Beanball by Gene Fehler Read Free Book Online

Davis.
    He’s going with Lisalette Dobbs.
    Some people have all the luck.
Luke “Wizard” Wallace
    I had the TV on for a while this afternoon.
    I’ve never been home much during the day,
    so I had no idea how bad the shows are.
    Â 
    I kept flipping through the channels.
    Nothing.
    The sports channels reminded me of too many things
    I didn’t want to think about.
    The talk shows were filled with people
    who spent all their time screaming at each other.
    The soaps were depressing.
    I wasn’t in the mood to hear about
    all the problems the characters thought they had.
    Â 
    Finally, I found a movie, an old western, that wasn’t too bad.
    But after a few minutes, my head started to ache again,
    so I turned if off and tried to sleep.
Elizabeth Wallace, Luke’s grandmother
    Larry and Randy encouraged Luke’s sports.
    I don’t fault them.
    That’s what fathers and grandfathers
    do with sons and grandsons.
    Â 
    But I thought there should be more balance.
    I tried to interest Luke in real music—
    Chopin, Bach, and Mozart—
    not the kind of music so many teenagers listen to:
    loud, screaming cacophony.
    Â 
    A few months ago, Luke played me some songs
    by his favorite group, the Cave People.
    It was just noise to me,
    but Luke is my grandson,
    so I pretended to like it.
    Â 
    I teach piano, and when Luke was young,
    I gave him lessons for three years.
    He decided he’d rather practice baseball.
    I think that’s a shame.
    There comes a time when people can’t play sports.
    Music lasts forever.
Luke “Wizard” Wallace
    I wonder if Mom told Grandma
    it’s prom night.
    Grandma drove all the way over to see me,
    and she gave me the new Cave People CD
    I’ve been meaning to buy.
    She said, “I asked your mother,
    and she said you don’t have this one.”
    Â 
    Grandma is cool.
    She stayed for a long time
    and listened to the whole CD with me.
Sarah Edgerton, Oak Grove student
    I didn’t go to prom. Nobody asked me.
    I doubt that Luke would have,
    even if he’d been in school.
    There are lots of other girls he would have asked
    before he even considered me.
    Â 
    Daddy always tells me I’m smart and funny and pretty.
    He has to say that. That’s his job as a father.
    He wondered why I wasn’t going to the prom.
    He thought I should have lots of guys inviting me.
    Â 
    I told him it was because
    I haven’t been at Oak Grove long enough
    to get to know anyone.
    That’s not it, though.
    I just can’t bring myself to go up to a boy
    the way some girls do
    and flirt and make him feel important.
    I can’t play that game,
    and I don’t want to.
    Â 
    Jenny Lipton told me Carl Scruggins likes me,
    but I guess he couldn’t work up the nerve to ask me.
    He’s even quieter than I am.
    It probably would have been the quietest date in history.
    Â 
    I don’t know if I would have said yes.
    I might have,
    just to be able to say I went to my junior prom.
Andy Keller, Oak Grove third baseman
    Some prom.
    I wasn’t very excited about going in the first place.
    Now I wish I hadn’t spent all that money.
    Peggy danced more with Lanny Carpenter
    than she did with me.
    Â 
    The girl Lanny brought, Dana Travors,
    spent most of the night sitting alone.
    I bet she wasn’t too happy, either.
    Â 
    If this were a movie, Peggy would have left with Lanny,
    and I would have left with Dana,
    and all four of us would have had a great night.
    Â 
    But it wasn’t a movie.
Willard Kominski, longtime Oak Grove baseball fan
    The team’s playing better than I expected.
    When Luke Wallace got hurt,
    I figured Oak Grove would just lie down and die.
    But the opposite is true.
    The kids are playing with intensity,
    with fire.
    They might even go all the way to State.
Luke “Wizard” Wallace
    I’m happy the team is winning.
    But I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt
    knowing the team can