by Janice Hanna
“Wow, did you see that?” Sydney turned toward Kate with excitement in her eyes. “Jackson practically knocked it out of the park!”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” Kate said, frowning.
“No, that’s good!” Andrew explained.
“So that’s our guy?” Kate asked, pointing down to the field. “Right? The one in the white uniform running around the place mats?”
“Those are bases, Kate. Bases.” Mrs. Smith gave her a funny look.
“Ah. Okay.” She paused a moment then said, “Well, if he hit it out of the park, why are they making him run around all of those bases?”
Sydney turned to Kate, a stunned look on her face. “No. He has to get home!”
Andrew shook his head. “Just watch the game, Kate!”
She kept watching, but it just didn’t make any sense. The little man in the white uniform circled the field below. Some of the men were jumping up and down, shouting. One was even throwing a ball at him. When he finished running, the crowd went wild, celebrating. Sydney, Andrew, and his mother all jumped up from their seats and started shouting.
“Did you see that?” Kate asked as they sat down again.
“What?” Sydney turned to look at her.
“That man…the one in the cool blue outfit with the number 14. He tried to hit our guy. He could have hurt him.”
“Tried to throw him out, you mean,” Sydney said with a nod.
“Out of the game?” Kate tried again. “No.” Sydney looked at Kate with a strange expression on her face. “Just out.”
“Is that good?” Kate asked.
“Good?” Andrew stared at her like she had two heads. “Kate…Jackson just hit a homer!”
“A homer? That’s good, right?” Kate shouted, hoping to be heard above the crowd.
It worked. The man in front of her turned around and stared.
“Oops.” She smiled at him and shrugged.
“It’s very good,” Andrew whispered. “The Phillies are going to win this game if they keep playing like this. But can we talk about this later?”
“Sure.” Kate sat quietly for a moment while the others watched the game. She reached into her bag and pulled out her tiny digital camera. Zooming in on the field, she snapped a couple of pictures of Andrew’s dad as a ball whizzed across the field. He caught it and the crowd went crazy.
“Your husband is such a great player, Mrs. Smith,” Sydney said.
“Thank you, honey. We think so.”
After a few minutes, Kate couldn’t resist talking. “So what’s he doing?” she asked, pointing to the guy with the black shirt on the field below.
“That’s the ump,” Sydney responded. “He’s officiating.”
Kate gasped. Pushing up her glasses with her finger, she opened the camera once again and zoomed in on the ump for a closer look.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
“He’s making the call,” Sydney replied.
“Who’s he calling?” Kate asked, snapping a photo.
“No, he’s calling the shots,” Andrew explained.
Sydney said, “Don’t you remember anything we talked about the other night?”
“A little.” Kate sighed. Loudly.
Kate looked around through her camera lens. When she tired of looking at faces in the crowd, she sat twiddling her thumbs, watching numbers light up the electronic board above.
“What does that mean?” she asked, pointing up at them.
Sydney groaned again. “Kate, I’m hungry. Would you please go and get me a hot dog and a drink?” She pulled some money out of her pocket and handed it over.
“Sure!” Kate answered, pleased to have something else to do, especially since it involved food. She looked up at the many, many people in the stadium. “Might take me awhile, though. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Oh, I don’t mind. Take your time.” Sydney turned back to the game.
“I’ll come with you, Kate,” Mrs. Smith said.
“Okay.” As they left their seats, Kate noticed a man a few rows down standing with a camera in his hand, snapping pictures. Even from this distance, she could tell it was an expensive camera. Wow. He must be a real fan.
Something about the man caused a little shiver to run down her spine. What was it she had told Sydney and Andrew again? “The Bible says if you pray for wisdom, God will give it to you!”
At once, she began to pray. If she ever needed wisdom, it was now!
A Face in the Crowd
Kate walked up, up, up the steps, through the maze of cheering fans, as she headed toward the concession stand. Mrs. Smith walked just behind her. All the way, Kate listened to the noise from the crowd. They finally located the snack area. The cashier was watching the game on the screen as Kate paid for Sydney’s hot dog and soda. He yelped as the crowd in the stadium shouted in one loud voice.
“Struck him out!” the cashier hollered.
“Wow. I hope it didn’t hurt!” Kate said, growing worried. Sounded pretty painful.
Mrs. Smith and the cashier each gave her a funny look. “No, honey,” she explained. “He didn’t actually hit him. Just…struck him out.”
Kate just shrugged. With people saying so many confusing things, she was really starting to understand just how easily rumors could get started.
With food in hand, she followed Mrs. Smith back into the stadium. Kate managed to trip across nearly every toe in the row as she squeezed back down the crowded aisle toward Sydney and Andrew. They were both seated with their eyes glued to the field. Neither looked up as she sat down.
“Here you go,” Kate said as she tried to hand Sydney the hot dog.
“Thanks, I’m not hungry,” Sydney responded, eyes glued to the field.
“But I thought you said… Oh, never mind.” Kate opened the hot dog wrapper and ate it herself. Just as she finished it, music began to play.
“Time for the seventh-inning stretch,” Sydney said, standing.
“Seventh-inning stretch? Oh, okay.” Kate stretched and let out a yawn. “There. That feels better. This game is making me sleepy anyway.”
Andrew rolled his eyes and then laughed. “You’re a hoot, Kate Oliver. You know that?”
The game started again. As it continued, Kate tried to pay attention. She really tried. But the whole thing was just so…boring. Why did baseball move so slowly? These guys seemed to take forever to get from one place mat to the next. Why didn’t they just go all the way at once?
Oh well. There were more exciting things to do, right? She used the zooming feature on her micro-camera to watch the people in the crowd. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for. Her gaze stopped on that suspicious-looking man with the camera about three rows below. He wasn’t taking pictures anymore. No, this time he had something very small in his hand.
“What is that?” She zoomed in a little better to see. Looked like an MP3 player of some sort. Why would someone bring a music player to a game? Seemed a little odd. Unless he was bored like her, of course. But he looked like someone who cared a lot about the game.
Hmm. Kate sure couldn’t tell much from behind him, but something about the man made her uncomfortable.
Just then, the crowd shrieked and the man dropped whatever he was holding. He slipped out of his seat and reached to grab it. A look of relief passed over his face as soon as he held it in his hand again.
“Whatever it is must be pretty important,” Kate whispered. She made a mental note to bring her Internet wristwatch next time she came to the game. It would sure come in handy for looking things up—like that MP3 player, for instance. “I wonder what brand it is,” she whispered.
“Did you say something?” Sydney looked at her curiously.
“Oh, nothing important.” She shrugged and tried to tuck away her curiosity to pay attention to her friend.
“Look,” Sydney said, jumping with glee. “It’s Tony Smith’s turn at bat.” She clapped her hands together with a nervous look on her face. “Oh, I hope
he hits a homer!”
Kate zoomed in to get a good look, even taking a couple of pictures for good measure. When Tony’s first swing missed the ball, the crowd reacted with a loud boo. “Why are they so mean?” Kate asked. It hardly seemed fair. The whole crowd seemed to be against him. Why would they turn on one of their own players like that?
“Maybe he’ll hit the next one,” Sydney said. “He’s a shortstop, but he’s also a great hitter. Usually.” She began to bite her nails, looking more nervous by the second.
“Shortstop?” Kate looked at her curiously. “I heard you say that before. But what does it mean? What’s a shortstop?”
Sydney answered but never took her eyes off of Tony. “A shortstop is the guy who stands between second and third base. Out there,” she said, pointing to the field. “That’s a really important defensive position in baseball. More balls go to the shortstop than anyone else.”
“Wow. So he must be good.”
“Yep! He’s great!” Sydney said.
Unfortunately, Tony took a swing at the next ball and missed it, too.
Sydney groaned, but the crowd’s reaction was even worse. This time they got really upset. A fan behind them yelled something mean about Mr. Smith, and Kate turned to give him a “Shame on you” look. He didn’t even notice.
“I’m telling you…Tony is the best,” Sydney insisted. “That’s what’s so confusing about all of this.”
“I think he’s just nervous because of the way people are shouting at him,” Andrew explained. “My dad hardly ever misses.”
Thankfully, the third time the ball came right for the center of Mr. Smith’s bat. Kate found herself chanting, “Hit it! Hit it!” along with Sydney.
“You can do it, Dad,” Andrew said. “C’mon!”
As if he heard his son, Tony Smith cracked the bat against the ball and it shot off into space. Well, not space, exactly, but way across the court. Or was it field?
“He did it! He did it! He did it!” Sydney yelled. She let out a loud yelp and Kate put her fingers in her ears.
As the crowd began to cheer, Tony ran to first base, then second, where he stopped for a split second. His gaze darted to the right, then to the left. Finally he took off running again, making it to third, just in the nick of time before the guy on the base caught the ball in his glove.
“Safe!” a loud voice shouted.
“Wow! That’s so cool!” For the first time, Kate felt excited about the game! Maybe sports weren’t all bad, after all. Maybe she just hadn’t given them a real chance before.
Andrew looked at her with a smile on his face. “Now we’re talking!”
“Great hit,” Sydney agreed with a huge smile on her face.
The next batter hit the ball the wrong way, and it came flying into the stands near Kate and the others. She squealed as it flew over her head. The announcer hollered,
“Foul!”
“Man!” Kate started shaking. “I didn’t know baseball was such a dangerous game! And what’s all this stuff about a foul ball? What does that mean?”
“It means the ball went the wrong way,” Sydney explained.
The camera zoomed in on a man above them, who caught the foul ball. He had a big smile on his face. Kate wasn’t so sure what he was happy about. She wouldn’t be smiling if someone hit her with a ball that went the wrong way, especially one flying so fast! Still, everyone else seemed to think it was wonderful.
The cheering died down and the game started up once again. Minutes later, the crowd began to cheer. Their shouts filled the stadium from top to bottom, side to side. Kate could hardly hear herself think, the noise was so loud!
“We’re going to win this one!” Andrew shouted above the roar of the people around them. “Put another one in the win column for the Fightin’ Phils!”
Sure enough, the Phillies won the game. The people all around Kate began to celebrate wildly. She’d never heard such excitement. Crazy, how people could get so worked up over a game.
Well, all but one person. She glanced down at the man she’d been watching all evening. He sure didn’t look happy the Phillies had won…but why? Wasn’t he a fan? Hmm. Very interesting.
After a minute or two of thinking about that, Kate joined in the frenzy, shouting and cheering. “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!” she said, then giggled.
“Let’s go down to the dugout and say hi to my dad,” Andrew said. He led the way through the crowd down the stairs. Kate followed him. She stopped cold when the saw the man in the red shirt up close. He tucked something into his pocket then turned her way with a cold stare.
“What’s your problem, kid?” he asked.
“I, um…nothing.” She tried to dart past him, but the camera in her hand fell to the cement. She grabbed the phone and ran to the dugout, ready to be away from the creepy fellow! Something about him gave her cold chills all over. Brr!
When they reached the dugout, she watched the other players congratulating each other. However, she noticed no one said much to Tony Smith. Kate had to wonder about that. Why are they ignoring him? He played well, too.
Were they really that upset with him? She watched awhile longer, noticing people from the stands asking for autographs. They went up to all of the players except Tony. The sad expression on his face almost made Kate cry.
Why are they treating him this way? Can’t they see that he loves this team…that he’s giving 100 percent? Don’t they care that he played well? That he’s working overtime to be the best he can be?
Suddenly she felt very, very sorry for Mr. Smith. Just then he looked her way and smiled. “Hey, Kate. Thanks for coming.”
“You’re welcome, Mr. Smith,” she said, feeling her spirits lift. “It was a great game. You were terrific.” She gave him her biggest possible smile.
“Thanks.” He looked embarrassed. “But please call me Tony. That’s all I am. Just Tony.”
“Tony the Tiger!” Andrew said with a smile. “That’s what most of his fans call him.”
Mr. Smith shrugged. “Well, some of the fans, anyway. Not everyone.”
“Tony the Tiger! I love it!” Sydney shoved her way ahead of Kate, her black braids bobbing up and down as she headed straight to Mr. Smith. “You’re the best shortstop ever, Mr. Smith. Can I please have your autograph? I’ll treasure it forever and ever!”
“Well, of course.” He took the program from Sydney and signed it with a smile. “I’m honored.” After handing it back to her, he looked at all of them with a twinkle in his eye. “Now, who wants some ice cream? My treat.”
“Really, Dad?” Andrew asked. “You have time for that?”
“Sure.” His dad nodded. “I’ve been too distracted with practice lately. Need a nice outing with family and friends.”
Sydney’s eyes grew wide. “Wow!” She looked like she might faint. “I’m really going out to have ice cream with a sports star. Can you believe it? This is one of the coolest things that’s ever happened to me!”
“I’m no star.” Mr. Smith gave them a sheepish look.
“Well, sure you are! And I can’t wait to tell my friends back home about this.” Sydney chattered on about how cool it was, but Kate was distracted, staring at her camera. Somehow, when it had fallen to the floor, it had taken a picture of the man. She could barely make out his face because of the strange angle, but something about it just scared her. A chill ran up her spine and goose bumps covered her arms. She wondered why looking at him made her feel so nervous.
She shook off her fear as she whispered a prayer. No point in worrying about someone she didn’t even know, right? Besides, there would be plenty of time to think about that later. Right now, she had some ice cream to eat!
A Brilliant Beyond Brilliant Idea
The morning after the ballgame, Kate woke up bright and early with a great idea. She rolled over in the bed and stared at Sydney, who slept like a rock. “C’mon, wake up,” she whispered. “I need to talk to you. Wake up, wake up, wake up!”
“Seven thirty,” Kate said, glancing at the clock. “I know it’s early, but this is really important!”
“Ugh.” Sydney put the pillow over her face and groaned again. “What is it about you and mornings? Don’t you ever sleep in? It’s summer, remember?”
“Don’t you like to get up in the mornings and run?” Kate asked.
“Yes, but not this early!”
“It’s just…we have too much work to do, and I’ve had a brilliant beyond brilliant idea.” Kate giggled with excitement. “I think you’re gonna love it!”
That seemed to get Sydney’s attention. She pulled the pillow back and stared at Kate with a curious look on her face. “Oh?”
“We need to start a new blog site,” Kate explained.
“A blog? You mean, like a Web page?”
“Sort of. Blogs are a little different from Web sites. A blog is really more like an online journal. Kind of like a diary, almost. It’s the same basic idea as a Web page, but we would update it every day and write cool articles and stories and stuff.” Kate bounced up and down, thinking about the possibilities. It all made perfect sense.
“So why do we need this blog site, again?” Sydney asked with a yawn. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up.
“Well, think about it. If we start a Phillies blog and write great stories and articles about Tony Smith, maybe the person who’s trying to frame him will see our site and leave comments.”
“Probably not good comments,” Sydney said, shivering. “It might get kind of ugly.” She began to do stretches, leaning to the right, then the left, then right and left again.
“Doesn’t matter.” Kate pushed back the covers and scrambled out of the bed to stand next to her. For fun, she did a couple of stretches, too. “We don’t have to worry about what he or she says. We just want that person to post so we can track him—or her—down through the Web. There are ways to do that. I think I can figure it out if I take my time.”