by Joyce Grant
Then he saw Sebastian. The catcher hadn’t yet reached second. Miguel knew there was no way the boy would be able to make it to third and let Miguel grab a double. He thought briefly about overtaking Sebastian. It would mean an automatic out for Sebastian, but it would put Miguel in a position to score. But that wasn’t something you did to a teammate. So Miguel twisted his body and lurched back to first. He threw himself onto the base, barely making it before the tag.
“Unbelievable,” he muttered.
15
Belly Flop
The Blues won the game 5 to 4, thanks to a home run by Jock that brought Sebastian and Miguel home.
“Thank goodness for that homer, eh, Sebastian?” Miguel asked him after the game.
“What do you mean?” asked Sebastian.
“I mean, we needed the runs to win. And . . .”
“What? I’m still too slow to get home myself?”
“I didn’t say that . . .”
“But you were thinking it!”
“It’s just that . . . well . . . I thought you were getting in such good shape . . .”
“Look, Miguel, I know you’ve got a lot of stuff going on at home. I know you’re this, like, saint and all. But you’re still kind of a jerk to me sometimes!”
Sebastian stuffed the rest of his gear in his bag. He angrily dragged it past Miguel and out of the dugout.
“Did you hear that?” Miguel asked Tami.
“Yep,” said Tami.
“What a loser,” said Miguel.
“Why?”
“You heard what he said!”
“Well, Miguel, you do sort of treat him pretty harsh.”
“What?”
“You look at him like he’s the slowest guy on Earth. And he’s really trying hard. He’s been going to the gym. He’s even eating healthy stuff now.”
“I know!”
“Maybe you should tell your face,” laughed Tami. “You always look so serious. Especially when you’re talking to Sebastian. Maybe you could lighten up on him a little?”
Tami’s words just made Miguel angrier. No one understood how much pressure he was under. Miguel put a hand on his stomach and pressed his fist into it.
“Miguel! Miguel!”
Claudia came running into the dugout. She threw her arms around Miguel’s knees. “You played great, Miguel!” she said, her face shining.
As he looked down at his sister, Miguel no longer felt any pain in his stomach. He kissed her head. “Thanks, Claudia! Where’s Mom?”
Claudia took Miguel’s hand and led him to where their mother was waiting on the hill. She shook out her blanket and brushed some grass off her knees. She smiled when she saw Miguel.
“Good game!” she said. “We only played soccer back home, so I don’t know much about baseball. But you looked pretty good to me.”
Miguel smiled. The three trudged up the hill, Claudia trying to help lift Miguel’s heavy baseball bag. At the top, the Blues were gathered. They were talking about the trip they were about to take.
“Hey, what time does your dad want to leave?” Gnash asked Sebastian.
“I think you need to be at our house by 7:15,” said Sebastian.
“In the morning?” groaned Gnash.
Tami laughed and took a huge bite of her peanut butter and banana sandwich. “Mphmf, if, mblbbph, you,” she said, still chewing.
“Tami! Swallow first!” said Jock.
Tami gulped her bite down. “If you don’t get to Sebastian’s house on time, his dad will probably just leave without you!”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be on time,” said Gnash, grinding his teeth. “Gramma will wake me up if I don’t hear my alarm. That woman never sleeps! Except when we’re watching a movie.”
“I love your grandmother,” said Raj. “She’s so nice!”
“Yeah,” said Tami, “And she makes delicious linguini!”
“Hey, Miguel! Are you sure you can’t come with us on the trip?” asked Jock. “It’s going to be amazing.”
“No, I can’t,” said Miguel. He glanced back at his mother. He didn’t want her to hear what his teammates were talking about. He knew she already felt bad that she couldn’t let him go. “But you guys go and have a great time. Win it, eh?”
“We will!” said Raj.
Miguel slapped him a high-five and then bent down and picked up Claudia. “Come on,” he said to her, giving her a little squeeze.
He walked with Claudia to the bus stop. But he realized his mother wasn’t with them. He saw her talking to Sebastian and the other Blues. He watched as she pulled something in silver foil from her purse and handed it to the catcher.
“What was that about?” Miguel asked his mother, when they were on the bus.
“Nothing,” she said pleasantly. “Just wishing them a good trip. I gave them some pupusas.”
As the bus drove away, Miguel could hear his teammates. They were laughing and talking about their plans for the Ottawa tournament.
* * *
Over the next three days, Miguel stayed busy with work. He tried to keep his mind off the fact that his friends were all in Ottawa, playing baseball and having fun. But it wasn’t easy. He got a steady stream of texts from his teammates. He guessed that things weren’t going well for the Blues.
Jock texted:
We got mercied by the Ottawa Otters. Four errors!
Followed by Gnash:
Raj pitched 2day. 2 bad U arnt here.
Tami sent Miguel a series of pictures of her meals. Spaghetti and meatballs. Fried chicken. A hamburger.
Cannonball!
The text from Sebastian was followed by a shaky video of the boy launching himself stomach-first into the deep end of the hotel pool. He emerged from the water with his hair over his eyes and a pained expression on his face.
Miguel texted back:
Not a cannonball. Belly flop
He added a .
Miguel’s mother knocked on his bedroom door.
“Come in,” he said.
“Mr. Raymond is on the phone,” she said. “Can you come talk to him?”
Miguel nodded. “I don’t think the Blues are going to the finals,” he said.
“No?”
“Sounds like they will be lucky to make the quarter-finals on Saturday night.”
“Oh dear.”
“Yeah. Gnash said he wished I could be there.”
Miguel’s mother sat on the edge of his bed. She put a hand on his knee. “So do I,” she said. “Come — let’s find out what Mr. Raymond wants.”
16
Feet First
Miguel could see the relief on his mother’s face. He had almost forgotten how her face looked when she wasn’t worried. Smoother and softer. The lawyer had told them the papers went through. It wouldn’t be long before Miguel’s father could come to Canada.
“In fact, if you can give me a cheque for the airfare, we can probably get that booked,” said Mr. Raymond.
Miguel repeated in Spanish what the lawyer had said.
“How much will that cost?” Miguel’s mom asked.
“Mom, this is good news. He’s saying we can book the flight! We’re finally going to have Dad home!”
“But, Miguel, I don’t have the money for the airfare yet,” said his mother. “I didn’t know we would need it so soon.”
Miguel saw the worry flood back onto his mother’s face.
“We’ll just have to get it,” said Miguel. “Somehow.”
He smiled at his mother. But inside, his guts twisted. They were barely paying their lawyer’s bills, never mind things like power and water and rent. They were behind in paying the league for their baseball fees, too, and that was with a special discount. How were they going to come up with money for a plane ticket?
*
* *
“Miguel, watch me!” shouted Julian. “Watch me!”
It was a few days after the Blues had returned from Ottawa. Miguel was pushing Claudia on the swing. At the same time, he had an eye on two other kids he was babysitting. Since learning that his family would need to pay for a plane ticket, Miguel had doubled up on his babysitting. He wanted to do everything he could to help.
“That’s great, Julian,” Miguel shouted to the boy, who was spinning around with his arms out. Julian fell down, laughing.
Miguel smiled. “Claudia, I have to go over and get Julian,” he told his sister.
After he had picked up Julian and set him on his feet, Miguel loped over to the slide. Little Heather was about to go down head-first.
“Nope,” said Miguel. He picked her up and set her on her bottom at the top of the slide. “We go feet-first. Head-first is dangerous.”
“But it’s fun!” Heather protested.
“Look, I don’t get paid unless you’re alive at the end of the day,” said Miguel with a laugh. “Now how do we go down a slide?”
“Feeeet. Firrrrrst.” Heather frowned. “The boring way!”
“Right!” said Miguel. He spun around just in time to catch Claudia trying to climb out of her swing seat. She was stuck, half in and half out. She had one leg in the hole and one in mid-air.
“I’ve got you!” said Miguel. He grabbed hold of his sister and untangled her from the swing.
As soon as Miguel set her down, Claudia skipped away to the sand pit to play with Julian and Heather.
“What are you doing?” It was Sebastian, coming up the path behind Miguel. Sebastian was wearing sweatpants and a blue t-shirt so soaked with sweat it looked black.
“I’m babysitting. What are you doing?”
“I’m stepping up my routine,” said Sebastian. “Jogging.”
“Hey, that’s grea —” Miguel suddenly broke off and sped over to the slide. He caught Heather just as she was about to fly off the end. He rolled his eyes at Sebastian. “I’m watching three of them at once.”
“That’s three kids too many, if you ask me,” said Sebastian.
“Come and help me at the swings,” said Miguel. “I hate pushing the kids on the swings. It’s so boring.”
“I thought you liked this stuff.”
“Not really. I’d way rather be playing baseball.”
“Yeah. I keep forgetting that you weren’t at the tournament,” said Sebastian. “It was so fun.”
“So I heard,” said Miguel.
The boys pushed Claudia and Julian on the swings. All the while, Miguel kept glancing over at Heather digging in the sandpit.
“I just found out that my dad can come to Canada,” said Miguel.
“That’s great!” said Sebastian. “You’ve been waiting a long time.”
“Yeah. But we also found out that we have to buy a plane ticket first.”
“So?”
“So, do you know what it costs to fly from El Salvador to Canada?”
“No idea. A lot?”
“A lot.” Sebastian didn’t seem to know what to say to that.
“Hey, what about a loan?” said Sebastian.
“Sure,” said Miguel. “You want to lend me four hundred bucks?”
Sebastian whistled. “That much, eh?”
“More, actually. Like, four-eighty.”
The boys gave the swings another push.
“Maybe my parents could,” said Sebastian.
“Could what?” asked Miguel.
“Lend your mom the money.”
“My parents would never take someone’s money.”
“Why not?” Sebastian seemed truly surprised by Miguel’s reaction.
“Maybe you’ve never had to ask someone for charity,” said Miguel slowly.
“Charity? This wouldn’t be charity! It would be a loan,” said Sebastian. “A loan to my favourite teammate.”
Miguel felt his face getting red. Sebastian has no idea of the situation, he thought. Nearly five hundred dollars? It was an unbelievable sum of money. More than he would make in a year babysitting. That anyone — even someone as rich as Sebastian’s parents — would have money like that to spare for someone they barely knew. It was unthinkable. Anyway, he knew his mother would never accept money from anyone — and neither would his father.
“I’ll let you know tonight. I’ll text you,” said Sebastian.
Miguel was moved by his friend’s offer to help, even if it was impossible.
“Watch this,” said Sebastian. He grabbed Claudia’s swing by the sides. He ran forward and ducked down, going right under. He gave a mighty shove up on the swing as he ran. The swing went up high. Claudia, giggling, made a tremendous arc in the air.
“Oh geez,” said Miguel. “Now they’re all going to want me to do that!”
“Ha! That was the idea,” said Sebastian.
“Under-duck! Under-duck!” cried Julian, seeing Claudia’s exciting swing.
“Well, see you,” said Sebastian, as he walked away. “I have to finish my run!”
“Under-duck!” cried Heather.
Suddenly, Sebastian stopped. He turned to look back at Miguel.
“Hey, I’ll see you tonight!” he called.
“What? Where?” asked Miguel, confused.
“At your house! You know . . .” Suddenly, the catcher put his hands over his mouth. He turned and jogged away.
17
Felix Crumples
Miguel had no idea what Sebastian was talking about. But he didn’t have time to think about it. The kids kept him busy until late afternoon. By the time he’d walked Julian and Heather home, it was nearly time for dinner.
As he came up the path with Claudia to their front door, he was surprised to hear voices — lots of them. Then he thought about what Sebastian had said in the park.
Miguel and Claudia stepped into their seemingly empty living room. Suddenly, it was filled with his teammates. They popped out from behind the furniture. “SURPRISE!”
A colourful plastic banner stretched along the wall over the couch: “Feliz Cumpleaños.”
Miguel turned to his mother, who was coming out of the kitchen. She wiped her hands on a dishtowel. “But my birthday isn’t for another week,” he said.
She smiled. “I know, but it’s close enough. And the timing worked out for the team. I talked to Sebastian after the game the other day. He arranged for everyone to come here.” She gave her son a peck on the cheek.
The teammates swarmed Miguel. They patted him on the back and wished him a happy birthday. Miguel looked around to find Sebastian, but couldn’t spot him.
Claudia jumped up and down. “Let’s do the presents!” she cried.
Miguel saw a pile of gifts on the dining room table. He let himself be led over to a chair.
Tami put a red envelope into his hands. Smiling, Miguel ripped it open. “Custom sandwiches,” he read, flipping through a handful of hand-drawn coupons.
“I’ll make you any kind of sandwich you want,” said Tami. “I’ll even wrap it up and bring it to school for you. Tuna. Cheese. Meatloaf. Whatever you want!”
Gnash handed him a small box. Miguel ripped off the wrapping paper to reveal . . . “Chewing gum! Shredded like big-league chew. And it’s my favourite flavour — grape!”
“Now mine!” said Claudia. She handed him a homemade card. On the front was a drawing of a baseball team.
“Did you draw this?” Miguel asked his sister.
“Yes!” said Claudia. She pointed to the crayon figures. “That’s you, pitching. And that’s Jock. And that’s Tami and there’s Gnash and Lin and Raj and . . .”
“Am I in there?” said a familiar voice. Sebastian strode into the living room. He was holding a large gift-wrapped box.
“Sebastian!” said Claudia. She ran over to the boy and gave him a hug. “You’re right here,” she said pointing to the picture.
Inside the card was Claudia’s gift. “I will sing you a song,” it read.
Claudia ran out of the room. When she came back, she was lugging a guitar, which she handed to Miguel.
“Here,” she said. “You play and I’ll sing.”
Miguel laughed and rested the guitar on his knee. He strummed.
“I didn’t know you played guitar!” said Jock.
“In El Salvador everyone plays guitar. It’s practically our national pastime,” said Miguel.
Claudia began to sing.
Arrurru, mi niño Cabeza de ayote, Si no te dormís Te come el coyote
“That’s beautiful,” said Tami, when the song ended.
“Thank you,” said Claudia. She looked at her brother and smiled.
“It is a very popular lullaby,” said Miguel. He and Claudia laughed.
“Yes, it means go to sleep or a coyote will eat you!” said Claudia happily.
“It really doesn’t translate well,” explained Miguel. The teammates laughed.
“My gift next,” said Sebastian, handing Miguel the box. “It’s not new, but I hope you like it. I went all the way home to get it.”
Miguel pulled something large and heavy, wrapped in tissue paper, out of the box.
“Sebastian, it’s your new infield glove!”
“Well you said you liked it. And I saw that the laces on yours were kind of fraying. Plus, you said yourself, there was nothing wrong with my old glove. Anyway, I barely use it. I mostly use my catcher’s mitt. Do you like it?”
Miguel stood up and walked over to Sebastian. He hugged the catcher.
“Thank you,” he choked. “But I can’t accept it!”
“Yes you can, and you will,” said Sebastian.
“No, really,” said Miguel. He whispered urgently to his friend. “It’s so expensive and . . .”