Mel’s.
The quarter soon ended and the game went intothe second period. Coach Thorpe put in Andy Head and Kim Nemeth, giving the whole team almost equal time on the court.
Resentment flashed through Mel when he saw that both Stoney and Caskie were ignoring Darryl, too. More than twice they could
have passed the ball to Darryl. He had been in the clear, in a good spot to shoot. But they had ignored him, just as they
had ignored Mel.
Darryl intercepted a pass from a Quint and dribbled the ball as hard as he could down the length of the court. Then he leaped,
laid the ball up, and sank it for two points!
“All right!” yelled Darryl. “You don’t have to pass it, Cas! I’ll get that ball one way or another!”
That Darryl. He didn’t care what he said or to whom he said it. Mel glanced at the coach. Coach Thorpe had cracked a grin.
Mel was sure that there was very little that went unnoticed by the coach’s alert eyes, and wondered if he would say anything
to Caskie and Stoney about not passing to Mel and Darryl. Guess I’ll just have to wait, Mel thought.
The game went through the third and fourth quarters with the two coaches putting in all theirplayers and playing both man-to-man and zone defense. The Quints won by a narrow margin, 38–35. It’s lucky, thought Mel, that
it wasn’t a league game.
The Titans and the Quints went to the locker rooms and showered. Mel was already under a shower, enjoying the cool, needlelike
spray, when Darryl showed up and took another stall. Behind him came Caskie and the other members of the team.
“Nice game, Mel!” yelled Rick Longfoot.
“You, too, Rick!” said Mel with a laugh.
Stoney and Caskie looked at him and Darryl briefly as they went by to another shower stall. Neither said anything.
Mel was glad when he and Darryl were dressed and out of there. It was cold and wintry outside but more comfortable than being
around Caskie Bennett and Stoney.
2
T he next day was Thanksgiving. Mel thought he had never seen so much food on the table in his life. Right in the middle of
it was a large, crisply cooked turkey. Mom and Dad sat at opposite ends of the table with Mel and Robby on one side and Cindy
and their big sister Ruth on the other.
As was the Jensen tradition, each family member took a turn to say what he or she was thankful for. Everyone laughed when
Cindy said she was thankful not to be sharing a bedroom with her big sister anymore. When it was his turn, Mel hesitated a
bit. It didn’t make sense to be thankful for the way Caskie and Stoney treated him.
But there were a lot of other things he was thankful for. Top of the list was having a place on the Titans.
All four children climbed into the bus Monday morning after the long Thanksgiving weekend. Cindy got off at the elementary
school, Robby and Mel at the middle school, and Ruth, a sophomore, continued on to the high school.
Seeing Caskie and Stoney in his classes made Mel think of the ball game again. But it wasn’t until the next day that thinking
about them really bothered him. He wished he were like Darryl Brady. Hardly anything bothered Darryl. But Mel got to thinking
so much about Caskie’s and Stoney’s treatment of him and Darryl at the last ball game that he couldn’t think of geography
in Ms. Agard’s class at all.
Suddenly he realized that she was addressing him. “Melvin, I asked you a question. What is
quebracho
and what is made from it?”
Mel remembered that the class was studying the country of Argentina. He remembered reading about
quebracho
, but for the life of him he couldn’t think of what it was and what was made from it.
“Did you study this chapter, Melvin?” Ms. Agard asked, peering directly at him through her blue-rimmed glasses.
“Yes, I did,” he answered truthfully.
“Then why can’t you answer the question?”
Mel shrugged. “I don’t know.” Quickly he took a stab at the answer. “It’s a kind of mineral, isn’t
The quarter soon ended and the game went intothe second period. Coach Thorpe put in Andy Head and Kim Nemeth, giving the whole team almost equal time on the court.
Resentment flashed through Mel when he saw that both Stoney and Caskie were ignoring Darryl, too. More than twice they could
have passed the ball to Darryl. He had been in the clear, in a good spot to shoot. But they had ignored him, just as they
had ignored Mel.
Darryl intercepted a pass from a Quint and dribbled the ball as hard as he could down the length of the court. Then he leaped,
laid the ball up, and sank it for two points!
“All right!” yelled Darryl. “You don’t have to pass it, Cas! I’ll get that ball one way or another!”
That Darryl. He didn’t care what he said or to whom he said it. Mel glanced at the coach. Coach Thorpe had cracked a grin.
Mel was sure that there was very little that went unnoticed by the coach’s alert eyes, and wondered if he would say anything
to Caskie and Stoney about not passing to Mel and Darryl. Guess I’ll just have to wait, Mel thought.
The game went through the third and fourth quarters with the two coaches putting in all theirplayers and playing both man-to-man and zone defense. The Quints won by a narrow margin, 38–35. It’s lucky, thought Mel, that
it wasn’t a league game.
The Titans and the Quints went to the locker rooms and showered. Mel was already under a shower, enjoying the cool, needlelike
spray, when Darryl showed up and took another stall. Behind him came Caskie and the other members of the team.
“Nice game, Mel!” yelled Rick Longfoot.
“You, too, Rick!” said Mel with a laugh.
Stoney and Caskie looked at him and Darryl briefly as they went by to another shower stall. Neither said anything.
Mel was glad when he and Darryl were dressed and out of there. It was cold and wintry outside but more comfortable than being
around Caskie Bennett and Stoney.
2
T he next day was Thanksgiving. Mel thought he had never seen so much food on the table in his life. Right in the middle of
it was a large, crisply cooked turkey. Mom and Dad sat at opposite ends of the table with Mel and Robby on one side and Cindy
and their big sister Ruth on the other.
As was the Jensen tradition, each family member took a turn to say what he or she was thankful for. Everyone laughed when
Cindy said she was thankful not to be sharing a bedroom with her big sister anymore. When it was his turn, Mel hesitated a
bit. It didn’t make sense to be thankful for the way Caskie and Stoney treated him.
But there were a lot of other things he was thankful for. Top of the list was having a place on the Titans.
All four children climbed into the bus Monday morning after the long Thanksgiving weekend. Cindy got off at the elementary
school, Robby and Mel at the middle school, and Ruth, a sophomore, continued on to the high school.
Seeing Caskie and Stoney in his classes made Mel think of the ball game again. But it wasn’t until the next day that thinking
about them really bothered him. He wished he were like Darryl Brady. Hardly anything bothered Darryl. But Mel got to thinking
so much about Caskie’s and Stoney’s treatment of him and Darryl at the last ball game that he couldn’t think of geography
in Ms. Agard’s class at all.
Suddenly he realized that she was addressing him. “Melvin, I asked you a question. What is
quebracho
and what is made from it?”
Mel remembered that the class was studying the country of Argentina. He remembered reading about
quebracho
, but for the life of him he couldn’t think of what it was and what was made from it.
“Did you study this chapter, Melvin?” Ms. Agard asked, peering directly at him through her blue-rimmed glasses.
“Yes, I did,” he answered truthfully.
“Then why can’t you answer the question?”
Mel shrugged. “I don’t know.” Quickly he took a stab at the answer. “It’s a kind of mineral, isn’t
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