Bases Loaded Read online

  The rest of the game went well. After bunting when he was supposed to swing hard and not swinging at all when he was supposed to bunt, Graham finally figured out the signals. We didn’t score any more runs, but we still won 4–2, thanks to Luke’s grand slam homer.

  I wondered if the nickname Luke the Puke would change now that he’d hit a grand slam and was the hero of the game. Unfortunately, the next morning at school he was still “the Puke” like always. I don’t think anyone really meant anything mean by it—everyone had called him that for so long, it just seemed like his real name. Even his friends were saying things like “Great game, Puke Man!” and “Long live the Puke!” He didn’t seem to mind it too much. Maybe he was as used to it as everyone else was.

  Then at recess I saw Graham talking to Kelly and showing her all our signals. I couldn’t believe it.

  “Graham, can I talk to you?” I said, pulling him away from Kelly. She smiled and walked away quickly.

  “Hey, what are you doing? Couldn’t you see I was talking with Kelly?” he said.

  “Yeah, I saw you. You were showing her our baseball signals. What if David saw you?”

  “Wait a minute, hermano,” Graham said, smiling. “I didn’t show her our team signals. Those were my own signals.”

  “What are you talking about? I saw you give the ‘don’t swing’ signal,” I said.

  “Well, I’m using the same signals, but they mean different things,” he explained. “Since I didn’t get to sit by her this week, I gave her some signals so I can talk to her from across the room. Like when I give the ‘don’t swing’ signal, it means, ‘Hi, Kelly, how’s it going?’ and the ‘swing’ signal means, ‘What are you doing at recess?’ ”

  “Are you serious?” I said. “That seems a little complicated.”

  “No way, it’s going to be great,” Graham said. “Just watch.”

  That afternoon in class I saw Graham giving Kelly signals from his desk. Kelly looked at him like he was crazy. My mom even asked him if he was all right.

  Graham seemed sad after school as we walked down the school steps. “What’s wrong?” I finally asked.

  “Well, I was giving signals to Kelly all afternoon,” Graham said.

  “Yeah, I saw you. We all saw you,” I said.

  “Well, everyone but Kelly,” he answered. “She didn’t respond to any of them.”

  “What do you mean? How was she supposed to respond?”

  Graham’s eyebrows got all scrunched up, and he thought for a minute. “Hmm, you’re right,” he said. “I didn’t give her any signals to answer me. She probably wanted to say something, but just didn’t know how. I’ll have to come up with some and show her tomorrow.”

  Graham smiled. “Thanks, hermano,” he said to me. “You always know how to cheer me up.” I smiled back and didn’t say anything.

  10

  The Last Surprise

  WHEN FRIDAY MORNING came, I was feeling great. It was finally the last day with my mom in class. I had made it through the first four days. Surely I could handle one more. But when I was brushing my teeth, my mom said something that scared me to death.

  “Sweetie, I have to leave a little early today, so I can’t drive you to school. But I do have one more surprise for you.” My heart stopped. I couldn’t handle another surprise from my mom—not after her last one.

  “What is it?” I asked. I had to know. If I needed to prepare for this, I wanted to know as early as possible. “It’s nothing about school, is it?”

  “As a matter of fact, it is about school,” she said.

  “What is it? You’ve got to tell me,” I begged.

  “You’ll find out soon enough,” Mom said. “See you in class.” She walked out the door and drove away without dropping even a hint about what was going on. Was Mrs. Gibson going to be out longer? Was Mom going to show our class my baby pictures? She’d better not show the one of me crawling naked on my blanky, I thought as I ate my scrambled eggs. I walked down to Graham’s.

  “Graham, something bad is going to happen,” I told him the second he walked out the door.

  “What are you talking about?” Graham said. “Everything’s going great. We’re getting closer to the playoffs, and today is the last day your mom will be eating lunch with us. I mean, no offense, I like your mom and all. It’s just hard to talk about certain things when she’s around.”

  “My mom is what’s worrying me,” I said. “She told me she has another surprise for me today. I don’t know if I can take it. I’ve had enough surprises for one week.” I was about to tell Graham about having to help David with his fractions, but since I promised David I wouldn’t, I decided to keep it a secret. Plus, if he ever found out I told, I’m sure it would get me a huge slug on the arm.

  “Relax,” Graham said. “Surprises are usually good things. Maybe she bought you a present, or maybe your family’s going to a movie tonight. Hey, if it’s a movie, ask her if you can bring me. I really want to see Mega-Brain vs. the Alien Slime. I heard that—”

  “Hold on,” I said. “Look, we’re not going to see Mega-Brain because—”

  “That’s all right,” Graham interrupted. “It doesn’t matter what we see. I like almost all movies. I even like the ones—”

  “Would you forget about the movies?” I said, putting my hand over his mouth. “My mom said her surprise has something to do with school.” Graham pulled my hand away.

  “You don’t think she’s going to be our teacher longer, do you?” he said. “What if she’s our teacher forever? What if Mrs. Gibson decided not to come back?” A look of dread came over Graham’s face.

  “I don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” I said. “I don’t think I could take another week of my mom being our teacher and everything else that goes with it.”

  “Me neither,” Graham said. “Yesterday when I was talking to your mom at Mrs. Gibson’s desk, I sneezed. Your mom grabbed a tissue, put it right on my nose, and told me to blow. Diane was standing behind her and watched the whole thing. I mean, even my own mom doesn’t help me blow my nose anymore.”

  “Wow. Sorry about that,” I said. I felt like she was my responsibility.

  “It’s okay. If Kelly had seen it, I would’ve been more upset. But I can handle Diane,” Graham said.

  We walked to school thinking about all the different awful surprises that might await us in our classroom. As we entered the room, everything looked normal so far. But Mom wasn’t there yet, so I still couldn’t relax.

  “Hey, Raymond,” Diane said, walking up behind us. Graham and I both spun around.

  “You know, I’m kind of going to miss having your mom as our teacher. She’s really nice.”

  “Yeah,” Heidi added, jumping into the conversation. “I’ve never heard a teacher call a student ‘sweetie’ before.”

  We all laughed. “I’ve never seen a teacher help a kid blow his nose either,” Diane said.

  Graham’s face turned red. “Hey, keep that quiet,” he told her.

  The bell rang and still no Mom. We all went to our desks and waited.

  “So where’s your mommy?” David said.

  “I don’t know. She had to go somewhere before school,” I said. “She’ll be here.”

  “She’s probably at the store getting you some more diapers,” he said, snickering.

  Just then my mom walked through the door. “Sorry I’m late, everyone. I had to make one stop at the store.” She walked up to Mrs. Gibson’s desk and put down her purse and the folder of homework she had corrected. “Now, I know you miss Mrs. Gibson and school just isn’t the same with a substitute. But I had a lot of fun teaching you this week. And to thank you for making me feel so welcome, I have a surprise.”

  My heart started beating fast, and I held my breath. What was it going to be?

  “This afternoon, we are going to have a party,” she said. “I have some soda and a piñata filled with candy in my car. So if we can get all of our work done early, we’ll
take the last hour of class to have our fiesta. How does that sound?”

  Everyone cheered. Graham gave me a thumbs-up sign. I looked around at all the happy faces. Maybe this week hasn’t been so bad after all, I thought.

  We worked hard the whole day to make sure there was time for the party. I couldn’t believe she’d gotten a piñata. Piñatas are the greatest invention ever. They combine two of my favorite things: baseball and candy. It’s just like being up to bat, but instead of a ball, you get to swing at a cardboard animal filled with candy!

  Finally, it was time. Mom had us all move our desks to the sides of the room to make a big open space in the middle. Then she told us the rules of the piñata. We each got three swings with the plastic bat, and then it was someone else’s turn. Mom had a big sombrero that she bought when she and my dad went on a trip to Mexico. She put it on my head and said, “Raymond, you get to go first. And when you’re done, you get to choose who goes next by putting the sombrero on his or her head.”

  The piñata hung from a rope that was tied to the end of a long broom handle. Mom stood on a chair and held out the broom handle, dangling the donkey-shaped piñata in the middle of the open space. “Everyone else stand back here by the wall. We don’t want anyone to get hit,” she said.

  Mom blindfolded me and handed me a stick.

  “Whenever you’re ready, go ahead and swing.”

  I pulled the bat back and swung as hard as I could. I missed the piñata and fell down.

  “That’s how you play baseball too,” David yelled out, laughing.

  “David,” Mom said sternly. “That was uncalled for, especially during a fiesta. If you want a turn at the piñata, you have to be nice.”

  I swung again and hit the bottom of the piñata, but it didn’t break.

  “Strike two.” David laughed again. I hated that guy. I wanted to say something like, “I didn’t know you could count to two—my math lessons must be working.” But I didn’t say anything.

  My third swing hit the piñata straight on, but it didn’t break.

  “Okay, good job, Raymond,” Mom said. “Now pick someone to go next.” I pulled off the blindfold and looked around at all the waving hands. I knew exactly who I was going to pick. David tried to grab the hat as I walked down the line of kids, but I went straight to Heidi and put the sombrero on her head. Mom put the blindfold over her eyes and guided her to the middle of the room. Heidi hit the piñata twice, but it didn’t break. Then she put the sombrero on Diane, who also hit it, but still no candy fell. Suzy Rivera was next. She was the smallest girl in our class, but she really smacked the piñata hard. On her first swing she made a small hole in it, and two pieces of candy fell out.

  “Please leave the candy on the floor until she’s done hitting,” my mom said. David didn’t listen and ran out to get the candy. Just then Suzy swung again. This time she missed the piñata and hit David in the arm.

  “Ouch!” he yelped, grabbing his arm.

  “Oh, dear!” Mom yelled, jumping down from her chair. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” David said quickly. “It doesn’t hurt.” He walked back to his spot.

  “Everyone, please stay back until after the third swing,” my mom said. “That was a good example of what will happen if we don’t follow the rules.”

  “I would never run out there early,” Lizzy said. “And I think this is a great party, Mrs. Knudson.”

  “Thank you, Lizzy. I appreciate your obeying the rules.” I couldn’t believe Mom didn’t see through Lizzy’s kiss-up-ness. Suzy got to redo her final swing, and then we all ran out to get the two pieces of candy. Zach made it there first and snatched up both pieces.

  Suzy felt bad for hitting David, so she put the sombrero on his head.

  “Now you guys will see what a real hitter can do. Get ready for the candy,” he said. Mom put the blindfold on him and got back up on her chair. I could tell by the way she was moving the piñata that she was going to make it hard for David. His first swing missed completely.

  “Nice hit, slugger,” Graham called out.

  Mom gave him a stern look. “Graham—”

  “Sorry,” Graham said, hoping to avoid a lecture on proper fiesta behavior.

  “Just wait,” David yelled back. He swung again, barely touching the edge of the piñata. Then he just started swinging wildly. My mom moved the piñata away after about his tenth swing.

  “Your turn is over, David. Time for someone else to have a try.” David ripped off the blindfold and the sombrero, dropped them on the floor, and stomped back to his place.

  “Thanks for all the candy,” Diane said. Everyone laughed.

  I looked over at David and felt a little sad for him. Part of me was happy he missed the piñata, but part of me wished he could have broken it open. Maybe he’s so mean because people expect him to be mean, I thought. Maybe if he broke the piñata open and everyone cheered for him, he would act a little differently. “Hey, David,” I called over to him. “If you had hit the piñata, it definitely would have exploded. Those were some really hard swings.”

  “Way harder than yours,” he shot back.

  Oh, well, so much for niceness, I thought. Mom gave me one of those “I’m proud of you” smiles. I smiled back.

  “Okay, Graham, why don’t you go next?” Mom said. Graham ran out excitedly and threw on the blindfold. He swung hard and knocked an ear off the donkey. Unfortunately, no candy fell out. He missed his next two swings. I think my mom was trying to make it hard so everyone would get a chance. I don’t think Graham cared if he broke the piñata—all he cared about was putting the sombrero on Kelly. He took off the blindfold and walked straight over to her.

  “This is for you, my lovely señorita,” he said, putting the sombrero on her head. Kelly walked up and, on her first swing, broke the piñata completely in two, spilling candy all over the floor. No one waited for any more swings. We all rushed in and grabbed as much candy as we could.

  As we scrambled around on the floor, Mom poured soda into paper cups and set out some cookies on the table in the back. We ate candy and cookies until the end-of-school bell rang.

  “Before you leave, let’s put the desks back where they belong and make sure everything on the floor is picked up,” Mom said. Everyone hurried to get the room looking normal again and then left. Graham and I stayed after and helped my mom clean up some of the pieces of piñata that were still on the floor. It was a great ending to a crazy week.

  11

  Pictures and Dorkwads

  MRS. GIBSON RETURNED the next week, and everything was back to normal. Lizzy was back to sucking up to Mrs. Gibson. Graham was back to throwing out his vegetables. And David was back to moving his desk up by Mrs. Gibson’s for doing something bad.

  On Wednesday, Mr. Worley announced that class pictures would be passed out at the end of the day. I looked over at Graham. He was wiggling around in his seat and quietly clapping his hands underneath his desk. Later that day at lunch recess, Graham said, “After school I’m going to trade pictures with Kelly. Are you going to get one from Heidi?”

  “I don’t know,” I answered.

  Graham looked at me like I was crazy. “What do you mean you don’t know?”

  “I mean, I don’t have a wallet like you. And besides, what if she doesn’t want to give me one or doesn’t want mine?”

  Graham shook his head like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Who cares?” he said. “When you ask someone for their picture, there’s no way they would say no. That would just be rude.”

  “I don’t know, we’ll see,” I said.

  Just before school ended, Mrs. Gibson passed out the pictures. We all opened them to see how we looked. Even with my girl shirt, I thought mine looked pretty good. Lizzy took out her biggest picture, the one that your mom usually hangs on the wall at home. She brought it to Mrs. Gibson.

  “Here, this is for you,” Lizzy said, setting the photo on Mrs. Gibson’s desk.

  “T
hat’s very sweet of you, Lizzy. But I couldn’t take this big picture—your parents would be so sad.” Lizzy looked heartbroken.

  “How about this,” Mrs. Gibson quickly added.

  “Why don’t you take them home and ask your mother if she could spare one of these small pictures, and you can bring it to me tomorrow?” Now Lizzy looked thrilled.

  The final bell rang, and we all stormed the door—except Graham. He ran toward the back of the class to the tables where we do our art projects. Grabbing a pair of scissors, he carefully cut out one of the eight wallet-size photos from his sheet.

  “Come on, man,” I said.

  “Almost done,” Graham answered. Then he threw the scissors back into the plastic tray with the other art stuff, and we ran out the door.

  Once outside, Graham spied Kelly by the crosswalk.

  “I’ll be back,” he told me. He sprinted to catch up with her. His backpack swung around and hit Diane as he passed by.

  “Hey, watch it!” Diane shouted. She turned around and asked me, “What’s the deal with Graham?” Diane and Heidi waited for me to catch up with them.

  “He’s trying to trade pictures with Kelly,” I said. Then I thought, This is my chance. I could ask both Diane and Heidi if they wanted to trade pictures. Then it wouldn’t look like I was just trying to get Heidi’s picture.

  “So do you guys want to trade pictures?” I asked.

  “No,” Diane said. “I only bought the class picture and the big one.”

  “I bought the whole package, so I have eight of the small wallet pictures,” Heidi said. “But after I give one to my grandparents, Diane, the mailman, and some of my neighbors, I don’t think I’ll have any extras.”

  I stood there not knowing what to think. Even the mailman gets one before me? Then I saw a smile start to spread onto Heidi’s face.