Double Play at Short by Matt Christopher Read Free Book Online Page A

wanted to get proof.
    Proof that he and Tammy had more in common than playing shortstop.
    A lot more.
    During the next few days, Danny worked like a demon around the house and garden. He always seemed to be there right when the
     mail carrier came, too.
    “What did you send away for?” asked Jennifer, grabbing some magazines from him the morning of the third game in the series.
     “A magic decoder ring?”
    “Don’t be funny,” he said. “This is serious. I’m waiting for some very important information to get here.”
    “Oh, an application?” she asked.
    He blanched. His jaw dropped. How could she have known? Had she been listening in on the extension upstairs when he called
     the 800 number? He was about to accuse her of eavesdropping — which was totally forbidden in the Walker household — when she
     finished her question.
    “For college?” she went on. “Why don’t you wait until after the series. Maybe you’ll have something special to put down. I
     don’t even want to say thewords that come after
county,
‘cause I don’t want to jinx you. Especially before today’s game.”
    “Hey, thanks a lot,” Danny said. He gave her a friendly tap on her shoulder. “You’re okay, you know?” He dumped the mail on
     the little desk in the front hall.
    Brinnnng!
    The telephone rang, and Jennifer flew off upstairs to answer it.
    “It’s probably for me!” she called behind.
    Her quick departure knocked the letters off the desk. When Danny stooped to pick them up, he saw that he had missed one addressed
     to him. It looked just like those sweepstakes letters his folks always got, with a fancy border all around the envelope. But
     there was his name right on the address label.
    He ripped it open and read the letter on top of the application form.
    Dear Mr. Walker
    Thank you for your inquiry
…
    The letter was long and there were a lot of sentences that didn’t half make sense. But down near the bottom he came to the
     bad news.
    To cover the cost of servicing your application, we require an initial deposit of $100. This will be credited against the
     final cost of our investigation.
    A hundred dollars! And that’s just to start! There was no way he could come up with anywhere near that amount.
    “Aren’t you getting ready for the game?” his mother called out to him from the back of the house.
    “Yes!” he answered quickly. He shoved the letter into his back pocket and ran upstairs.
    He changed as fast as he could, carelessly dumping his clothes in a heap on the floor as he pulled on his uniform. At the
     last second, he remembered the roll of film he’d shot at the previous game. He grabbed it out of his camera and headed back
     downstairs.
    “Hey, Mom!” he called. “Could you drop this film off for me?”
    “Sure,” his mother answered. “And Danny, I’m sorry I haven’t been able to make any of your games. I’ve just been too busy
     at work to get away.”
    It seemed to Danny that she was about to say something else. But instead, she dug her car keys out of her pocketbook and unlocked
     the car door.
    A few minutes later, Danny was warming up on the field with the rest of the team.
    “Danny, you’re back at short,” Coach Lattizori announced when he called the team together. “We’ll go with the same lineup
     as the first game. I took a look at the Jaguars’ roster. They’re doing the same thing. Okay, folks, let’s see some real good
     baseball out there now.”
    The third game began. Both teams played well during the first inning. The Bullets batted first and managed to hit some pitches.
     But only one of them ended up in fair territory for a hit. With a runner on base, Ken popped one up that the pitcher, Andy
     Hooten, caught to retire the Bullets.
    When the Jaguars were at bat, Marc gave up one walk, but he struck out the next batter. Then Marsha Kerns almost hit into
     a double play with a line drive to second base. But Vern’s peg to Danny, who was covering second,