Double Play at Short

by Matt Christopher

Vern went down swinging. Elaine popped one out to third base. Then Frankie Snow, who was playing third base for the Bullets, hit a grounder right into the first baseman’s waiting mitt for the final out of the inning.

  Coach Lattizori was sticking with Ike. As his team took the field, he called out, “All right, folks, let’s see some heads-up ball.” If Ike gave away some good pitches, the rest of the team would simply have to make up for it with their field play.

  As it happened, Ike gave up mostly bad pitches. Then, on a 3–0 count to the Jaguars’ pitcher, Eric Swan, he delivered a meatball down the middle. Eric got under it a little low, and it rose into the air and plopped right into Ike’s glove.

  With one away, Ike felt more secure and brought down the next two batters with a combination of called strikes and swung-on misses.

  This time, as the Bullets came off the field, there was more cheering from the fans. Danny had to laugh when he made out Jennifer’s voice crying out, “Let’s hear it for a-one and a-two!” Not many in the crowd knew it was his twelfth birthday that very day. Even the guys who were at the party a few days ago seemed to have forgotten.

  That was fine with him. He was more interested in getting a piece of the ball when he came up to bat.

  Ken was leading off in this second half of the second inning. Danny took his place in the on-deck circle. The second pitch to Ken was low, but Ken liked to scoop the ball sometimes, and he connected solidly. The ball landed deep between center and right field. Al Norris got to it first, but his peg to second was too late. Ken stood on second base and wiped off his brow as the crowd cheered.

  This was Danny’s chance to keep things going in the right direction for the Bullets. He didn’t let them down. He stared down two pitches that broke too late and were called balls. He swung at the next pitch and missed by a mile. Then, with a 2 and 1 count, he got a pitch that was the best birthday present he could have asked for — slightly outside and chest high. This time he swung and connected.

  The ball sizzled straight down the hole between short and third. By the time the left fielder had grabbed it, Ken was home and Danny had taken his place on second base.

  You could tell how much the crowd liked that from the roar that bellowed forth from the stands. Even Jennifer’s voice was lost in all that noise.

  All Danny wanted now was to cross the plate. He almost got his chance when Joanne squeaked a grounder by first base for a single. But all he could do was advance one base on it. He was aimed at home plate when Bus Thomas hit a line drive to short, which landed with a thwap in Tammy Aiken’s glove. Luckily, Danny hadn’t tried to run on it. He could see that the Aiken girl was all set to nail him at home with a rocket in that direction.

  His itchy feet were held in check when the next batter, Larry, waited out four bad pitches for a walk.

  The bases were now loaded, with only one out. With Danny straining at third, Joanne leading off second, and Larry aching to get away from first, Ike came up to bat and struck out. Then Vern’s bad luck continued with a grounder to first for an easy third out to end the inning.

  The Bullets fans were silent with disappointment. Still, the Bullets had broken onto the scoreboard and were feeling a little better as they took the field.

  The Jaguars looked cocky as they came to bat in the top of the third. Then Marsha hit the ball high and deep, but not deep enough. It landed right in the middle of center fielder Bus’s glove for the first out.

  Ike got a little wild on the mound and bounced a couple of pitches in the dirt, then misfired on two more. That sent Roy Feenie down to first base on a walk.

  Tammy Aiken came up to bat for the second time in the game. Again Danny studied her stance — and again he felt a peculiar twinge of recognition, a strange sense of familiarity, when he looked at her crouched at the plate. But this time there was something else about her that bothered him, something he just couldn’t quite figure out.

  Ike was having a hard time figuring her out, too. She seemed to be hitting everything he threw her way, even though they were fouls. Then, with an 0 and 2 count, she connected with a solid hit to right field. Fast work by Elaine helped to hold her at first base.

  Two for two, thought Danny. And only one out. She’s a real scoring threat to us this inning, not to mention this game, the series — and to my standing as the league’s leading shortstop! Well, I’ll just do everything I can to even things out with Ms. Tammy Aiken.

  Danny shifted from foot to foot, trying to concentrate on the play at hand.

  Tammy took a long lead off first as Ike wound up for his first pitch to Al Norris. Even though it was slightly out of reach, Al swung at it. It bobbled toward second base, where Vern grabbed it and pegged it to Joanne. She tagged the bag and returned it to him in time for him to squeeze Tammy into a trap for the double play.

  Danny breathed a huge sigh of relief.

  “Way to go, Bullets!” he shouted as they headed for the dugout.

  “Yeah, let’s get some hits!” Elaine called out as she headed for the plate. Leading off that inning, she showed how it was done with a line drive by short that got her on base with a single.

  Frankie Snow struck out, but Ken cracked one over the fence for a two-run homer. The fans went wild. The Bullets were now one run short of the Jaguars, who were still leading 4–3.

  Danny came up to bat and hoped to even the score — in more ways than one. But Eric seemed to throw him nothing but garbage. Unfortunately, he was so anxious for a hit that he swung at some of it. After popping off about a half dozen foul balls, he swung at something that looked halfway decent and missed altogether.

  “Strike three!”

  Danny slouched off toward the Bullets’ dugout. As he passed Joanne on her way to the plate, she said, “Tough luck, pal. You’ll get ‘em next time.”

  But Danny knew that a strikeout looked pretty lame to the critical eyes of the All-Star scouts. And when compared to Tammy’s two solid hits, it looked even worse.

  Danny didn’t bat again that inning, but Joanne walked and Bus sent her home with a double to tie the score. Larry Chuan connected with a line drive down the middle that put him on first. Then, in a heart-stopping play that had the crowd roaring, Bus outran the peg to home. The Bullets were now in the lead, 5–4. Danny cheered with the rest of the team, momentarily forgetting his own disappointment. When Ike popped out to short to end the scoring rally, Danny was all set to keep the Jaguars from a comeback when the coach called him over.

  “I want you to take it easy for a while, Danny,” he said. “I’m sending Mike in at short for the rest of the game. You know it doesn’t mean you haven’t done a good job. I just want you in top shape for the remainder of the series. It’s going to go at least four and maybe a full five. We’re all counting on you, but we have to give everyone a chance to get in some field play as well as hitting.”

  Danny knew he meant it. The coach had told the team over and over that he was going to shift them around and give as many members of the roster as much playing time as he could.

  Still, he felt like a failure, sitting on the bench as the Jaguars came up to bat. He felt even worse as the six hitters who came up to bat managed to knock in two runs before Ike retired the side. As they grabbed their gloves and headed for the field, the Jaguars were now ahead on the scoreboard, 6–5.

  Before play began, Danny noticed that Tammy Aiken was lingering on the pitcher’s mound. She was talking with Eric Swan and Drew Ferris. He figured they were discussing the next batters who would be coming up for the Bullets. But then he would have sworn that she was pointing toward him. He felt his face turn red.

  She’s probably laughing at me for sitting on the bench, he thought angrily. Man, she is really starting to bug me!

  Danny suddenly started. Tammy had broken into a huge grin — and for a split second, Danny felt as though he was looking into a mirror. The sensation vanished as quickly as it had come, but it left Danny with a pounding heart.

  As Tammy took her position
at shortstop, Danny found himself studying her more closely than ever.

  Whatever had been said on the mound, it sure seemed to have helped Eric. He put down the top of the Bullets’ batting order one-two-three to end the inning.

  The fifth inning was scoreless for both teams. On the Jaguars’ side of the scoreboard, Ike chalked up two strikeouts, and even the mighty Tammy Aiken went hitless. She popped one up to third that Frankie put away easily. When the Bullets came up, Ken and Mike both singled, but Joanne struck out and then Bus hit into a double play.

  At the top of the sixth, the Jaguars held on to their one-run lead — but got no further. Ike held them in check by throwing stuff they could barely connect with. Millie flew out to third, Eric struck out, then their last chance, Joey Sands, went down with a grounder to first that Joanne easily put away.

  It was the Bullets’ last chance at bat. Larry started out with a long fly ball to left. But Wally Mills was right there to put it away.

  Then Eric made a big mistake. He walked Ike. The crowd cheered as the Bullets’ hard-working southpaw arrived on base for the first time that game.

  The next batter, Vern Labar, hit one deep into center field that bounced off the wall before it could be stopped. It was enough to send Ike home. It also put a runner on second base with only one out.

  The score was now tied 6–6. The crowd roared as Elaine came up to bat.

  “Go, Elaine, go!”

  “We want a hit!”

  “All the way, Elaine!”

  The umpire signaled for the crowd to quiet down, and the noise stopped.

  Elaine choked up and stepped in for the first pitch.

  “Steeeee-rike!” called the ump.

  Elaine barely moved. She just waited for the next pitch.

  It came. She swung. She hit the ball.

  The round white ball with the tiny stitches skyrocketed into deep right field just inside the foul pole. It was a fair ball. Elaine took off for first, and Vern’s legs tore up the track as he raced for home. It was no contest. He was jumping up and screaming before the ball got close to the catcher’s mitt.

  The whole team went wild. The Bullets had pulled off a victory, 7–6, at the very last moment!

  There was a lot of celebrating in their dugout as they all slapped high fives and tens on one another. Then, suddenly, Danny heard singing on the other side of the field. It came from the Jaguars’ dugout.

  Above the noise of the Bullets’ celebration, he could just make out what they were singing: “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Tammmmmmy…”

  Danny stood stock still as the final words of the song floated across the field. His mind was awhirl with confusion.

  “Looks like you two have something else in common,” a voice behind him commented. It was Joel. For once, he didn’t look like he was joking around.

  “Yeah,” Danny said weakly. “Weird, huh?”

  He thought about the discovery he’d made about Tammy in the library the day before, and the strange feeling he’d been having all game — that Tammy was somehow familiar to him.

  “Yeah,” he repeated slowly. “And I don’t think that’s the half of it.”

  7

  Danny found the house empty when he arrived home. But he knew there would be a small family dinner to celebrate his birthday that evening. Mrs. Walker had promised to make his favorite, Hawaiian pork chops with extra pineapple. She was probably out shopping.

  The excitement of the game and the confusing thoughts bouncing around in his head had left him exhausted. He didn’t feel like doing anything but flopping down in front of the TV. He was in the mood for something really mindless, like an old horror flick or a cowboy movie. Anything but baseball.

  He clicked the TV on, then headed for the couch, where he stretched out. A talk show lady appeared on the screen, blabbing away. Danny searched for the remote control, but it was nowhere in sight. He was just about to get up when something the woman said caught his attention.

  “It’s not that difficult to find out who your parents are if you’re adopted. You may even have relatives you never dreamed you had!”

  Danny sat bolt upright, his heart pounding.

  “Just call this number” — an 800 telephone number was flashed on the TV screen. It was recorded instantly in his brain — “for an application that will set the wheels in motion. In no time at all, you could be on your way to knowing who your family really is.”

  Danny got up from the couch and turned off the TV.

  Am I going crazy, or could what I’m thinking about Tammy and me possibly be true? he thought wonderingly. I guess there’s just one way to find out.

  He went to the telephone and dialed the 800 number.

  The morning after his birthday, Danny lay awake in bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking about the phone call he’d made the day before.

  The man who had answered the phone had taken down Danny’s name and address, but that was all. He’d told Danny to keep an eye on the mail for a packet of information. The whole call had taken less than a minute.

  So why do I feel so guilty? Danny thought miserably.

  But he was pretty sure he knew the answer. He’d known all his life that he was adopted. His parents had been very open and honest with him about it. He knew that his biological mother had died in a car crash when he’d been born and that his biological grandparents had not been able to take on the burden of raising a newborn. He’d never given such matters a second thought, except to be grateful that his adoptive parents loved him like he was their own son. The last thing he’d want would be to hurt them in any way.

  By seeking information about how to trace his biological roots, he knew he was risking doing just that. But the events of the last few days — ending with the bizarre coincidence of Tammy sharing his birthday — had made him more than curious. He wasn’t ready to tell anyone his suspicions just yet, though. He wanted to get proof.

  Proof that he and Tammy had more in common than playing shortstop.

  A lot more.

  During the next few days, Danny worked like a demon around the house and garden. He always seemed to be there right when the mail carrier came, too.

  “What did you send away for?” asked Jennifer, grabbing some magazines from him the morning of the third game in the series. “A magic decoder ring?”

  “Don’t be funny,” he said. “This is serious. I’m waiting for some very important information to get here.”

  “Oh, an application?” she asked.

  He blanched. His jaw dropped. How could she have known? Had she been listening in on the extension upstairs when he called the 800 number? He was about to accuse her of eavesdropping — which was totally forbidden in the Walker household — when she finished her question.

  “For college?” she went on. “Why don’t you wait until after the series. Maybe you’ll have something special to put down. I don’t even want to say the words that come after county, ‘cause I don’t want to jinx you. Especially before today’s game.”

  “Hey, thanks a lot,” Danny said. He gave her a friendly tap on her shoulder. “You’re okay, you know?” He dumped the mail on the little desk in the front hall.

  Brinnnng!

  The telephone rang, and Jennifer flew off upstairs to answer it.

  “It’s probably for me!” she called behind.

  Her quick departure knocked the letters off the desk. When Danny stooped to pick them up, he saw that he had missed one addressed to him. It looked just like those sweepstakes letters his folks always got, with a fancy border all around the envelope. But there was his name right on the address label.

  He ripped it open and read the letter on top of the application form.

  Dear Mr. Walker

  Thank you for your inquiry…

  The letter was long and there were a lot of sentences that didn’t half make sense. But down near the bottom he came to the bad news.

  To cover the cost of servicing your application, we req
uire an initial deposit of $100. This will be credited against the final cost of our investigation.

  A hundred dollars! And that’s just to start! There was no way he could come up with anywhere near that amount.

  “Aren’t you getting ready for the game?” his mother called out to him from the back of the house.

  “Yes!” he answered quickly. He shoved the letter into his back pocket and ran upstairs.

  He changed as fast as he could, carelessly dumping his clothes in a heap on the floor as he pulled on his uniform. At the last second, he remembered the roll of film he’d shot at the previous game. He grabbed it out of his camera and headed back downstairs.

  “Hey, Mom!” he called. “Could you drop this film off for me?”

  “Sure,” his mother answered. “And Danny, I’m sorry I haven’t been able to make any of your games. I’ve just been too busy at work to get away.”

  It seemed to Danny that she was about to say something else. But instead, she dug her car keys out of her pocketbook and unlocked the car door.

  A few minutes later, Danny was warming up on the field with the rest of the team.

  “Danny, you’re back at short,” Coach Lattizori announced when he called the team together. “We’ll go with the same lineup as the first game. I took a look at the Jaguars’ roster. They’re doing the same thing. Okay, folks, let’s see some real good baseball out there now.”

  The third game began. Both teams played well during the first inning. The Bullets batted first and managed to hit some pitches. But only one of them ended up in fair territory for a hit. With a runner on base, Ken popped one up that the pitcher, Andy Hooten, caught to retire the Bullets.

  When the Jaguars were at bat, Marc gave up one walk, but he struck out the next batter. Then Marsha Kerns almost hit into a double play with a line drive to second base. But Vern’s peg to Danny, who was covering second, wasn’t quick enough. The runner advanced. Then, to shatter the Jaguars’ hopes of scoring that inning, Roy Feenie struck out.

  Danny led off for the Bullets at the top of the second. As he stepped into the batter’s box, he felt pretty good. Then he stared down the line toward the pitcher’s mound. In the corner of his eye he could see Tammy settling down, crouching, waiting for the play.