Curveball by Derek Jeter & Paul Mantell

Author:Derek Jeter & Paul Mantell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books

Chapter Nine

A DEAL IS A DEAL

“Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad!”

“Hey, how’s it going back east?” his mom asked.

“Awesome!” Derek told her. “You won’t believe what happened today!” He cradled the phone between his ear and his shoulder because both his hands were busy drying dishes.

“Oh, put those down,” Grandma said in a hushed tone. “You can finish later.”

Derek dried his hands and went on filling his parents in on all the news. “I got to play baseball in the Bronx today!”

“Oh? Yes, Grandma told us about those kids inviting you,” his mom said.

“How’d it go?” asked his dad.

“It was the best game I ever played in! Dad, you should see these kids. They can do amazing stuff—all of them! Especially this kid Jumbo! He’s a shortstop! And he said I can play short for the other team next week, if I get permission to come.”

“Again?” said his mom. “Oh, Derek, that’s asking a lot of Ernie and Dorien.”

“The Bronx is far away,” said his dad, “and your aunt and uncle are busy people. They can’t always be getting you in and out of the city.”

“But if they said yes?” Derek said in a pleading tone.

There was a short silence on the other end of the line. “What does Grandma say?” asked his mom.

Derek held out the phone, and Grandma took it. She listened, then said, “Ernie says everyone behaved themselves. . . . Oh, I’m sure they don’t mind. They’re big fans of his, you know. . . . They said he held his head up just fine with all those kids, yes. And some of them were older than him too! . . . Well, I’ll let you talk to him.” She handed the phone back to Derek.

“Your grandma seems to think it’s okay, you playing over there,” said his dad.

“So long as someone’s willing to get you there and supervise, it’s all right with us,” said his mom.

Derek could see that Sharlee was shifting in her chair, itching to get on the phone with her mom and dad. Seizing the moment, he said, “By the way, the kids even said Dave could play too, when he comes!”

“Well, that will be totally up to Dave’s parents,” said his mom. “We’ll get in touch with them, and I’m sure they’ll want to speak to your grandma about it too.”

While Derek came from a huge extended family, Dave was an only child. His parents were protective, to put it mildly. In fact, they had allowed Dave to sleep over at Derek’s only after they’d gotten to know Mr. and Mrs. Jeter personally. Would they let Dave go off now with an aunt or uncle of Derek’s, a thousand miles away, to a strange neighborhood for a whole afternoon?

“The last time we talked with them, they said Dave was really looking forward to seeing you,” said his mom. “Dave asked if he should bring his golf clubs.”

“Umm . . . I don’t know,” Derek said. “Aren’t those kind of heavy?”

“Well, yes,” said his dad.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.