Button Down (12 page)
Authors: Anne Ylvisaker
“Granddaddy,” said Ned. “It’s perfect for the Ike. Let’s try it out.”
“The
Ike
? You sissies should just give up now,” said Burton. “You can’t win.”
Ned ignored him, handed the ball to Ralph, and lined up behind his fellows. “Down,” he said. “Set. Hut! Hut! Hut!”
Ralph tossed the ball through his legs to Ned and ran to his side.
Burton was coming straight at Ned.
Ned faked a handoff to Ralph and dodged Burton. He cut behind Mel, but Burton’s boys were everywhere he turned.
Ned clutched the ball and ran toward the side of the field. He looked back. Burton was chasing him. He was nearly on him.
“I’m open! I’m open!” Ralph shouted from the end zone.
Ned drew back his arm. He was in the apple tree, tossing an apple into Granddaddy’s door. The door was opening and Granddaddy was coming out, laughing. Ned let go and the ball soared through the air. It soared over Mel and Clyde and Johnny. It soared right into the hands of Ralph Stump.
And then Ned was down, face in the dirt, air thumped from his lungs.
“Hand?” said a voice above him. Ned rolled over and allowed himself to be hauled up by Ralph Stump.
“What happened?” said Ned. He looked at his empty hands. He could see the imprint of the laces.
“Touchdown!” yelled Ralph. He handed Ned his football. The boys were all over him then. His own team tackled him, then dragged him up again and slapped his back. Ralph socked him in the arm, then socked him again. “Touchdown!” he said. “We scored a touchdown!”
“Game’s over!” Mel called.
He and Tugs and Franklin ran onto the field. “Touchdown!” they hollered.
“Can I see it?” said Franklin.
Ned handed him the football. He watched the boys pass it around.
A car honked then. It was Mrs. Ward.
“I have to go,” Burton called to Clyde. He turned to Ned. “Not bad, Button,” he said.
“We’ll get you next time,” said Ned.
“Sure,” said Burton. “See you Monday.”
“See you,” said Ned. He turned back to his team.
“Who wants to try the Lester?”
AVE YOU READ
A
NNE
Y
LVISAKER
’
S PREVIOUS BOOKS
?
D
EAR
P
APA
ANNE YLVISAKER
Paperback ISBN 978-0-7636-3402-5
L
ITTLE
K
LEIN
ANNE YLVISAKER
Hardcover ISBN 978-0-7636-3359-2
Paperback ISBN 978-0-7636-4338-6
Also available as an e-book
T
HE
L
UCK OF THE
B
UTTONS
ANNE YLVISAKER
Hardcover ISBN 978-0-7636-5066-7
Paperback ISBN 978-0-7636-6061-1
Also available as an e-book and in audio
Anne Ylvisaker
is the author of
Dear Papa
, which
Booklist
named a Top Ten First Novel for Youth;
Little Klein
, a Book Sense Children’s Pick and winner of numerous awards, including the Midwest Booksellers’ Choice Award; and
The Luck of the Buttons
, an Indie Next List Selection. About
Button Down
, the second book to feature the Button family, she says, “When Ned confessed, in
The Luck of the Buttons
, that he couldn’t catch a football but still liked to play, I recognized a piece of my childhood. In my neighborhood, we played countless games of baseball in the alley, soccer on the median, and football in front yards. While I couldn’t hit, throw, catch, or kick, I loved those seconds of suspense after a ball was launched and victory was yet possible. For me, it never was, but what about Ned? I put a ball in the air and Ned on the field and wrote to find out what happened.” Formerly of Iowa and Minnesota, Anne Ylvisaker now lives in California with her family.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2012 by Anne Ylvisaker
Cover photograph copyright © 2012 by Lew Long/Corbis
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
First electronic edition 2012
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Ylvisaker, Anne.
Button down / Anne Ylvisaker.
p. cm.
Summary: Ever since local boy Lester Ward got drafted by the University of Iowa Hawkeyes, Tugs Button’s scrawny cousin Ned can think of nothing but football. Sure, Lester’s younger bully of a brother is determined to keep Ned and his gang from ever getting near a real pickup game. But Ned has a few things going for him: he can catch and sometimes even throw, much to his surprise. And he’s got his eccentric Grandpa Ike, who may have less get-up-and-go these days, but no shortage of down-home wisdom to pass along — like that being a football star is less about being big and more about being a team and honing your strategy, and that having friends and family in your corner is a bigger prize than a lucky football ever will be.
ISBN 978-0-7636-5396-5 (hardcover)
[1. Football — Fiction. 2. Grandfathers — Fiction. 3. Friendship — Fiction. 4. Luck — Fiction. 5. Family life — Iowa — Fiction. 6. Depressions — 1929 — Fiction. 7. Iowa — History — 20th century — Fiction. 8. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Title.
PZ7.Y57But 2012
[Fic] — dc23 2011048114
ISBN 978-0-7636-6207-3 (electronic)
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