Double Play at Short (5 page)

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.”

D
anny 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.