Look, he wants this Titans job bad. My dad said that he heard Coach Swanson’s got plans to advance himself, and there is no way he’d blow it with an overage pitcher,” Josh said. “But cutting you after what you did in Cooperstown would raise some eyebrows. You’ve just got to bluff like you believe he’s got to keep you on the team to keep winning.”
Josh didn’t tell either of his friends about Coach Swanson’s visit. He let them think the warning about Nike maybe dropping the team came from his dad. He didn’t want them to know the coach had just shown up at his house. He knew Benji would go crazy. The thought of Coach Swanson appearing like that would send him into panic mode. Then he’d have little hope of Benji’s mom not filing a complaint about Jack Sheridan. He knew Mrs. Lido was nothing if not overprotective of Benji.
“There’s no harm in it for you, Benji,” Jaden said. “If he doesn’t pick you today, you can proceed to unleash the Death Star. If he says yes, you’re on the Titans, Josh gets his new house, and we all live happily ever after.”
Benji stared off into the sky with a big grin. It was as if he could read the clouds.
“What?” Josh couldn’t keep from asking. “What are you thinking?”
“Me?” Benji looked startled, then almost a little shy. “Oh, well . . . I was thinking that the heavy hitter likes happy endings.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
JOSH’S MOM RETURNED. BENJI and Jaden helped load up the U-Haul for the last time. Then they all rode their bikes over to Woodrow Street to help unload it into Josh’s new apartment. Josh cringed and looked around. Halfway down the street, he had to admit to himself that it didn’t look so bad in the sunshine. Granted, there were some broken windows here and there, and a doorstep was crowded with sketchy-looking young men, but the trees lining the sidewalks dappled the street with light and shadows.
In the tree right in front of their apartment, a family of sparrows flickered noisily, half a dozen young birds complaining to their parents about being hungry, and the parents working double time to find bugs and crumbs to keep them quiet. The sound gave Josh some hope that their stay on the border of Bricktown wouldn’t be so bad, especially since those Qwik-E houses went up
fast, and he planned on being out by Christmas.
As he struggled up the steps on one end of a mattress with Benji on the other end, Josh made a mental note to begin to look for building lots somewhere in the Grant Middle School district. He thought there were some out on a dead-end street on the other side of Eighth North Street. Such a thing couldn’t cost more per month than this apartment, could it? All they’d need was the lot. He’d take care of the rest.
Josh’s mom made them all some lemonade when they’d finished. A breeze wafted through the open windows, lifting the stained curtains the previous tenant had left behind. They sat in the cramped living room on the couch as well as on some of the boxes yet to be unpacked. The guys from his mom’s company were fresh out of college, and they talked about how they were looking for work at the mall in one of the new restaurants now that the catering company was no more.
When Josh’s mom excused herself to put his little sister down for a nap, he couldn’t wait for the young men to leave. Finally, they did, and Josh peeked into the bedroom and saw that his mom had fallen asleep along with Laurel. There wasn’t much room in the tiny bedroom for anything but the bed and the dresser. What little floor space remained was covered with boxes.
Josh felt a bit guilty but reasoned that there was little more he could do until his mom got up to tell him where things needed to go. Meantime, he could help the cause by getting himself to the batting cage. Jaden joined him, but Benji begged off, saying his older brother was stopping by, and he’d promised to show Benji a glitch that would help him move up a couple levels in Destiny, his current Xbox rage.
Josh struggled with his first bucket of balls. Jaden had removed her iPad from her backpack, and she pretended not to notice. Josh took a break and asked Jaden what she was writing.
“I can’t find anything new on this sports concussion angle.” She looked totally frustrated and ran a hand through her hair, giving it a little tug, then tying it off in a ponytail.
“You’re back to concussions now?” Josh asked.
She threw up her hands. “If your dad thinks there’s no way Coach Swanson would cheat, where am I going with that? I don’t have time to chase a dead end.”
“Wish I could help,” Josh said, holding up his bat, “but obviously I’ve got my own issues to straighten out.”
He tried half of another bucket before he threw down his bat.
Jaden swept aside a strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail. “You gotta be tired and sore from yesterday.”
“I am, but it’s my brain that’s more tired and sore than my body.” Josh picked up the bat and swung it over his shoulder.
“All this stuff with Sheridan?” Jaden asked.
Josh scowled, remembering the roller coaster he’d been on for the last half a year. His father had insisted he join the Titans when they were coached by Rocky Valentine, a muscle-brain coach who—without any of the parents knowing—had his team using steroids to make the players stronger. When he, Jaden, and Benji had exposed the coach, Jaden made a name for herself with the newspaper, and Josh’s father took over the team. Then that went sour after Josh got hit with a beanball that had shattered his cheekbone. He overcame that and helped his team win the national championship tournament, even though the head umpire was being paid off to make it otherwise. That win had solidified his dad’s Nike deal, and Josh believed they were all in for smooth sailing.
That hadn’t lasted more than a few weeks, though. The good turned to bad when his father got a new car and met Diane. After that his life had gone into a downward spiral. Josh and Benji and their local team had made it to the Little League World Series but lost. When he and Jaden exposed Diane’s involvement in a money scam, Josh hoped his parents would be reunited, but the plan had fizzled and they’d gotten a divorce anyway.
Life was up and down, up and down. He felt like a human yo-yo.
“This Jack Sheridan stuff is one of a lot of things. It’s like everything in my life is broken, and there’s not much chance of fixing it. I thought that when we busted Rocky Valentine for that illegal steroid thing and my dad took over the Titans, life was gonna be like some storybook. Then we win that national championship? You’re writing for the paper? Even though I got my face busted up by that pitch, it was something to overcome, like part of a good story.”
“Maybe the hard times you’re going through now are like that,” Jaden said. “Aren’t hard times part of a storybook?”
“Not like this,” Josh said. “Not your parents breaking apart, then your dad moving a thousand miles away so there’s, like, no chance they can get back together; and now we lose our home. . . .”
“But you can get a new one.” Jaden’s voice rose with excitement.
Josh looked at his bat. “Not like this I can’t.”
“Let’s stop,” Jaden said. “You’re tired is all. Save up your energy for tonight. You can do this, Josh.” Her yellow-green eyes burned at him. “You always do. You always come through. You can start hammering some homers this weekend. Get yourself qualified—I know you will—and then you’ll head down to Houston and win that thing.”
“You make it sound so good, so easy.”
“It won’t be easy,” she said, “but it’ll be good. Come on.”
They headed home. Josh went past where he needed to turn because he’d forgotten for a brief moment that he wasn’t going to the house anymore. He was headed for Bricktown. Jaden parted ways at the end of his street.
“I don’t blame you,” Josh said. “It can’t be safe.”
She waved a hand. “I’m headed the other way is all. I’m not afraid. I’ll see you in a few. Mrs. Lido’s still picking us up, right?”
“Benji texted me that they were. I better remind them of my new address too.” Josh took out his phone and texted Benji as he watched Jaden pedal away, then headed for the apartment.
The sun was beginning to drop, and Josh rode into it, blinking and keeping his lids half shut. When a group of older kids outside a store called out, he wasn’t sure they meant him, but he pedaled faster. On the sidewalk a huge skull had been spray-painted, and he thought of the Bricktown gang he’d heard rumors about. His heart was still pounding and his eyes were alert when he reached his door. Josh hopped off his bike, panting. He struggled to pull the bike inside the front doorway to keep it from being stolen. He hurried to get into the apartment, opening the door with his key. Inside, he smelled liver and onions cooking on the stove and didn’t think things could get much worse.
“Have fun?” His mom looked up from the stove, bubbling with positive energy.
“Didn’t hit too well.” Josh crossed the tiny living room and headed for his own bedroom.
“I unpacked some of your things. Laurel got hungry, so I left the rest for you.”
“Can I do it after practice?” He entered the room and dug his larger equipment bag out from under some boxes.
“Sure,” his mom hollered from the kitchen. “You can have an early bite with us, then I’ll make you something more when you get home. Good?”
He walked out into the cramped living room. She stood tall and pretty with a spatula in hand, smiling like they owned the world. He wanted to hug her. He wanted to cry.
“Thanks, Mom.”
“We’re gonna be okay, Josh. I know we are.”
“Yeah,” he said. “We will.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
DURING THE CAR RIDE to practice, Benji announced that he wanted Jaden to pitch in to the effort. “You need to ask Swanson where Sheridan’s birth certificate is. I figure that’ll turn up the heat even more.”
“No way, Benji.” Jaden shook her head.
“What do you mean ‘no way’? You’re part of this team, aren’t you?”
“You don’t need me sticking my nose in,” she said. “You’ve got to tough it out.”
Benji pounded a fist into his open hand. “We gotta let Swanson know what’s what. We are the Titans. He’s a newcomer. We need to school him in
the way of the Titans.”
“Josh, help me here,” Jaden said.
Josh spoke quietly, aware that Mrs. Lido was listening intently. “I think we’re gonna be fine, Benji. Let’s go have a great practice and make it impossible for him to bounce you.”
“Yeah,” Benji said, “but you be sure to let him know that if it ends up going some other way . . .”
“Death Star.” Jaden angled her head toward the back of Benji’s mom. “We know. We know.”
“Benji, I am not a Death Star.” Mrs. Lido frowned.
“Tell that to the lady at Walmart.” Benji looked back at them, glowing with pride. “This lady sasses my mom at the checkout because you’re not supposed to open the underwear to try it on; but you know I gotta make sure it’s stuff I can wear, and I don’t go for anything when the tags creep into your crack, so the lady says, ‘Hey, you opened this underwear; that’s not allowed.’ And my mom says, ‘There’s no reason to shout; my son won’t wear it if the tag crawls down his crack, so we can’t just go buying any underwear we see just cuz it looks good in the package.’ So the lady starts hollering and—BOOM—Death Star. My mom gets that look, and she’s got the manager out there, and he crumbles.”
“Well,” Mrs. Lido said, “I put up with your father’s guff for fourteen years, and I certainly am not gonna take it from the Walmart lady when I’m a paying customer.”
“Death Star,” Benji whispered to them.
When they got to the field, Benji delivered his paperwork to Martin first thing to avoid any more running.
Soon practice began in earnest. Josh whispered to Benji, “You gotta make some good moves, okay?”
Benji pointed to his chest. “When doesn’t the heavy hitter shine like a star? The heavy hitter performs best when everything is on the line. I thrive on pressure like it’s an ice cream sundae. It’s in my DNA.”
Josh wasn’t sure if it was Benji’s situation, or all the stuff with his parents, or sleeping poorly, or moving to Bricktown, but whatever the reason, he was the one who looked bad in practice, not Benji. Benji shone, and Josh thought that if Coach Swanson was going to base his decision on who to cut on that night’s practice alone, Josh would make a fine candidate. He barely nicked the ball in batting practice. Sheridan’s pitches screamed right past him, and his arms felt like lead in the field too.
