Stranger in Right Field (4 page)

Roberti nodded. “A good throw, yes. I will try.”

The drill started. One fly ball after another soared into the outfield. One throw followed the next. Sometimes the throw beat
the runner, but sometimes the runner was safe. Roberti made a few mistakes, dropped a few balls, and chased a few others,
but by the end of the drill, all the outfielders could see that he had improved from the last practice.

When Coach Parker called them in at the end of practice, the outfielders all jogged along together.

José fell in next to Roberti. “Wow! I can’t
believe you’re the same guy!” he said.

Tootsie nodded. “Yeah, looks like we’ve got another good outfield sub. Just in time, too, because my folks and I are going
on vacation next week. Now I don’t have to leave the Mudders short a man!”

“Thank you for your kind words,” Roberti said. His face was flushed with happiness. “Alfie is very good to teach me.”

Barry laughed. “Yup, ol’ Alfie here really knows how to talk the game. In fact, I wonder if the student is going to beat out
his teacher soon?”

Roberti looked at Alfie curiously. Alfie reddened. He was glad practice was over for the day so he could ignore Barry’s gibe.
He just hoped that look from Roberti didn’t mean he took the comment seriously.

But as he left the field, something Roberti had said the day before stuck in his mind—something about playing in a baseball
game
very soon
.

“Hey, Alfie, we’re going to get together a pickup game later today. Wanna come?”

Nicky Chong had run to catch up with Alfie in the parking lot. Roberti was with him.

“Please, Alfie, it is important for me to see you play,” Roberti said.

Why is that?
Alfie wondered suddenly.
So
you
can see if you’re getting better than me?

He quickly pushed the thought away.
Roberti isn’t like that
, he tried to assure himself. He agreed to meet up with everyone after lunch.

“Great, see you then!” Nicky said. He ran
off to nab Turtleneck. Roberti climbed into the back of the waiting limousine, waved to Alfie, and sped off.

Later in the day, they all met again on the field. They chose up teams. Alfie and Roberti were on opposite sides, but both
were playing right field.

“I wish we were on the same team, Alfie,” Roberti said. “I was hoping you could tell me the best way to get a hit.”

Alfie gulped. When he was playing in the outfield, he knew he could mess up from time to time without anybody coming down
on him too hard. After all, everybody dropped a few balls or made a few lousy throws now and then. But at the plate it was
a different story. There, all eyes were on you. And if you failed to get a hit too many times in a row, people started to
talk.

He finally answered the only way he knew how. “Just keep your eye on the ball and
swing to meet it. Just remember, be waiting for it!” Alfie punched his fist into his glove and headed out to right field.

When everyone was in position, Roberti trotted to the batter’s box and held the bat over his shoulder. Sparrow threw a nice
straight pitch.

Wham!

Roberti clubbed the ball in a hard line drive right between first and second. Turtleneck and Nicky were so stunned, they just
let it bounce into right field.

“Holy cow!” catcher Rudy Calhoun yelped.

“I did it, Alfie—I kept my eye on the ball and met it!” Roberti cried as he rounded the bases.

Alfie was too busy chasing the ball to answer back. But he couldn’t stop his thoughts.
I’ll say you did. You’re a natural at the plate. A real natural. You sure didn’t need me to give you any pointers. I wonder
if you ever did
.…

The game continued for another hour, then broke up. Roberti had stunned everyone by getting hit after hit and making clean
catches and throws most plays. They all crowded around the newcomer in right field, who laughed and joked along with them.
Only Alfie hung back. But he didn’t miss Roberti whispering to Bus. Bus glanced over at Alfie with a surprised look on his
face, then nodded and whispered back.

Alfie slowly gathered up his gear. As he left the dugout, he overheard Roberti talking to Bus.

“That’s right,” he said. “I will be playing right field very soon.”

Alfie felt like Roberti had just punched him in the stomach. And it hurt something fierce.

Alfie sat with his chin in his hands, poking at his cereal. His glove lay on the table next to him and he was dressed in his
Mudders uniform. But the last thing he felt like doing was playing baseball.

All night long, he had thought about what Roberti had said the day before.

You think a guy is your friend. Then he goes and pulls something like this!
Alfie thought miserably.

Alfie’s mother came into the kitchen. She glanced at the clock, then at her son.

“Hey, sport, aren’t you going to be late for
your game? You’re usually calling all over the house for me to come drive you by now!”

Alfie sighed, then picked up his glove. “Okay, I guess it’s time to go,” he said as he dumped his bowl into the sink and filled
it with water.

The car ride to the game was silent until they pulled into the parking lot. Roberti’s limousine was already there, but Alfie
barely looked at it. He was about to get out of the car when his mother stopped him.

“Alfie, what’s wrong?” she asked softly. “I’ve never seen you so glum right before a game.”

Then it all came rushing out: How Alfie had done his best to be Roberti’s friend and coach despite his concerns for his own
position. And how now it looked like Roberti was going to take over his spot.

“And that’s what really hurts, isn’t it? You feel like he used you?” Mrs. Maples finished for him. Alfie hung his head and
nodded.
“Well, I think we’d better go clear this up. Come on.”

Alfie started to protest, but his mother ignored him. She marched right to the dugout.

Most of the team was already gathered there. Roberti was right in the center, laughing and talking with the others as if he
had been a Mudder since the squad had started.

“Alfie! There you are!” Roberti broke through the ring of boys and headed toward Alfie. “Guess what! Coach Parker said—”

“Roberti!” Mrs. Maples interrupted. Alfie looked up at her in surprise. “Don’t you think you had better wait for Coach Parker
to make that announcement, Roberti?” Roberti gave Mrs. Maples a strange smile, then nodded knowingly.

“Yes, perhaps it would be best for him to be here, too,” Roberti agreed.

Alfie frowned.
When did
Mom
and Roberti become
so
chummy?
he thought. He suddenly
became aware that the other boys were whispering, giving him sidelong glances, and trying to hold back laughter. The air was
thick with excitement.

Alfie couldn’t stand it any longer. “Okay, what’s going on?” he asked angrily. “Somebody better tell me what the big secret
is or—”

“Or what?” a voice boomed behind him.

Coach Parker strode up to the dugout, followed by Roberti’s guardian. “Well, Alfie?”

But it was Roberti who spoke. “Coach Parker, I want to tell Alfie the good news?” he said.

“Don’t bother—I already know what it is,” Alfie mumbled.

Roberti’s eyes widened. “You do?” he asked.

“Well, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that you’re taking over the starting right field position,” Alfie
replied.

To Alfie’s amazement, Roberti started
laughing. The other Mudders joined in, as did Coach Parker, his mother, and Roberti’s guardian.

Roberti cried, “Oh, Alfie, I am sorry to be laughing. But it is because I am so happy to tell you that that is not true!”

“Perhaps I can explain.” Roberti’s guardian stepped forward. He introduced himself as Mr. Bannon. He laid one hand on Alfie’s
shoulder, the other on Roberti’s, and turned the boys so that they were facing each other.

“Alfie, I’d like you to meet Roberto Fernandez.” He paused for a moment. “Movie star.”

Alfie’s jaw dropped. “
A movie star?”
he exclaimed.

Roberti—no, Roberto—grinned. “Well, I have only been in a few films, so I am not a movie
star
yet,” he said. “But if the movie I am soon to act in is a success, then perhaps I will be!”

Coach Parker cleared his throat. “I was
sworn to secrecy about Roberto and the movie business. But I bet you can guess what Roberto’s movie is about, can’t you, Alfie?”

Alfie looked at Roberto, who waggled his glove at him and tipped back his baseball cap.

“Baseball! The movie’s going to be about baseball!” Alfie guessed.

“That’s right. To be exact, it’s the life story of a famous baseball player. Roberto is going to play the main character as
a boy,” Coach Parker told him.

“I will be in most of the first scenes,” Roberto added. Then he glanced up at Mr. Bannon. “Can I tell him now?”

Mr. Bannon nodded.

“I will be in most of the first scenes,” Roberto repeated. “And you will be in one!”

Alfie gasped. “
What
?” he squeaked.

“That’s right, Alfie,” his mother said, beaming. “If you want to be in the movie, your father and I have said it’s okay.”

“But I don’t know how to act!”

“I will teach you,” Roberto said. “Just like you taught me about baseball—and about sportsmanship, and about friendship. I
would be honored to teach you about the movies if you would let me.”

“It’s—it’s a deal!”

Coach Parker thumped his clipboard. “Well, now that that’s settled, do you boys think we can get this game started?” As the
Mudders came to attention, Mrs. Maples and Mr. Bannon moved off to the stands. “Here’s the lineup: left field, Barry McGee;
center field, José Mendez; right field—”

“Roberto Fernandez!” Alfie cried. The other boys laughed as Coach Parker shot Alfie a look. Alfie spread his hands wide and
looked innocent. “Hey, I’m not saying I’m giving up my position for all time, but we may never get another chance to play
a baseball game
and
see a movie preview at the
same time. Besides, Roberto here may still need some more pointers!”