Shoeless Joe & Me by Dan Gutman Read Free Book Online Page A

and bumped to the floor.
    I expected there would be light behind the board from the room next door, but it was pitch-black. I stepped through the opening, and my foot landed on a shoe. Feeling around with my other foot, I could feel shoes all over the place. That was when I realized that I had broken out of my closet and was now in the closet of the room next door.
    â€œCommy’s a crook,” the voice repeated, a little more clearly now.
    â€œOh, hush, sweetie,” a woman’s voice said. “Is that any way to say hello?”
    â€œCommy’s a crook,” the voice said.
    Now there are two of them! I froze. This could be a sticky situation, it occurred to me. If I pushed open their closet door and they found me in there, they might freak out. They might think I broke into their room. They might call the police or hotel security. They might arrest me for breaking and entering.
    Frantically, I began to think of something I could say that would prepare them for the fact that there was a strange kid in their closet.
    â€œExcuse me, ma’am, I’m in serious trouble.”
    â€œMiss, I don’t mean to alarm you but—”
    â€œPlease don’t be afraid. I was locked in the room next door—”
    But I never got the chance to say any of those things. Just before I was going to speak, the closet door opened from the other side.
    A woman, about twenty-five, was standing in front of me.
    She was totally naked.
    â€œEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!” she screamed.
    Right behind her, on the dresser, was a big bird-cage.
    â€œCommy’s a crook,” the bird squawked. “Cheap Commy.”

11
Katie and Joe
    â€œ EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK !”
    Without thinking, I put my hands over my eyes. My face must have been red as a fire engine. The lady standing in front of me grabbed a bathrobe from the hook on the closet door and quickly wrapped it around herself. I guess I don’t look all that frightening, because she seemed to relax almost immediately. She looked at me curiously. It was as if she was wondering how I could have possibly gotten into her closet. And why.
    The lady was pretty, with pale blue eyes and brown hair that sort of swirled up around her head. Glancing out the window, I could see that it was dark outside. I had been locked in that closet for a long time.
    Suddenly, a guy charged out of the bathroom waving a black wooden baseball bat.

    The lady was pretty, with pale blue eyes and brown hair that sort of swirled up around her head.
    â€œYou okay, Katie?” he shouted. He had a thick Southern accent. When he saw me cowering in the closet, he waved the bat around menacingly. “Ah’ll kill ’im! Just say the word, Katie, and Ah’ll split his head like a melon!”
    I put my arms up in self-defense and took a step backward. The guy’s dark brown eyes were on fire. He was a tall man, over six feet, with short, coal-black hair that was parted in the middle and flattened down. You might call him handsome if you saw him, except for the fact that his ears stuck out a little too far. He was wearing boxer shorts. He was thin but had very long, thick arms.
    â€œHe’s just a boy, Joe,” the lady named Katie said calmly. “Leave him be.”
    â€œCommy’s a crook,” the bird said.
    â€œShut yer trap!” the guy named Joe yelled at the bird, waving the bat around.
    As the bat hovered a few inches from my face, I noticed some letters carved into it. I squinted so I could read them.
    BETSY
    That’s when I realized that the lunatic waving the bat around was no ordinary Joe. And it was no ordinary bat. That bat must be the famous Black Betsy. And if that was Black Betsy, the lunatic waving it around was just the man I wanted to see.
    â€œA-are you…Shoeless Joe Jackson?” I asked, holding my hands over my face in case he was still thinking about splitting my head open.
    The guy stiffened, like