Windmill Windup (4 page)

“Hello?”

“Daddy, it’s me.”

“Sugarplum! It’s so great to hear your voice!”

“You too, Daddy.”

“What’s the matter, sugar? You sound upset.”

“I am, kind of.”

“Well, what is it? You know you can tell me.”

“Well …I’m not so sure this time….” Kelly let her voice trail off, just to make him curious.

“Hey, Kel. Didn’t I always tell you you could count on me?”

“Well, yes….” He’d told her, all right. But every time she’d done it, he’d let her down.

“Come on, tell me. There’s nothing so terrible that we can’t work it out together.”

“Okay,” Kelly said, figuring he was ready to hear it now. “There are two things, actually. First of all, they put me on the
wrong softball team.”

“What? The idiots!”

“I know. All my friends are on my old team, and it’s an awesome team, too. So they decided to break up the team, and they
put me on this team of sixth-grade losers!”

“Okay, okay, back up,” her dad said. “Who made this decision?”

“The commissioner. And he’s the father of this girl who hates me.”

“Well, don’t worry about a thing. I’ll have a little talk with the guy, and then let’s see what he says.”

“Thanks, Daddy,” Kelly said, a smile playing on her lips. “I asked Mommy to call him, but she didn’t really try to convince
him.”

“Your mom’s not exactly tough when it comes to things like this,” her dad said in a forgiving, affectionate tone. Kelly could
tell he still missed her, still loved her, even though she’d divorced him. “Okay, so that little problem’s taken care of.
What else is bothering you?”

Kelly cleared her throat. “Well,” she said, “actually, it’s about Mom. She’s …well, she’s got this new boyfriend….”

There was a black silence on the other end of the line. “Oh?” her dad finally said, trying to sound casual and cover the obvious
jealousy in his voice.

“Yeah. His name’s Ken, and he’s a total jerk. But Mom seems wild about him.”

“Ken, huh?” Her dad’s voice was thick with anger and frustration.

“He tries to act like he’s my father or something,” Kelly told him. “But I let him know he wasn’t.”

“Good girl,” her dad told her. “Well, don’t worry. Your mom’s not stupid. If this guy’s half the jerk you say he is, she’ll
figure it out soon enough.”

“I don’t know,” Kelly said tauntingly. “She seems pretty gaga, if you ask me….”

“She does, huh? Well, I’ll have a little talk with her, too.”

“Thanks, Daddy. I knew I could count on you.” Kelly hung up, feeling very naughty, but not sorry. She knew she’d tossed a
bomb. Now it was just a matter of waiting for it to go off.

K
elly was feeling more upbeat the next morning when Sue Jeffers and Karen Haynes caught up to her at her locker before school.
“Well?” Sue asked, breathless. “Any progress?”

“Mmm …not yet,” Kelly said, smiling mysteriously.

“You know, today’s our first practice. We start playing games next week,” Karen said.

“Are you gonna get switched or aren’t you?” Sue asked. “Because if you aren’t, Beth Parks wants to play first base.”

“Beth? She’s an outfielder,” Kelly moaned. “She’s not used to taking ground balls.”

“Oh, and Laurie is gonna pitch,” Karen said. “She went to this clinic over the winter and learned how to pitch windmill.”

Kelly felt a sharp pain in her side, a pang of loss
and regret. “Don’t worry,” she said, a little too confidently. “My dad is going to tell off Mr. Jenkins.”

“Seriously?” Karen asked, her eyes growing wide.

“Is he gonna threaten to beat him up?” Sue wondered.

“Probably.” Kelly shrugged. “I don’t know. He told me not to worry about it, that he’d take care of it.”

Kelly noticed a quick exchange of doubtful glances between Sue and Karen. She knew they were remembering all the times Kelly’d
said her dad was coming to see them play, only to have him not show up.

But this time was going to be different, Kelly told herself. She was sure her dad had heard the pain in her voice. He knew
how important this was to her. This time, he wouldn’t let her down.

“Maybe I’ll cut out of my team’s practice and come over to work out with you guys,” Kelly suddenly said.

“Cool!” Sue said.

“Awesome!” Karen added.

“I mean, I’m going to be back with the Devil Rays after tomorrow, so why not, right?”

“Um, right!” both girls said in hesitant unison.

“Cool,” Kelly said, nodding with finality. “See you
guys then.” Closing her locker, she headed down the hall toward her first class.

Murphysville Park had four softball fields, placed in the four corners of the park so that their outfields merged into one
if you went back far enough. This made for a lot of home runs, since hard-hit balls kept rolling and rolling till they wound
up in the infield of another diamond, in the middle of somebody else’s game!

In the week before the opening of softball season, four teams could practice at once from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. From 5:00 to 6:00,
teams played each other in pickup games, to give the players the feeling of real game action. Since there were now ten teams
in the league, this meant that each team could practice only every third day. So every practice was important, and Kelly meant
to get the most out of every minute.

That was why, instead of heading over to field number three, where the Diamondbacks were gathering, she strode right over
to field number one, where her beloved Devil Rays were already taking serious fielding practice.

Kelly had stuffed her old Devil Rays jersey into
her backpack that morning. Now she slipped it on, changed into her spikes, flexed her mitt, and stuck her hand into it, ready
to begin another great season. “Yo, guys!” she called out, trotting over to exchange hugs and high-fives with her homegirls.

“Conroy!” Coach Masur cried happily, waving the bat at her. “What happened with you?” He put down the bat and walked over
to first base, where Kelly was now surrounded by her teammates. “I fought and fought to get you, but the commissioner said
no way. You in trouble with him or something?”

“His daughter hates me,” Kelly said, not caring who heard her say it. “He did it just for spite. Isn’t that demented?”

“Well, now, wait a minute,” Coach Masur said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure that’s not why. You know, they did
add two new teams, and we all lost good players in the draft. I was just kiddin’ about you being in trouble with him.”

“It’s okay,” Kelly told him. “My dad’s going to get me back on the team.”

“Is that a fact?” Coach said, raising his eyebrows in surprise. “Well, let’s hope so, huh?”

“Yeah. So I thought I’d practice with you guys today.”

“Ahem …well, that wouldn’t be a good idea,” Coach Masur said, clearing his throat and staring at the ground.

Kelly shrank back, stunned. “W-why not?” she asked.

“Well, your other coach will be counting on you to be there, Kelly,” Coach Masur explained. “That team needs you.”

“And you guys don’t? Is that what you’re saying?”

“You know that’s not what I mean,” Coach Masur said. “We’ve got the cleanup spot reserved for you, along with first base —
if
you get switched back to us. But until then, I’ve only got three practices to prepare my team for the first game. I’ve gotta
find a new first baseman, see who can pitch windmill, and who’s new that can try to fill your very big shoes.”

Kelly sniffed back the tears that she felt coming. “Are you saying I’ve got big feet?” she tried to joke. She burst out laughing
and crying at the same time.

Coach Masur gave her a tight hug. “Hey, Kelly, believe me, if I could have changed it, I would have. I hope your dad has better
luck than I did. And if he doesn’t, you’re gonna have a great season anyway. It just won’t be for us and nobody’s sorrier
about that than I am.”

“Thanks, Coach,” Kelly said in a voice no louder than a whisper. “Bye, guys. See you at the next practice, after I get switched.”
Wiping her nose with her sleeve, she picked up her stuff and walked slowly into the outfield, headed for field number three.

“Kelly!” A girl came running toward her from first base. It was Allie Warheit, the one who’d tried to make friends with her
in school the other day.

Why is she being so nice?
Kelly wondered.
She doesn’t even know me!

Kelly didn’t want to make friends with Allie, or with any of these kids. What for, anyway? Tomorrow, she wouldn’t even be
with this team anymore —
probably.
…

“Hi!” Allie greeted her, flashing such an irresistible smile that Kelly couldn’t help smiling back. This girl was just so
thrilled to see her, it was almost weird.

“Do you want first base?” Allie asked her. “I’ve always played first, but I know you did, too, and so if you want it, it’s
okay. I could play short or something. Or maybe even pitch.”

“Yeah,” Kelly said, trying to make herself sound tough. “First.” She really was touched, though. “That’s nice of you, Allie.”

“Oh, that’s okay,” the other girl said, flashing that smile again that was just like a light bulb lighting up.

“’Kay,” Kelly said. She dumped her gear on the bench, then went to meet the coach, a tall, gawky-looking guy with glasses,
who was wearing a T-shirt, khaki shorts, big sneakers with no socks, and a yellow Diamondbacks hat. He looked like some big
wading bird — or like a kid who was lousy at sports, but was now all grown up.

“Hi, I’m Kelly Conroy,” she said, holding up a hand in greeting.

“Hey! Nice to see ya!” the man said, shaking hands. “I’m Coach Beigelman. Welcome to the team!”

Ugh
. Kelly nodded, but couldn’t manage a smile. She couldn’t even look the guy in the eye.

“Okay, Diamondbacks!” Coach Beigelman called out. “I think we’ve got a quorum, so let’s start our practice. First of all,
I think we should introduce ourselves to each other. So please share your first and last names, what grade you’re in, and
what position you want to play.”

Kelly listened as the girls took turns introducing themselves. She knew some of the players, of course. It was a collection
of girls from other teams,
plus a few girls whose parents had filled out the applications after the deadline and so got shunted onto the last team available.

Five of the Diamondbacks were sixth-graders, including Allie Warheit. Of the seventh-graders, a few were good athletes, but
one or two were just hopeless. This was not going to be pretty.

“Oh, boy,” Kelly said under her breath, “I get to be the star of the worst team in softball history.”

“Okay.” Coach Beigelman applauded them when they were done with the introductions. “I want you to know that we’re all here
to have fun first of all and that no matter what happens out on the field, to me, you’re all winners!”

Oh, brother
, Kelly moaned inwardly. He was going to be big on the rah-rah, and nonexistent on the fundamentals. A perfect coach for a
team full of losers!

“Okay, everybody out to the positions you asked for!” the coach yelled. “Go, D’backs!”

The girls cheered, except for Kelly. They all made their way into the field at various speeds. Some, eager to claim a favorite
position, ran to be the first one there. Others, who cared less or just reacted
slower, jogged or walked into position, taking their places behind the early birds.

Kelly ambled slowly out toward first base, where Allie and four other girls were standing. They all backed away and let Kelly
position herself at the bag. Everyone knew who Kelly Conroy was. Everybody, it seemed, but Coach Beigelman.

“Okay, let’s get one!” he shouted, then tossed the ball up and tried to hit a grounder. He missed, and the ball dropped to
the ground.

“Brother,” Kelly muttered, shaking her head.

“Okay, okay, here goes.” Again he missed, and then a third time. “Um, would any of you like to hit grounders to the team?”

“I’ll do it,” Kelly said, a smug smile playing across her face. Let Allie play first. She, Kelly, would hit these kids some
real grounders. She would see soon enough how good they really were.

Kelly shot a vicious ground ball at the third baseman. The girl let the ball scoot right between her legs into the outfield.

“Nice try!” Coach Beigelman said gently. “You’ll catch the next one!”

Not unless you tell her to keep her glove down,
Kelly thought disgustedly. It was a good thing she wasn’t going to be on this team for long.

The shortstop ducked when Kelly sent a hard line drive her way. “Stay with it! Stay with it!” Coach Beigelman said, clapping
his hands together for encouragement.

The second baseman managed to knock the ball down when Kelly hit it to her. Picking it up, the girl then threw high and wide
to first. Allie Warheit stretched, briefly left the ground, then came down in a split, with her right toe still touching the
bag.

“Great play, first base!” Coach yelled excitedly. “Hey, we’ve got an all-star!”

An all-star, huh
? Kelly thought, suddenly angry at Allie.
Okay, all-star, try this one on for size!
Kelly sent a wicked line drive to Allie’s right, far off the bag. Allie leaped, reached out, and snagged it. The ball nearly
ripped the glove out of her hand, but she held on for a miraculous catch.

“Wow!” Coach Beigelman crowed. “I think we’ve found our first baseman, huh? Okay, girls, let the next one behind you have
a turn.”

Kelly was steaming mad.
Just like that, a stupid sixth-grader makes a couple of lucky plays and takes
my position away
? she thought indignantly. Who did Allie Warheit think she was? Boy, she was sneaky, too — the way she’d offered Kelly the
position, acting like she didn’t want it….

The fact that Allie had had nothing to do with Kelly’s decision to abandon the position and hit grounders never occurred to
her. It only counted that, for the moment at least, Allie had stolen the first baseman’s job away from her.

Not that she even
wanted
to be the Diamondbacks’ first baseman. She didn’t even want to
be
on this team!