Long Shot for Paul by Matt Christopher Page A

shot back, and looped the ball to Glenn. Glenn tossed it easily to Paul and hoped with all
     his heart that Paul would catch it. Paul did.
    “Thataway, Paul!” Don cried. “Maybe another ten years and you’ll be able to make the team!” With that, Don and Andy left.
    Paul’s face flushed. He gripped the ball tightly with both arms and looked sternly at Don’s retreating back. “He’s one guy
     I don’t like,” he muttered softly.
    Judy scowled after them. “The old loudmouth,” she said angrily. “Boy, would I like to see Paul make the team. What that loudmouth
     would say then!”
    “Oh, Don’s okay,” Glenn said. “He just wants to be a leader in everything.”
    Glenn saw Mom peering through the screen door of the back porch. He grinned and waved to her. She waved back, but kept staring
     as if she were looking at something very strange.
    “Okay. Let’s shoot baskets for a while,” Glenn suggested. “Throw it here, Paul. Watch how I do it.”
    “Okay.” Paul’s face brightened, as if he were glad to do something different for a change. He passed the ball to Glenn. Glenn
     stood in front of the basket, bounced the ball a couple of times, then shot. The first throw hit the backboard above the rim
     and bounced off. The second bounced back and into the net.
    “Now you try it, Paul.”
    Glenn handed Paul the ball. Eagerly, Paul took aim and shot. The ball struck the rim,bounced off. “Oh! Missed!” he said. He tried again. This time it didn’t reach as high as the rim.
    “Throw it higher, Paul!” cried Glenn.
    “Easy, Glenn,” cautioned Judy. “You don’t have to shout at him. Show him again.”
    Glenn showed Paul again how to stand at the foul line and shoot. He tried hard to shoot like Glenn, and little by little his
     throws improved.
    “Thataboy, Paul!” said Glenn, smiling. “You’re coming! Slow but sure!”
    “I’m sinking most of them, Glenn!” Paul cried proudly. “Were you counting?”
    Glenn grinned. “No, but you’re doing a lot better, Paul. A lot better. Okay, let’s quit. We’ll practice every day. Okay? You
     would like to play basketball with the Sabers, wouldn’t you, Paul?”
    Paul’s eyes brightened. “You bet!”
    “Just keep practicing and you will,” Glenn said.
    Paul ran into the house, shouting, “Mom! Hey, Mom! Glenn and Judy are teaching me to play basketball! I’m going to play with
     the Sabers!”
    Mom smiled and squeezed him to her, then looked at his sister and brother with a question in her eyes.
    “What’s going on?” she demanded softly when Paul was out of the room. “What’s up those sleeves of yours?”
    Judy grinned. “It’s Glenn’s idea, Mom. We’re going to teach Paul to play basketball.”
    “Oh, you are?”
    Glenn was grinning, too. “Basketball is good exercise, Mom. And Paul will meet a lot of guys if he plays with the Sabers.
     He won’t just have to sit and make models and draw”
    Mom’s eyes grew misty. She put an arm around Glenn’s shoulder. “It would do him good to get out and associate with boys more,”
     she agreed. “He needs friends. But I don’t know. It will take patience, that idea of yours. Plenty of patience.”
    “We know, Mom,” Judy said, her eyes big and bright as plums. “But don’t you think Paul can learn? Don’t you really think so?
     That is, if we really worked with him every day?”
    Mom seemed to think it over a bit, then nodded. “Of course, he can. But don’t get discouraged if he takes a long time at it.
     Basketball is no easy game to learn, you know.”

2
    G lenn’s big worry was Coach Frank Munson of the Sabers. Mr. Munson was about the toughest coach in the league. You obeyed him,
     or else. You hustled, or else. He wasn’t going to let anyone play who didn’t do his best every minute.
    Last year the Sabers had finished in fifth place. You’d think the coach would have been so angry he might not want to coach
     anymore. But he wasn’t. As a matter of fact, he had