by Annie Bryant
The Red Sox had won the game and everyone but Katani had seen the great Robbie Flores slam one over the wall.
“Shall we go meet Robbie Flores?” asked Mr. Ramsey with a wink and a high five to Sam as they headed out of the bleachers after the game.
Avery looked like she was about to faint.
Isabel, Charlotte, and Maeve grabbed each other and screamed “Yes!” so loudly that Maeve’s pink baseball cap fell off her head.
Avery led the way to the clubhouse. They held hands as the large crowd tried to squeeze out of the old park at the same time. It was like a conga line with Avery in the lead, winding down the ramp, through the concession stands toward a door with a sign that read “Red Sox Clubhouse.” They were surrounded by reporters and Red Sox family members. The BSG shuffled into line.
“Who is that, Avery?” Isabel pointed toward an old man in a Red Sox jacket who seemed to be checking IDs.
“That’s Joe. He’s the guard at the locker room. He’s like famous,” said Avery. Two legends in one day. Avery figured that this must be the best day…the best day of her life…ever.
Suddenly, Sam began to squirm.
“Chill out, Sam. This is getting embarrassing and you are driving me crazy!” Maeve commanded. If Sam did anything to embarrass her in front of Robbie Flores, she would die. She kneeled and looked Sam in the eye. “You’ve got to sit still NOW.”
“I can’t,” Sam whispered.
“Again?” Maeve asked. “Well, you’re just going to have to wait.”
“I can’t!” Sam moaned.
“Don’t worry, Maeve,” Mr. Ramsey said. “I’ll handle this. Let’s go, big guy.”
Not a minute after Mr. Ramsey and Sam left, the locker room door opened. The girls turned with a start. In walked a tall man in a Red Sox warmup suit. And behind him was Robbie Flores.
Maeve’s heart began pounding. He seemed much taller than when he was on the field.
Charlotte was worried. She wished her father was there. What if Robbie Flores wouldn’t give Marty back?
Robbie Flores had sparkling brown eyes, and dark, wavy hair. He smiled, and Maeve thought she might melt on the spot. Luckily, Sam had left with Mr. Ramsey. He’d probably be all over this guy trying to get his autograph.
Avery went right up to Robbie and slapped his hand. “Great game!” she exclaimed.
At first Maeve was thinking how babyish that seemed until she realized that Avery had actually touched Robbie Flores’s hand. Oh, if only she’d thought of doing that!
“Which one is Isabel?” he asked, looking around at all the girls.
Isabel raised her hand, “Hola, Señor Flores. I’m Isabel. Nice to meet you.”
“You are the owner of the little dog?” Flores asked.
“No, I—” Avery stopped herself. “We all are.” She stepped forward and Charlotte followed suit.
“We all take care of Marty, señor,” Isabel said. “He is our mascot, our pet. He lives with Charlotte though,” she added, gesturing toward her friend.
“Thank you all for meeting with me here today,” Mr. Flores began. “Gracias. Without this dog I’m afraid I would be on a plane back to the minor leagues. Until that day in the park my bat was very quiet. But ever since I found this lucky charm, my bat has come alive. I owe much to him. Much to you for my success.”
“Us? You owe much to us?” Maeve asked.
“Oh, yes. My Lucky Charm isn’t good just for me. He is good for the Red Sox. He is good for all of Boston,” Mr. Flores said, adding, “Lucky Charm gives the fans a reason to cheer.”
“You really believe that the Red Sox would lose if it weren’t for Marty?” Maeve asked.
“Sí!”
Charlotte turned to Maeve and gave her a look. She didn’t want Maeve making Robbie Flores uncomfortable.
“Mr. Flores, you are a great player. You don’t really need a dog to help you,” Charlotte said with conviction. She hoped the great Robbie Flores would come to his senses about Marty.
“Look at my record since I found Marty. The numbers will prove that it’s true. This little fellow is my lucky charm. And I have to thank you girls for providing me with my little pooch. I promise you will be rewarded.”
“Where is Marty?” Avery asked.
“Marty?” Robbie Flores asked.
“The little dog,” Isabel explained. “The one you call your lucky charm.”
“You call him Marty? It’s not the name I expected for such a peppy dog. Better than, what did you say? Happy Lucky Thing? What a name!” Mr. Flores opened the door to the locker room and called something in Spanish. Moments later, a trainer came in carrying a bag.
“Marty!” Avery shouted when she saw the cute mutt’s head sticking out.
“Marty!” Charlotte squealed.
Marty squirmed around in the bag.
“Settle down, little one,” Mr. Flores commanded. Even though Robbie Flores was a world-class athlete, he wasn’t quick enough to keep Marty from bounding out of the bag and jumping around on the floor. He hopped up on his hind legs as he wiggled and shimmied between the girls.
Avery sat down on the floor and in an instant Marty was licking her face. Then Marty saw Charlotte and jumped into her arms.
Charlotte looked like she was about to cry. Marty licked her face and jumped out of her arms. Then he went over to Isabel and danced around her. Isabel laughed as Marty yipped and barked.
Maeve was completely surprised when the little guy jumped into her arms and began to lick off her fruity-floral-scented body lotion.
“Friendly fellow, no?” Mr. Flores asked, watching the happy reunion. Robbie Flores let out a loud whistle. Marty immediately stopped dancing. He scampered back to Mr. Flores and jumped in his bag.
Charlotte and Avery looked at each other. They were both wondering the same thing…. Had Marty forgotten who he belonged to?
“I’m prepared to write you a check for ten thousand dollars right now. Which one of you do I make it out to?”
The girls looked at each other in panic. “Mr. Flores, you don’t understand,” Charlotte said. “Marty is not for sale. Not for ten thousand dollars…not for any price.” Where was her father? She needed him. Charlotte looked anxiously at the door. He should be back by now.
“No?”
Charlotte glanced at Avery who nodded supportively. “If you wouldn’t mind, we’d really like to have our dog back. Here, Marty, come here, boy,” she called. Marty looked back and forth between Robbie and Charlotte.
Maeve thought the little dude was being a tad disloyal.
Robbie Flores looked genuinely sad, but he shook his head in protest. “No. I’m very sorry, but I can’t let you take Lucky Charm now. I have big game on Tuesday and my Lucky Charm must be there. After that, we fly to Baltimore. I need my Lucky Charm there too,” Robbie Flores picked up Marty and patted his head. “Think about my offer, girls. It is very fair. I’ll call you after the next game. Think about how much your city depends on this little guy right here. I hope you agree to accept my offer.” Robbie Flores waved politely and exited through the back door.
The usher led the parade of crestfallen girls out of the room, just as Mr. Ramsey and Sam were returning from the trip to the restroom.
“Dad,” Charlotte cried. “Where were you? Robbie Flores was here and he doesn’t want to give Marty back!”
Sam tugged eagerly at his sister’s hand. “Did you meet him? Did you shake his hand? Did you get his autograph?” Sam asked.
The girls were quiet, but Sam continued to pepper them with questions. “Was he friendly? Did he give you the ball from the game?”
“Remember how I told you to calm down?” asked Maeve.
“Yeah?”
“Well, calm down.”
“Geesh, okay.” Sam put his hands in his pockets and pulled away from Maeve.
“Where’s Marty?” Mr. Ramsey asked.
“Robbie Flores wouldn’t give him back!” Maeve cried. desperately. “At least not today.
”
Mr. Ramsey looked confused. “Wait a minute…then why did he have you come down here?” he asked.
“He didn’t bring us to the game to give back Marty. He brought us down here to buy him!” Charlotte was distraught. “He wants to keep Marty. Forever.”
“He thinks he can’t play baseball without Marty,” explained Isabel.
“He really does want to pay us ten thousand dollars,” Maeve said. “Can you believe that? I just can’t believe it.”
Mr. Ramsey surveyed the girls. Mr. Ramsey knew what extra money would mean to Isabel’s family. “What did you all decide?”
“We didn’t take the money, of course,” Maeve told him.
Charlotte added, “He wanted to write us a check.”
Mr. Ramsey considered this. “A check…for ten thousand dollars. But you girls didn’t take it?”
They all shook their heads.
“Let me get this straight. You didn’t take the check, but he didn’t return Marty? What’s going on here?”
“Dad! Marty is not for sale! We just have to convince Robbie Flores to give him back.” Charlotte sighed. “At least we know that Mr. Flores likes Marty….”
“Ten thousand dollars is a lot of money.” Mr. Ramsey looked at Isabel again.
“Perhaps we should think it over,” Isabel said softly.
“What! How can you say that?” Avery exclaimed. “It’s Marty. I rescued him from a garbage can. We saved him! He’s our dog!”
“I’m not trying to be rude, Avery, but you don’t know what it’s like to really need money. I mean really need it. You live in a nice big house, with a cleaning woman even! And you get money from your parents to buy you anything you want. Where I am from, there just isn’t enough money to go around. My mother’s medical bills are high and we…” Isabel trailed off. “Oh…never mind,” she said, looking embarrassed.
Avery didn’t know what to say in response to Isabel’s outburst. She couldn’t help that she lived in a big house. Did that mean she would have to give up a dog she loved? Avery looked at Charlotte. Char looked stricken too.
Maeve understood Isabel’s situation, but still, it didn’t quite seem fair. “So you think you should take the money?”
“We could divide it five ways. Two thousand dollars would go a long way to help with my mother’s medical expenses or pay for airline tickets so my father can visit for the holidays.”
Mr. Ramsey placed his hand on Charlotte’s shoulder. “How about we sleep on this, girls?” The BSG said nothing. As they proceeded out of the ballpark—one father, one tired eight-year-old, and four solemn girls—Charlotte wondered, would any amount of sleep make all five members of the BSG agree with one another?
CHAPTER
17
Deadlocked
Charlotte, breakfast!” Mr. Ramsey called.
Charlotte groaned and rolled over, pulling the pillow on top of her head. She’d been vaguely aware her dad was up to something in the kitchen. She could hear the clanging of pots and pans and eggs cracking on the countertop. The air was pungent with coffee and bacon.
“I made your favorite—chocolate chip pancakes. Hurry up, Char, they’re going to get cold.”
Charlotte didn’t want to eat. She didn’t want to get out of bed. She had been up all night tossing and turning. She couldn’t stop thinking about Marty, the ten thousand dollars, Isabel and her family, and Katani and Kelley’s riding stable. Life was so complicated sometimes. She didn’t want to lose Marty, but what about Isabel and Kelley? Was it easier for grownups to make these decisions? she wondered.
“Rough night?” Mr. Ramsey asked when Charlotte stumbled into the kitchen.
Charlotte nodded and sat silently at the table, staring blankly at the stack of pancakes in front of her.
They looked yummy. Charlotte didn’t have the heart to tell her dad she wasn’t hungry. He drenched the pancakes with syrup and divided them into pizza-shaped slices. Instead of eating, however, she just pushed the little triangles around on her plate.
“Do you think I’m mean?” she finally asked.
“Why would you say that?”
Charlotte sighed and placed her fork on the side of her plate. “About wanting to keep Marty and not take the money?”
“No, honey. This is an impossible situation. In the end, money doesn’t buy what’s really important in life, which is love. You love Marty,” Mr. Ramsey said, taking a sip of coffee.
“But the money sure seemed important to Isabel and Katani yesterday.”
“I know, honey, but two or even ten thousand dollars isn’t going to make Isabel’s mother get better…and Kelley will always be autistic,” Mr. Ramsey said.
“But would it help?” Charlotte asked.
Mr. Ramsey shrugged. “Of course it would help both of them. But Charlotte, people are always going to need money for a worthwhile cause. What was Katani saying yesterday? Something about a miracle? I don’t think anyone would want a child to give up a beloved pet.”
Charlotte blinked. She had not forgotten the pre-game quarrel with Katani.
“We can always contact Mr. Flores,” Mr. Ramsey told her. “If you believe that bringing Marty home is best, I will stand by you, and we will get him back. I miss the little guy, too.”
For the first time since last night, Charlotte felt okay. Marty was in her heart. Still, everyone in the BSG is important to me, she thought as she scraped the pancake remains off of her plate and then put it in the dishwasher.
After cleaning up, Charlotte left the kitchen and went up to her room to call Katani.
“Hello, Mrs. Summers? This is Charlotte Ramsey. Is Katani there?”
“I’m sorry, sweetie,” Mrs. Summers said. “Katani’s not here right now. She’s still at the stable with her sister, Kelley. Can I take a message?”
“No…that’s okay. I’ll call back later,” Charlotte promised Mrs. Summers and then hung up the phone.
She was about to crawl back into her bed for the rest of the day and read—reading was her salvation—when suddenly she had an idea. Charlotte picked up the phone one more time and dialed.
When the doorbell rang an hour later, Charlotte dashed to the front door. Maeve Kaplan-Taylor was standing on the steps wearing a lime green jacket and holding a little white bag.
“I stopped by Montoya’s and picked up two cherry turnovers,” she said as she came in. “I thought that might cheer you up.”
Charlotte smiled.
“The only thing I could think of to make you even cheerier is if I had Nick deliver the turnovers in person,” Maeve said with a twinkle in her eye.
“Thank goodness you didn’t!” Charlotte gasped. “Look at me! I have a severe case of bedhead.” Charlotte shook her head to demonstrate to Maeve the mass of cowlicks in her hair. Suddenly a scary thought dawned on her…“Maeve, you didn’t! Tell me he isn’t here!”
Maeve chuckled. “No, no, he isn’t here,” Maeve assured her friend. “But I still think Nick would have done the trick. Come on, let’s go to the Tower. Things always look better from up there.”
Charlotte brought up two glasses of apple cider and Maeve brought the cherry turnovers.
“By the way, have you talked to Katani?” Charlotte asked as she munched away on her pastry. It was so delicious. Mrs. Montoya should have her own baking show. She was the best baker in the world. Nick had once told her that his mother perfected all the recipes in the shop.
“Actually, I did talk to her for a while online last night,” Maeve said.
“Did she tell you what exactly she meant by miracle?”
Maeve licked some gooey cherry off her fingers. “Yes. The health department is making High Hopes repair their stable. The only thing is, the repairs will cost just over ten thousand dollars. If they don’t get the money by next week they’ll have to move to another location. But Katani said it is too far away for her grandma to drive to. You have to admit that it’s pretty ironic, Charlotte,” Maeve said.
“W
hat do you mean?”
“Robbie Flores is offering us almost the exact amount that Katani needs. It’s just such a weird coincidence,” Maeve said.
Then it dawned on Charlotte. “Are you saying that we should give up Marty so Katani’s riding program can have the money?”
Maeve shrugged and looked down. “I dunno. Maybe if you heard it from Katani’s point of view…”
Charlotte couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “But Maeve, what about my point of view? When I was little I lost my mother. Then in France I lost my cat. I’m just…I’m just…” Her lip began to tremble. “I’m just so sick of losing everything I love.” Charlotte sniffled back tears. She would not let herself cry again. “Besides, if you love something or someone, you don’t just sell it because someone offers you a lot of money. Not if you love it.”
“I didn’t mean…” Maeve trailed off. “This is so awful, Charlotte. I can see everybody’s point of view. Marty should be here, but Isabel and Katani could use the money.”
Silence.
“Listen, Charlotte. I love Marty just as much as you do.”
Charlotte gave her a look.
“What? I do. And I promise that whatever you decide I’ll support you. But…”
“But what?”
“Well, when we found Marty we did agree that he belonged to all of us. Maybe the right thing to do is to vote on it.”
“Vote? Vote! I think that’s an awful idea!” Charlotte cried.
“But Charlotte, it’s the only fair way…”
“This is great, just great. Well, I know how Isabel and Katani are going to vote. And by the way you’ve been talking, I guess I know how you’re going to vote too. So that leaves me and Avery. Three to two. I better get used to being pet-less again.”
Charlotte’s Journal
I saw Miss Pierce tonight. She says that I must always hope in my heart that things will work out and that Marty will come home. I think Miss Pierce is as attached to Marty as I am. And to think! Just a short time ago I was worried that Miss Pierce would throw Dad and me out of our cozy little place here on Corey Hill…because she didn’t like pets! But Marty is so easy to fall in love with…he’s one of a kind.