Soccer Halfback by Matt Christopher Read Free Book Online

right post.
    The ball missed his aim by over a foot. It zoomed toward the goalie, who had only to leap a few feet to catch it.
    “Oh, no!” Jabber moaned.
    The Saber players yelled their approval of their goalkeeper’s easy save. One guy jumped on him and hugged him. The play had
     saved the game from going to the Nuggets.
    It was the Sabers’ ball as it was put back into play. They got it moving quickly into Nugget territory, Mel Jones’s clever
     footwork being mostly responsible. Jabber didn’t think he had ever seen anyone as clever at dribbling the ball as Mel.
    Jabber ran down the field — slowly — to catch his breath, to get back some strength into his legs. He had given the play near
     the goal all he had. He had been sure he’d had it made.
    Darn! he thought. What lousy luck! The game was going to be over in a few minutes. That score would have clinched it for the
     Nuggets.
    He picked up speed and ran across the center line as he saw Stork boot the ball away from Mel. There was a mad scramble for
     it as Jerry Bunning, Mike Newburg, and a Saber converged on it. The Sabers’ player got to it first, and gave the ball a vicious,
     arching kick down toward the Nuggets’ goal line. Another Saber got under it, met it squarely with his head, and sent it bouncing
     toward the corner of the net.
    Maybe he had planned it that way. Maybe he hadn’t. Anyway, a Saber got to the ball and kicked it hard into the net. Tommy
     Fitzpatrick’s dive gave him nothing but a dirt-smeared belly.
    Sabers 3, Nuggets 2.
    A yell of excitement sprang from the Sabers’ followers, a scream of frustration from the handful of Nuggets’ fans.
    Jabber turned and drove the toe of his right shoe angrily into the turf. How do you like that? A goal on a freak play like
     that! No wonder those Sabers have been winning. They play by luck!
    Oh, well. Of course that wasn’t so. No team won on luck alone. The Sabers were good. You couldn’t take that away from them.
     They had worked for those points. They just have more going for them this time than we do, reflected Jabber as he headed disappointedly
     back to his half position.
    The game was over in another thirty-five seconds, ending with a yell from the Sabers, who jumped and hugged each other, and
     then ran to each of the Nuggets’ players and shook hands.
    “Nice game, Jabber,” said Mel Jones, obviously the Sabers’ star athlete.
    Jabber grinned. “Thanks, Mel. You too.”
    After taking his shower he walked home with Mose, talking about the errors that resulted in their losing the game, and the
     “ifs” that might have helped them win it. The pair split up two blocks away from Jabber’s home.
    Tired, and deep in thought, Jabber almost missedseeing the black leather object lying near the bush a few feet away from the sidewalk. Frowning, he stared at it a moment
     before going over and picking it up.
    It was a wallet.

9
    I t was black and made of leather.
    It looked worn. Jabber felt that he had seen that wallet before, but he wasn’t sure.
    He opened it. His first glance was at the white identification card in the front of it. His heart sang as he read the printed
     name: Peter Morris.
    It
was
Pete’s!
    He opened the section that held the bills. His heart quit singing.
    It was empty.
    His fingers trembled as he searched for a secret compartment. Some wallets had them. But this one didn’t. It had no bills
     in it. No coins. It had been cleaned out completely.
    He started for the house a short distance away, anxious to tell Pete that he had found his wallet.
    After a dozen hasty paces he slowed down. The frown reemerged on his forehead. His nervousness increased.
    Wouldn’t Pete wonder what a coincidence it was that he, Jabber, had found the wallet and not someone else?
    And he’d want to know the answer to the sixty-four-dollar question, too: Where was the money that had been in it? The seventy-five
     dollars?
    Ask the guy who had found the wallet in the first place, the