The Hit-Away Kid (3 page)

“José!” Barry called. “Race you down the block!”

“You’re on!” José replied. The two of them stood side by side for a second, then took off down the sidewalk, leaving Susan
staring after them.

Suddenly four more boys on skateboards appeared from the other direction.

“Well, look who we’ve run into!” Alec Frost cried. “McGee and Mendez! The Mudders outfield!”

“Not quite,” said Barry, feeling a tightness in his stomach. The last guy he wanted to
come across was Smart-Alec Frost. Barry recognized the other three, too. They were all members of the High Street Bunkers
baseball team: Fuzzy McCormick, Judd Koles, and Tony Workman.

Both Barry and José slowed down, moving to the right side of the curb to let Alec and his friends pass by. The four boys took
their time and hogged most of the sidewalk. Another six inches and Barry and José would have been on the grass.

“Hah!” Barry heard one of the guys laugh, but he ignored him. He was just glad they were leaving.

Barry and José got into position to continue their race. Then Barry heard a scream behind him. The boys pulled up short, looked
back, and saw Susan yanking out her pockets and yelling, “It’s gone! It’s gone!”

Barry and José skateboarded as fast as they could up to Susan. Tears shone in her eyes and streamed down her cheeks.

“What’s gone?” Barry asked.

“Tommy’s figurine!” Susan exclaimed. “The little dog statue I had in my pocket! He bought it at Disneyland with his own money!”

Barry pursed his lips. So that was what was sticking out of her pocket, he thought. “Maybe it fell out while you were skateboarding,”
he said.

He and José helped her search the sidewalk and the ground. Suddenly he heard loud laughter up ahead.

“Look,” José said. “I think the statue’s been found.”

Barry looked up the sidewalk. Alec Frost was rocking back and forth on his skateboard and tossing something in the air: Tommy’s
glass dog. His pals were laughing as they rocked and spun on their skateboards.

“That’s my brother Tommy’s!” Susan yelled, running toward them. “Give it back to me!”

“Bring it back!” Barry cried, running after her.

“Better watch out,” Alec taunted as he teetered on his skateboard. “I might drop it.”

“Come on, Alec,” Barry coaxed. “Hand it over.”

But Alec and his friends only laughed and took off down the street.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re taking that?” Barry shouted. He sped after them, one
foot on the skateboard, the other pumping the sidewalk furiously. He could hear José following him closely and Susan lagging
farther behind.

What was she doing with that dog figurine anyway? he thought angrily. Why didn’t she leave it at home where it belongs?

“Alec!” he yelled. “You’re
stealing
that statue! You hear me? It doesn’t belong to you! It’s my brother’s!”

“Crook!” Susan screamed from far behind him.

Alec whipped his skateboard around and stopped. His eyes bore into Barry’s as Barry reached him.

“Crook? What a gas!” he said, and laughed. “Tell your sister about that fly ball you pretended you caught, McGee. Or maybe
she already knows about it. If I’m a crook, what does that make you?”

“Knock it off, Alec,” José said.

“Forget that,” Barry said, and extended his hand. “Hand me back my brother’s statuette.”

“No way!” Fuzzy McCormick cut in. “Let’s go, Alec! It’s yours now!”

He headed up the sidewalk, one foot on the skateboard, the other pumping away like mad.

Alec scooted around on his skateboard and started to follow him. Barry stared after him, anger flushing his cheeks. It was
obvious that Alec wasn’t going to return Tommy’s glass dog. Something else had to be done.

“Alec, wait!” he shouted. “I’ve got an idea!”

Alec slowed down, stopped, and looked back over his shoulder at him. “Yeah?” he said. “What kind of idea?”

Barry took a deep breath and let it out before he went on, his heart pounding. “Let’s make a deal,” he suggested, eyeing Alec
closely. “If I get one hit off you, you give back the dog. Deal?”

“Deal?” Alec echoed. “They call you the hit-away kid, don’t they?”

Fuzzy laughed. “They won’t after the game,”
he said and started to skateboard away. “Come on, Alec. Let’s go. Forget him.”

“No, wait,” Alec said without taking his eyes off Barry. “Sure, I’ll give you a chance to get this toy back,
if
it’s your brother’s.”

“It is!” Susan shouted.

“But you’ll have to hit two home runs,” Alec said, ignoring Susan.

Barry stared at him. “Two home runs? You crazy? Who do you think I am, some big leaguer?”

“The hit-away kid,” Tony Workman said, smiling from one side of his mouth.

“Right,” Alec said. “And, if I strike you out
twice,
I keep it.”

“And if I strike out twice and get two home runs besides?” Barry countered. “What then?”

Alec shook his head. “A real dreamer, aren’t you?” he said.

He started to turn away, but Barry swept up in front of him. “You’re not giving me a
fair chance, Alec. In the first place, that toy doesn’t belong to you.”

“Sure it does. And you made a great catch yesterday. Out of my way, mudface,” Alec said. He shot past Barry up the sidewalk
with Fuzzy, Tony, and Dick trailing after him. A few seconds later they vanished around the next block, screaming like hyenas.

“I’m going to tell Mom,” Susan said, her voice ready to break. “She’ll get it back.”

“No, you won’t,” said Barry, his face shiny with sweat from the encounter with Alec. “I don’t want Alec to think he’s a better
pitcher than I am a batter. I’m going through with the deal.”

“All you care about is your dumb game!” Susan wailed.

“You just don’t understand,” said Barry.

“You’ll have to practice more,” José broke in quietly.

Barry looked at his friend. He and José had been close all their lives. But suddenly a frightening
thought occurred to him. Had the awful things Alec said about him changed José’s feelings? Were they still as good friends
as they ever were?

“Will you pitch to me?” he said, looking hopefully into José’s dark eyes.

José grinned. “Of course I will!” he cried.

They agreed to meet at the ballpark after they went home to get their equipment. Susan came along, too, to make sure Barry
practiced hard. She didn’t want to go home (to Tommy) empty-handed after the game.

Barry stood in front of the backstop screen, taking warmup swings with his bat, while José stood in the worn patch of grass
between home plate and the pitcher’s box. Susan ran out to left field, where Barry usually hit the ball.

There were five kids playing tag, all of whom Barry knew. Before Barry hit out three balls, all five of them quit playing tag and began helping Susan field the balls.

A good feeling swelled inside of Barry as he saw one ball and then another sail over the left-field fence. But most of the
hits were shallow drives over the infield, and there were a few grounders.

“Ha, ha, ha!”

He heard the laughter coming from behind him and signaled for José to hold up his next pitch while he looked around.

Standing behind the screen was Alec, on his skateboard. This time only Fuzzy was with him.

“You got the idea, hit-away,” Alec said, grinning. “Practice, practice, practice. But it’ll take more than that for you to
win back your precious little doggie!”

Barry hated to see Friday afternoon come. It was the day of the game with the High Street Bunkers — the day he had to hit
two home runs off Alec Frost or avoid striking out twice. Otherwise, good-bye glass dog.

What terrible odds Alec had given him! I seldom strike out, Barry thought, but I’ve never hit two home runs in a game in my
life!

Another terrible thing was that he couldn’t even pretend he was sick and stay home. He
had
to play.

Dressed in his blue uniform, his glove stuck in front of his pants, he walked with Susan to the ballpark. Neither one of them
said more than three or four words all the way. It was windy, and Barry had to pull his cap down tight to make sure it wouldn’t
blow off.

Both teams took their batting practice, then fielding practice, and, at exactly four-thirty, the game began. The Peach Street
Mudders had first bats, and Barry, as usual, led off.