MVP #2

by David A. Kelly

  They were just getting ready to go home when another shopper came out.

  “It’s Mr. Jennings!” Alice whispered to Nico. “He’s the guy with the dog who lives across from the field house.”

  Mr. Jennings stopped at the table and rested his shopping bag on the ground. He looked down his nose at the model and then pulled a pack of gum out of his pocket. It was the new Kiwi-Berri brand with the bright pink and green stripes. Mr. Jennings slid out a stick of gum and unwrapped it. He balled up the colorful wrapper and tossed it on the table. Then he pointed to the model.

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  Nico explained about the fund-raiser to save the field house.

  Mr. Jennings snorted. “Sorry, kids, but I wouldn’t give you a dime to save that field house,” he said. “I can’t wait for the city to finally sell it. It’s ugly and old.”

  Nico, Alice, and Luke looked at each other.

  Mr. Jennings picked up his shopping bag and turned to go. “I hope they tear it down,” he muttered. “I can’t wait to see that old building gone!”

  “Well, maybe not everyone wants to save the field house,” Nico said.

  “Mr. Jennings must have picked up some grumpy pills in addition to his groceries,” Luke said.

  “At least his dog is nice,” Alice said. “But I can’t believe that people still litter.”

  Luke picked up the bright pink-and-green gum wrapper that Mr. Jennings had left behind. He tried to wrap it around his finger like a ring and showed it to Alice. The pink and green stripes stood out.

  “Very nice, Luke, but I don’t think we can get any money for a ring,” Alice said. “Anyway, we got a lot of other donations today. Alex Akers is going to be impressed. I can’t wait for our practice with her tomorrow.”

  —

  The next day, the kids flew out of school when the last bell rang. They ran to the bike racks, hopped on their bikes, and rode over to the soccer field.

  They spotted Alex at the far end of the field. She was dribbling a ball back and forth and taking shots on goal. The kids raced over and watched quietly until she finished practicing.

  “Oh, hi, guys,” Alex called out. She picked up her soccer ball and jogged over to them. Alex had short blond hair and was wearing a soccer jersey and white shorts. She had on bright purple-and-green soccer cleats.

  “Wow! Cool cleats,” Kat said.

  Alex smiled. “Yup, that’s one of the perks of playing professional soccer,” she said. “We get to try out all kinds of new shoes.”

  Kat introduced Alex to the rest of the MVP Club.

  “Awesome! So, is everyone ready?” Alex asked. “I know that Alice and Kat have an important game tomorrow, so we’re going to do a lot of work today. Now it’s time to get down to some professional soccer!” She blew a whistle and lined the kids up on the side of the field.

  Alex had them spend the next hour doing dribbling, shooting, and passing drills. Then she let them take a “break” by having them play goalie and try to stop her from scoring. Each kid took a turn, but Alex went past them and easily took shots on an empty net.

  Kat waited until last to go. Alex lined up at the halfway line. Kat stood in front of the goalposts. She danced back and forth on her feet, ready to defend the goal. She clenched and unclenched her hands.

  Alex dribbled the ball forward, slowly at first. Then she sped up and zipped to the right. Kat moved to follow the ball. Alex skittered the other way and pounded a shot with her foot.

  Kat tried to move back into a good position, but was she too late? The ball was heading straight for the outside corner of the net.

  Kat jumped and dove as hard as she could. She stretched her fingers out. It was going to be close.

  The ball grazed her fingertips as it sailed right past the post!

  Kat had stopped Alex’s goal! She fell to the ground, out of breath.

  A cheer went up from the rest of the MVP Club. They had been watching from the sidelines.

  “Way to go, Kat!” Nico said. “Awesome save!”

  “You’re the only one who was able to stop Alex,” Max called. “You’re the soccer star now!”

  “That was a really good save, Kat,” Alex called as she picked up the ball.

  After a short break, Alex ran them through more drills. She spent some of the time working with Kat while Nico, Luke, Max, and Alice had a short scrimmage.

  “If you see the goalie run at you when you’re about to shoot, use a chip shot,” Alex said to Kat. “Angle the top part of your toe down to hit the ball at the bottom. It’ll ‘chip’ the ball over the goalie and into the net.” Alex showed her how to do it a few times and then had Kat practice the shot.

  After a little while longer, everyone took a break. The kids were hot and sweaty. But Kat had a huge smile on her face.

  Everyone sat on the grass at the side of the field, under the shade of a big maple tree. Alex dragged a heavy cooler over to them and opened its top. “I figured you’d be thirsty,” she said. “So I brought along some PowerPunch!”

  “Awesome!” Nico said. “I’ll take a red one.”

  The cooler was filled with ice and tall bottles of red, green, and orange PowerPunch sports drink. The kids dug through the cooler until they found their favorite flavors. They pulled the bottles out and took long swigs.

  “Hey, look,” Max said after he was done with his first sip. “There’s a picture of Alex on the bottle!” Underneath the picture on each bottle, it read Soccer star Alex Akers gets a real kick out of PowerPunch!

  Alex laughed. “Yes, that’s another perk of being a soccer player. We get to do some exciting things.”

  As everyone spread out on the grass to rest, Nico moved back toward the center of the field. He stared at the field house for a few minutes.

  “Hey, is that smoke coming from the side of the field house?” Nico called out.

  Alex and the kids jumped up and ran over. Nico pointed to the right side of the field house. But nobody else saw smoke or anything strange.

  “Maybe it was just leaves or dust, Nico,” Alex said. “Let’s finish up practice. You girls are in great shape for your game tomorrow. But maybe you can all help me practice for the fund-raiser, since I usually don’t play goalie. You kick the balls, and I’ll try to stop them!”

  They went one after the other. On Kat’s turn, Alex gave her some tips. She didn’t score a goal, but she got really close.

  After Kat came Alice. Alex stopped her shot, too. As Alice jogged back to get in line again, Nico was getting ready at midfield. But just as he was about to start dribbling the soccer ball, Alice stopped him. Her eyes were wide. She started hopping up and down and pointed.

  “Look! Nico was right!” Alice called. “The field house is burning down!”

  Everyone turned to look. Alice was right! Bright yellow and orange flames were shooting out of the right side of the field house!

  Alice nudged Max. “Quick. Call 9-1-1,” she said.

  Max ran to the side of the field and fumbled through the pockets of his sweatshirt. He pulled out his phone to report the fire.

  When he finished the call, the group ran down to the far end of the field. As they drew closer, they could see the flames coming out of a wooden shed next to the field house.

  A few seconds later, they heard sirens wailing. A police car screeched to a halt at the corner. Two police officers jumped out. A policewoman stepped into the street to direct traffic while a policeman walked up to the growing crowd.

  “Please take a few steps back,” he called as he waved his arms. “We want to keep everyone safe and give the firefighters room to work.”

  Alex and the kids moved back about twenty feet. The flames shot higher.

  More sirens wailed. Two big red fire trucks stopped in front of the field house. Firefighters with thick coats and metal hats jumped out. A tall firefighter grabbed a hose and ran to a fire hydrant down the street. Others pulled hoses around the side of the building and started shooting j
ets of water at the flames.

  It didn’t take the firefighters long to get the fire under control. Even after the fire was out a few minutes later, the firefighters continued to shoot water on the smoldering side of the building.

  “I’m going to call your mom, Kat,” Alex said. “Just so she knows we’re all safe.”

  As Alex took a short walk away from all the action, the kids inched closer to the fire for a better look. The smell of burned wood lingered in the air. The firefighters had started to lay out their hoses and roll them up.

  “Okay, folks, time to head home,” the policeman said. “The fire’s out and the action’s over.”

  The kids turned to go, but Max stopped them. “Don’t you guys ever read mystery books?” he said. “This fire is suspicious. Why would the field house suddenly catch fire just before the fund-raiser? I’ll bet someone did it on purpose!”

  “Max, just because you want to be a detective when you grow up doesn’t mean that everything’s a mystery!” Alice said.

  Max shook his head. “I think something’s up,” he said. “We can’t leave now. We need to investigate.”

  “But how?” Kat asked. “They just told us to go home.”

  “Since my dad’s a detective, he knows all the firefighters and police officers,” Max said. “I’m going to talk to them.”

  Kat and the others followed as Max walked over to a firefighter with a big gold shield on the front of his helmet. The gold shield read Fire Chief. The man was watching the other firefighters put away the equipment.

  “Excuse me,” Max said as he got near. “I’m Max. My dad’s Detective Samson. We were playing soccer when we saw the flames, so we called 9-1-1.”

  “Oh, so you’re the Max I always hear about,” the fire chief said. “I’m Chief George. Your father tells me you’ll make a good detective when you grow up.”

  “Do you know how it started?” Max asked.

  “We don’t know exactly what caused it,” the chief said. “But the fire started in a small shed on the side of the building. It’s the only thing that burned. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to work. It was nice meeting you, Max.”

  The kids said goodbye and went back to find Alex. She had finished her phone call with Kat and Luke’s mom.

  “We’re going to get our bikes and ride home,” Kat said.

  “Okay,” Alex said. She gave Kat a fist bump. “That was exciting. But not as exciting as your soccer game is going to be tomorrow! You did a great job today, Kat!”

  Kat smiled. “Thanks!” she said. “We’ll see you back at our house.”

  The kids walked to their bikes as Alex left in her car.

  “We should investigate the fire,” Max said. “Let’s meet here tomorrow morning before the fund-raiser.”

  “Okay,” Nico said. “But it seems like a stretch that someone would burn down the field house on purpose.”

  Max shook his head. “Not if someone is afraid we’ll save it!” he said.

  “But that doesn’t make sense,” Nico said. “If we save it, the town will fix it up and everyone wins.”

  A big grin crossed Max’s face. “Unless someone wants to build something else there,” he said. “Like an office building!”

  Alice pulled her shoulders back. “You’re crazy!” she said. “You think that Mr. Danforth tried to burn the field house down? Why would he do that?”

  “It all makes sense. If the field house is gone, the town will have to sell him the land,” Max said. “Then he can build his big new office building!”

  The next morning, a faint whiff of burned wood still floated over the soccer field. Yellow police tape had been strung around the burned-out shed.

  “Okay, we don’t have much time,” Alice said as they locked up their bikes. “Let’s take a look around and then start getting ready for the fund-raiser.”

  The kids couldn’t get too close because of the police tape. They could see the charred remains of the small shed where the fire had started. But the main part of the building wasn’t damaged.

  The MVP Club spread out and started checking the ground near the police tape. They looked for anything that the police might have missed. But all they saw was soggy grass and burned embers until Luke spotted something.

  “Look! I’ve found a clue!” he called out. The others came running over.

  Luke picked something up from the ground. He held it out in the palm of his hand for the others to see.

  It was a small pink-and-green piece of paper.

  “That looks like the gum wrapper that Mr. Jennings dropped on our table!” Alice said.

  “It is.” Luke nodded. “I remember it from when I picked it up yesterday.”

  “And look,” Nico said. “It’s wet. That means it was probably here before the firefighters shot all the water on the fire. That means it wasn’t dropped here this morning.”

  “Then maybe it was Mr. Jennings and not Mr. Danforth who set the fire!” Max said. “Mr. Jennings hates the field house! He even told us he couldn’t wait to see the building gone.”

  “Yeah,” Nico said. “He was worried we’d save it, so he tried to burn it down. But we stopped him!”

  Alice glanced at the other side of the field. Kat’s mom had just pulled up. She and Alex were starting to walk from the car to the field.

  “Hey, we have to go help set up,” Alice said. “What do we do about Mr. Jennings?”

  “We can tell a police officer when they get here,” Max said. “I bet some of them will come to the fund-raiser with their families.”

  The MVP Club ran across the field to help unload stuff from the car. They pulled out a bag of soccer balls they had borrowed from the school. Nico and Max grabbed a long table and a few chairs. They set them up on the sideline. They put out Kat’s model of the field house. Kat had even cut a slot in the roof so that people could drop their money right in!

  While they waited for people to show up, Alex had the kids practice. After running up and down the field twice to warm up, Alex took her place in front of the goal. The MVP Club all lined up and tried to sneak shots past her. But Alex blocked them all.

  Soon, other kids and parents arrived. Many brought cookies, popcorn, and oranges for the bake sale.

  Alex got ready for the fund-raiser while the kids helped out at the tables they had set up. Nico and Max sat at the bake sale table. Alice took a seat behind the donation table. She wrote down people’s names as they dropped money into the model of the field house. Then Kat or Luke would lead each person to the center of the soccer field for a chance to take a shot on goal.

  Kat and Luke had fun as they watched Alex stop lots of shots. Every now and then, someone would get lucky and sneak one in. When they did, Alex would run forward, shake the person’s hand, and give them a signed picture from a bag near the goal. Everyone seemed happy to try their luck against one of the best soccer players of all time.

  The fund-raiser was going great. Lots of people were lined up to take shots at Alex. Every time Alex stopped a ball, the crowd cheered. Once people took their turn, they would buy food from the bake sale table or just hang out and talk. Everyone was talking about the fire at the field house.

  The fund-raiser had been going on almost an hour when Max finally spotted a policewoman near the edge of the field. He asked Kat’s mom to take over at the bake sale, and motioned for his friends to come with him.

  “Excuse me,” Max said when they reached the policewoman. “We think we know who started the field house fire!”

  The policewoman looked down at them. “You do?” she asked. “What do you know about it?”

  Max told the policewoman what had happened at the supermarket with Mr. Jennings. Then he explained how they had seen the fire and investigated it this morning, and how Luke had found a matching gum wrapper near the burned-out shed.

  “We think Mr. Jennings did it!” Max concluded.

  The policewoman nodded. “I’ll have to say, you kids are pretty smart,” s
he said.

  Luke looked at Alice and Max. “What do you mean?” he said.

  The policewoman smiled. “You’re right about the clue,” she said. “Mr. Jennings did start the fire!”

  “I can’t believe it,” Max said. “We were right!”

  The members of the MVP Club gave each other high fives. “Are you going to arrest Mr. Jennings?” Kat asked.

  The police officer shook her head. “No,” she said. “We’re not.”

  The high fives stopped. They all stared at her.

  “What?” Kat asked. “He almost burned the field house down!”

  The policewoman shook her head. “We know he started the fire,” she said, “but he didn’t do it on purpose.”

  “But he hates the field house!” Max said. “He told us he wanted it gone.”

  “I know he doesn’t like the field house. He complained about it at town council meetings last year. But the fire was an accident,” the policewoman said. “Mr. Jennings was out walking yesterday when he thought he heard somebody in the shed. He’s been keeping an eye on the place ever since someone broke the front window a few weeks ago.”

  The kids all looked at Max. He shrugged. But the policewoman didn’t notice.

  “How did the fire start?” Nico asked.

  “Mr. Jennings went into the shed to check on the noise. It was dark, and he tripped on some wires. They sparked, and it started a small fire. He tried to put the fire out with his feet but couldn’t. That’s when he rushed home to call us.”

  “But we saw the fire first,” Max said. “And I called 9-1-1!”

  “You kids did an amazing job of notifying us right away,” the policewoman said. “But Mr. Jennings called at the same time. He told the 9-1-1 operator he had started the fire and how it happened.”