Stranger in Right Field (3 page)

Practice began at ten o’clock sharp the next morning. Roberti was already at the ball field when Alfie showed up. Alfie started
toward him, but Bus Mercer beat him to the punch.

“That was some car you rode away in yesterday. Are you a prince or something?”

Roberti laughed and shook his head. But he didn’t offer any explanation of why he was being driven around in such a car.

“Okay, boys, let’s get to practice,” Coach Parker said. “All outfielders, take a position in the field. The rest of you, line
up for some batting practice. The goal is to keep your
teammates out there from getting bored. Jack Livingston, come with me to the mound and shag incoming throws from the outfield.”

Barry McGee, José Mendez, Alfie Maples, and Tootsie Malone, the usual outfield sub, grabbed their gloves. Alfie hesitated
a moment, then called out, “Hey, Roberti, come on with me.”

Roberti grinned and picked up his brand-new glove. He caught up to Alfie and the others. Barry took up his position in left
field, José moved into center, and Tootsie found a spot in between them. Alfie jogged into right field close to José, then
motioned for Roberti to stand a little way away from him on the other side.

When they were ready, Coach Parker had Sparrow and Zero Ford take turns throwing easy-to-hit pitches to their teammates. Soon
the fly balls were soaring into the outfield one after another.

Alfie tried to explain the outfielders’ movements
to Roberti with each hit.

Whap!
The ball flew high in the sky to left field.

“See how Barry’s holding his glove up like that? That puts his glove in position for the catch. It also helps him block out
the sun so he doesn’t lose sight of the ball. And when he catches it, he squeezes the fingers of the glove together really
tightly
and
makes sure his free hand traps it in the pocket.”

Thwack!

“Okay, that ball is coming down right between José and Tootsie. One of them should call for it so that the other one backs
away. Otherwise, crash! They’ll run into each other!”

Pow!
Another ball soared way up and behind Barry.

“It’s usually better to run backwards to catch a fly ball over your head than to turn around and run. If you turn, you could
be off-balance or lose sight of the ball for a second.”

But a moment later, when Alfie tried to back up to make a catch, he tripped over his feet and fell. While the other outfielders
laughed good-naturedly, he grinned sheepishly. “Well, maybe sometimes it’s better to turn around and chase it!” he admitted
as Roberti helped him up.

The next ball hit headed between Alfie and Roberti. Alfie hesitated, then called for Roberti to take it.

Roberti did everything just as Alfie had suggested: He held the glove high, backed up a few quick steps, squeezed the fingers
together when the ball hit the pocket, then cupped his other hand over it to be sure it was trapped. He fished the ball out
triumphantly.

“Okay, just get it as near Jack as you can,” Alfie started to say. But he needn’t have bothered. With a pinpoint accurate
throw, Roberti hurled the ball in. It smacked solidly into Jack’s glove.

Roberti grinned at Alfie. “How did I do?”

“That was just right,” Alfie said. “You catch on quickly.”
Almost
too
quickly
, he added worriedly to himself.
And what an arm!

The next morning, Alfie woke up to the sound of rain pounding on the window. He knew practice would be cancelled, so he rolled
out of bed and padded downstairs in his pajamas. He was just finishing a bowl of cereal when the phone rang. His mother picked
it up, then called out that it was for him.

“Hello?”

“Alfie! I hope I am not calling you too early in the morning?” It was Roberti.

Alfie told him he wasn’t.

“Oh,” said Roberti. “I was thinking to
myself, do you know how to swim?”

“Swim?” Alfie echoed. “Yeah, I know how to swim.”

“Good!” Roberti said happily. “Then would you like to go swimming with me today?”

“But it’s raining!”

“There is a place we can go where we will not get wet.”

Alfie started to laugh. “Okay, but it’s going to be pretty tough to stay dry while we’re swimming!”

Roberti laughed, too. Alfie ran to ask his mother if it was okay for him to go.

“Let me talk to Roberti’s guardian,” she said. Alfie relayed the message to Roberti.

A moment later, Mrs. Maples was talking with someone on the other line. Alfie hung around, waiting for her to finish. Suddenly
Mrs. Maples glanced at him, then turned around in her chair and continued speaking in a low voice.

Alfie thought that was strange, but forgot
all about it when Mrs. Maples called out that Roberti would be by in fifteen minutes to pick him up.

Alfie raced up the stairs to find his suit and a towel. He packed both into his knapsack, then changed into shorts, a T-shirt,
and a sweatshirt before going back downstairs carrying the pack.

As he passed the living room door, he paused, then went in. He pulled a few geography magazines from his pile to take with
him.
Maybe I can ask Roberti if he’s from one of these places
, he thought.

A little later, the doorbell rang. “Mom, Roberti’s here! I’m leaving now!” Alfie called.

“Well, hold on one second. I’d like to meet your new friend.” She came around the corner just as Alfie opened the door for
Roberti.

“My goodness!” Mrs. Maples exclaimed. For a moment, Alfie didn’t know what was wrong. Then he realized that Roberti had
been driven over in the limousine. It idled at the curb.

“Mom, this is Roberti. Roberti, this is my mom. Can we go now?”

Roberti smiled at Mrs. Maples and held out his hand. “It is very nice to meet Alfie’s mother,” he said. “My guardian said
you had a nice talk earlier. Are you ready to go swimming, Alfie?”

His mother nodded that it was okay for him to go. Alfie thought he heard her mumble something about “a car big enough to swim
in” just as the front door closed.

Awed, Alfie sat down in the huge backseat of the limo. Roberti flopped next to him and pointed to the magazines Alfie held
tightly. “What are those?” he asked.

Suddenly Alfie wasn’t sure he wanted to show them to Roberti. What if Roberti thought they were dumb?

“Oh, they’re just some old magazines,” he mumbled. He flipped through the pages of
one, then tried to tuck it into his knapsack. But Roberti pulled it out of his hands. His eyes were bright, and he was grinning
broadly.

“I have copies of these magazines, too,” he said. “I had to leave mine at home. I hope you will let me look through these
today!”

“Sure!” Alfie said, relieved. “Here, let me show you my favorite pictures.”

For the next fifteen minutes, the two boys turned through the pages of color photographs and illustrations. Alfie was surprised
at how familiar Roberti seemed with several of the places pictured.

“Did you live in all these countries?” Alfie finally asked.

Roberti shrugged. “I have traveled to some. Others are places I will someday visit.”

“How do you know that?” Alfie wondered.

Roberti smiled but didn’t answer. Instead, he pointed out the window. “Here we are, at the swimming place!”

Alfie looked up in amazement. They were parked in front of a fancy hotel located in the next town. Alfie had seen a picture
of it in the newspaper once, but he had never dreamed he’d be going inside.

“Wow!” he breathed. “It’s like a palace!”

Roberti laughed. “Come on!” he said.

For the next three hours, the boys splashed and played in the hotel’s pool. When they got hungry, Roberti asked his guardian
to order them some burgers, fries, and thick milkshakes.

While they ate, Roberti surprised Alfie by peppering him with questions about baseball, especially about right field. Alfie
shared all he could, often using stories about mistakes he had made to explain the right and wrong way to do things in the
field.

“You know how I told you about getting back in time to catch a long fly ball? Well, one time when I first started playing,
a high fly ball was going really far behind me. I
couldn’t make up my mind if I should run backwards or turn around. So I ended up trying to do both at the same time! Coach
Parker said I looked like I was caught in a twister.” Laughing, he shook his head at the memory.

“It must be fun to play baseball all the time,” Roberti said wistfully.

Alfie shrugged. “Well, maybe you can play in a game sometime,” he said.

“Yes,” Roberti said with a strange smile. “Maybe even very soon.”

Coach Parker called for a make-up practice the day after the rainstorm.

“We’ve got a big game against the Dragons coming up!” he reminded everyone when they gathered at the field.

For the first drill, he put his regular infield lineup in position except for the pitcher. Then he told all the outfielders,
including the subs, to get into position. The remaining players would act as batters and run the bases after each hit.

As Alfie and Roberti waited in the field together, Alfie tried to explain the rules
about where to throw the ball when a runner was on base.

“If the bases are empty, it’s easy—the throw goes to first. But if there’s a runner on first and the batter gets a base hit,
the runner has to move to second, right? So where do you throw?”

Alfie could see Roberti working it out in his head. “Second?” Roberti answered.

“Right! If your throw is good and strong, the ball will beat him there and he’ll be out. That’s called a force-out. And then
if the second baseman can throw the batter out at first, you can turn that into a double play.”

Just as he had the day before, Roberti seemed to soak up all the information Alfie was giving him. He asked questions when
he didn’t understand something.

“But what if the runner is at second base and there is no runner behind him who is forcing him to move? Should I throw to
third?”

Alfie thought for a moment. “That’s a tricky one. It’s bad when a runner gets to third base, because then he’s in scoring
position. But since he doesn’t
have
to run from second to third, you might be in better shape if you throw out the batter at first.” Alfie pondered further.
“I guess the most important thing is to make a quick decision and a good throw.”