Читать книгу Chasing the Arrow - Charles Reid - Страница 10

A month or so later, on a sunny Saturday morning, Robbie went downstairs for breakfast before his mother had even started cooking. “I see you didn’t forget the baseball game,” Emily said.

“No way. We can move into a tie for first place if we win today, Mom.”

“Well, that’s good, Robbie, but remember you don’t have to win to enjoy it.”

“I know, but it’s kind of exciting. I never thought we’d do this well, but we have some really great guys on the team.”

“I may not know a whole lot about baseball, but I do know one thing. Every player needs to eat a good breakfast, so make sure you fill up. You’ll need it. Is Billy coming over here, or are we picking him up at his house?”

“He’s coming here, Mom. He can’t get enough of our Thunderbird since we took him for that ride in the country.”

Robbie had never been so scared in all his life. The game with the Shell Sharks that Saturday had swung back and forth all morning, and now, with his team two runs down, he was standing at the plate, two out, bottom of the ninth inning. Billy was on third base; Hank Shepherd, one of their best hitters, was on second. Both were poised to head home as soon as Robbie hit the ball.

“Strike one!” the umpire boomed, his voice sounding like a death knell.

When the opposing pitcher wound up and let loose with his second pitch, he glared ferociously at Robbie.

“Strike two!” the umpire barked, and Robbie could barely stop shaking. He was running out of chances.

As the third pitch hurtled toward Robbie, he tried to focus his entire mind on it. When the ball entered his strike zone, he swung with all his might and heard the sweetest sound imaginable— thwack! The hit was solid. Without even looking to see where the ball was going, Robbie flung his bat aside and, head down, took off for first base. Almost as if from another place, he vaguely heard cheering. Legs pumping like pistons, he rounded first base and finally glanced toward the outfield to see what was happening.

The ball had sailed over everybody and had landed just inside the back fence. It wasn’t quite a home run, but Robbie thought he had a good chance to make it all the way around for an inside-the-park homer. Billy and Hank had already crossed home plate and were jumping up and down and cheering him on. As he neared home, Robbie flung himself into a headfirst slide and beat the ball by inches.

The home spectators burst into wild applause, the umpire yelled “Safe!” and Robbie lay happily in a cloud of dust until Billy and Hank pulled him up and nearly squeezed him to death. “We did it, we did it!” they shouted as they danced around the field, pulling the winded Robbie with them as the whole team rushed out of the dugout to join the celebration. As his teammates took turns slapping him on the back, Robbie gazed into the stands and spotted Joe Wilkie and his mother clapping loudly. It was, he thought, the best moment in his whole life.