by Mike Lupica
After a long pause Chase said: “I just want you to know something. Where I lived before, before I moved here … everybody my age, they always talked about me. I was always the guy, not just in basketball. Baseball, too. Then I moved here and even in Darby, all I heard about was this little guy … this guy … in Rockwell who could, like, do no wrong.”
Ben didn’t know what to say to that.
“So I decided I had to beat you,” he said. “And then I wanted to beat you too bad.” Paused and said, “Even with Lily.”
Ben grinned and said, “Guess what? I kind of did the exact same thing.”
Then: “Hey, good luck in the championship game.”
Chase Braggs shook his head, no. “I feel like we just played it today,” he said. “And got beat by a point.”
Finally he said, “Hey, see you in baseball.”
“Cool,” Ben McBain said.
Coolest thing in the world, Ben thought to himself, walking over to where Lily Wyatt waited for him.
No matter what, there was always another season.
Just like that, it was baseball season.
Copyright © 2013 by Mike Lupica
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