The All-Star Joker (6 page)

Mike lifted the big brown catcher’s mitt. It felt much heavier and thicker than his glove at home. Josh had wiped off most of the grease earlier, but Mike and Andy could see traces of the clear, slippery gel near the stitching and under the leather straps. They checked it thoroughly. But they didn’t see anything that would prove that the Rocket had greased it.

“Shoot!” Andy said.

“Okay, time for plan B, then,” Mike said. “The Rocket’s locker. Which one is it?”

Andy pointed across the room. “It’s over there,” he said. “See the sign above it that says
Richards
?”

Mike started across the room to the locker.
But as he passed the long conference table, he pulled out one of the rolling high-backed leather chairs and dropped down in it. “Watch this!” he said. With a shove, he pushed off from the table and sailed across the carpet.

“Wheeee!” Mike called out.

“Mike! Put it back,” Andy said. “We don’t have much time.”

Mike spun the chair around. He used his feet to push himself to the middle of the room. Then he slid the chair against the conference table and joined Andy at the Rocket’s locker.

It looked like all the other lockers, with extra equipment, clothing, and shoes. The Rocket had taped two newspaper stories about himself to the side.

They nosed around, but after a few minutes Andy shook his head. “I don’t see any clues,” he said.

All of a sudden, a loud whistle pierced the air. Before they could move, Kate burst into the locker room.

“The Rocket’s coming!” she said. Her eyes were big. “I saw him and Sparky heading this way!”

Mike heard the click of shoes on the concrete
stairs outside. He looked around wildly. Where could they hide? None of the lockers had doors that closed.

“This way,” Mike hissed. The conference table had given him an idea. It was just like breakfast all over again!

Mike pulled a chair out and signaled for
Kate and Andy to crawl under the table. He followed and pulled the chair after him. With all the chairs around the table, they couldn’t see much, but that meant they couldn’t be seen, either. Through the chairs, Mike could just make out the bottom of each locker.

A few seconds later, a pair of legs walked up to Josh’s locker.

“That must be the Rocket,” Andy whispered to Kate and Mike. “What’s he doing?”

A Surprise

From under the table, it was hard to tell what the Rocket was doing. Mike saw him place a plastic Royals souvenir bag on the ground by the table. He pulled something out of the bag and then rustled around in Josh’s locker.

Andy bit his lip and scowled. He looked as if he were about to say something, but Mike put a finger to his lips. He pointed to the plastic bag. Kate’s eyes got wide. She nodded and snaked one hand out between the chairs. She snagged the bag and pulled it toward her.

They peeked inside. It was filled with things for practical jokes! Stink bombs. Fake insects. More disappearing ink pens. The Rocket’s bag was loaded with trouble.

Andy’s face broke into a wide smile. He gave Kate a thumbs-up. But Mike waved his hand furiously. He tapped his head as if he had an idea. Then he mouthed the words “Watch me.”

The Rocket was still moving things around in Josh’s locker. Hidden by the chairs, Mike reached out to the Rocket’s shoes. Before Kate could pull him back in, Mike had quietly tied the laces on the Rocket’s shoes together!

As Mike slid back under the table, Kate gave him a questioning look.

But Mike just smiled. Then he turned and shoved one of the big black chairs as hard as he could. The chair flew across the room.

“Hey, who’s there?” the Rocket called out as the chair rolled across the floor. Kate, Mike, and Andy watched the Rocket’s feet as he turned.

POING!
The laces on his shoes snapped tight.

“Whoa!” the Rocket cried.

In an instant, his knees buckled.
UMPH!
The Rocket toppled to the clubhouse carpet in a heap!

Mike jumped out from under the table. “Don’t move, Rocket!” he shouted. “We’ve caught you red-handed!”

Kate and Andy popped out in time to see the Rocket twisting around to face them.

Andy gasped. “Oh no!”

“
Oh no
is right!” Kate added.

“Hey, you’re not the Rocket!” Mike said. “You’re his agent!”

“Of course I am,” the man said. He retied his shoes, then stood up and dusted himself off. “I’m Tom Clark.” He scowled at Mike, Kate, and Andy. “What are you kids doing
here? This is private property! Don’t you have school or something?”

Andy stepped forward. “Yes, it’s my
dad’s
private property,” he said. “We were watching you. What were you doing poking around in his locker? And what did you put in there?”

Clark glanced back at the locker. He read the name
ROBINSON
over the top of it. “Oh, uh, um, your dad’s locker?” he stammered. “I—I thought this was the Rocket’s locker.”

“It’s my dad’s locker, and you know it,” Andy said.

“Well, I was just leaving, kid,” the agent said.

Kate peeked into Josh’s locker. “You pulled something out of the plastic bag and put it in Josh’s locker. What was it?”

Before the agent could answer, they heard footsteps. It sounded like baseball cleats
coming down the stairs. Everyone froze.

Sparky walked into the locker room.

He looked around, lifted his baseball cap, and scratched the top of his head. “Some kinda trouble going on? I heard voices down here. What’re y’all doing?”

Mike, Andy, the agent, and Kate started talking at once.

Sparky held up his hands for quiet. “All right, all right. That’s enough,” he said. He pointed at Andy. “Okay, what’s going on?”

Andy explained how they saw the agent hide something in Josh’s locker. When he finished, Sparky checked the top shelf. He grabbed a big white plastic bottle.

SUDZI’S SUPER FOAM

“This guy’s the joker!” Mike cried. “Not Josh. He brought a whole bagful of practical jokes. We hid the bag under there.” Mike
scooted under the table. He grabbed the bag and plopped it down in front of Sparky.

“That’s not
my
bag,” the agent said. “I’ve never seen it before.”

“Oh really?” asked Kate. “Have you seen this before?” She held up a half-full bag that read
PETE’S PICANTE GUM—HOT TIMES FOR YOUR MOUTH!
“Or this?” she said, pulling out a small bottle with
ITCHING POWDER
printed on the front.

Andy reached into the bag and found a tube of clear grease and a small saw. “He used this grease on my dad’s glove!” Andy exclaimed. “And this saw on the chair at the home run derby!”

The agent sniffed. His steely black eyes looked down at Andy. “Maybe you should ask your father about those,” he said. “Because that bag’s not mine.”

Andy looked up at Sparky. “We saw him
bring the bag in,” he said. “He took something out of it and put it in my dad’s locker!”

Sparky stared at the bottle of Sudzi’s Super Foam in his hand. Then he looked at the agent. On the floor, Kate kept digging through the bag.

“Well, it seems like we need to find out who really owns this,” Sparky said. He nudged the plastic bag with his shoe. “That would tell us a lot.”

Andy’s face dropped. “How are we going to do that?” he asked. “It’s impossible!”

Kate stood up. She was holding the bag. “No, it’s not,” she said. “Look at what I found at the bottom of the bag.” She pulled out a stack of papers. She handed them to Sparky. “It looks like Mr. Clark printed out his emails.”

Sparky held the top email at arm’s length and read: “From: Tom Clark. To: Director,
Sports TV Channel Five. I’m ace catcher Rocket Richards’s manager. I have inside information that the Rocket, and
not
Josh Robinson, will be starting in the all-star game this week. Make sure to keep your cameras on the Rocket during the game!”

The agent slumped against the wall.

Kate pointed to the date on the email. “This was sent almost a week ago!” she said. “Mr. Clark has been planning this all along!”

Sparky handed the papers back to Kate. “Looks like we’ve just caught ourselves an all-star joker,” he said. “Why don’t you take a seat over there while I call my bull pen? I have a few people who might want to talk to you, Mr. Clark!”

The agent shuffled over to the table. Sparky turned to Andy, Kate, and Mike.

“You kids can hang out in the dugout
while we get this sorted. We’ve got a few hours before game time,” Sparky said.

Mike, Kate, and Andy headed for the door. They were just about to climb the stairs when Sparky stopped them.

“Andy!” he called.

Andy turned around. “Yes?”

“Uh, one more thing,” Sparky said. “Can you tell your dad that I have something to say to him?”

A Friendly Shake

Sparky reached into the bucket of gum on the dugout steps. He pulled out a piece wrapped in bright red paper.

“Rocket! Here’s another for you!” Sparky called. “I think you should eat every one we find!” He tossed the piece of Pete’s Picante Gum at the Rocket.

The Rocket sat on the bench next to Josh. He caught the gum. “Come on, Coach,” he said. “I had no idea that my agent was playing all those practical jokes! I thought it was Josh!”