The Lucky Baseball Bat by Matt Christopher Page A

answered, his eyes on the ground. He kept walking with his hands in his pockets, his heels scraping the dirt and pebbles. Jeannie had hold of his arm, as if whatever suffering he was going through she was going through with him.
    “Hey, wait a minute!” the tall stranger called after them as they started by. He caught Marvin’s arm in his big fist and Marvin had to stop. The smile on the stranger’s face turned into a bigger one. “You didn’t answer me. What happened? Won’t they let you play ball with them?”
    “I haven’t got a glove,” Marvin said. “I’m sure I could catch those balls if I had a glove.”
    The tall boy laughed. Marvin liked the sound and turned to look at Jeannie to see what she was thinking. Her blue eyes were crinkling in a cheerful grin, and Marvin knew she felt the same way he did. Whoever this tall boy was, he was nice.
    “Tell you what,” the stranger said. “My name’s Barry Welton. I live about two blocks around the corner on Grant Street, to the right.”
    “We live a block to the left,” Jeannie said warmly. “I’m Jeannie Allan, and this is my brother Marvin.”
    “Well! That’s fine!” He made a motion with his hand. “Come on,” he said, and began to walk toward Grant Street.
    “Where you going?” Marvin asked, wondering.
    “To my house. I’m going to give you something. Something I think you’ll like to have.”
    When they reached his house, a gray wooden frame building with yellow shutters, he asked them to wait in the living room while he ran upstairs. He came back down a couple of seconds later, and Marvin’s eyes almost bugged from his head.
    Barry was carrying a bat and a glove!
    “Here,” he grinned. “These are yours. Now maybe they’ll let you play. Okay?”
    “Christmas!” Marvin cried. “You mean you’re giving these things to me?”
    “Certainly! I’ve had that glove ever since I was your size, and I outgrew that bat years ago. It was a lucky bat for me. Maybe it’ll be a lucky one for you, too.”
    “Christmas!” said Marvin again, his heart thumping excitedly. “Thanks! Thanks a lot, Barry!”
    He could not make up his mind whether to return to the ball diamond or not. Those boys had not liked it because he had butted in on them by trying to catch a ball without a glove. But he had a glove now. They shouldn’t say anything.
    “Come on, Jeannie. Let’s go back to the park,” he said.
    She looked at him strangely, then together they walked back to the ball field.
    Marvin saw that they were still having batting practice. He let Jeannie hang on to the bat while he put on the glove and ran out to the field. Two of the boys saw him with his glove, and said something to each other. He acted as if he didn’t see them. He didn’t care what they said. He had as much right here as the rest of them.
    Suddenly he saw Jim Cassell gazing toward the outfield. Jim seemed to be looking directly at him, and Marvin’s heart fell.
    “Kid!” Jim yelled then, motioning with his hand. “Move over a little — toward center field!”
    A thrill of excitement went through him. Jim Cassell had given him an order as if he were already a member of the team!
    He ran over to a spot between left and center fields. He almost prayed a ball would come his way. He had not caught a ball since last summer, but he knew how to do it. Maybe he could even show them something!
    And then, even while he was thinking about it, he saw a ball hit out his way. The closer of the two boys Jim Cassell had placed in center field came running for it, shouting at the top of his lungs, “I’ve got it! I’ve got it!”
    Marvin knew it was his ball more than the other boy’s. He needed only to take four or five steps backward. He reached up, trying to make his yell sound out above the other’s.

    “It’s mine! Let it go! It’s mine!”
    “Let him take it, Tommy!” Jim Cassell’s voice boomed from near home plate.
    Marvin felt a shoulder hit his arm. It threw him off