Team Meena by Karla Manternach
Author:Karla Manternach
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published: 2023-01-17T00:00:00+00:00
13
Linâs next field of flowers looks a lot better than her first.
She paints dandelions this time instead of tulips. Some are yellow stars. Others are white circles. I do give her a few tips, but mostly, I just sit next to her and say things like, âNice!â and âPretty!â and âGood job!â
A few times, she gets the yellow paint a little too close to the green, and my hands get itchy to take the brush and do it for her. Then I imagine her taking the bat away from me, and I stop myself.
By last recess, I donât have any mad-at-her left inside me, so we practice softball after all. âCan we work on catching today?â I ask when we stop at our cubbies.
âYou still canât hit off a pitcher,â she says.
âYou donât think I canât catch, either, remember? You made my last play for me.â
She looks a little embarrassed. âIf you canât catch,â she says, âyour mom can stick you in right field. Hardly anyone hits out there anyway. But everyone has to bat.â
She grabs her own bat out of her cubby and hands it to me. The metal barrel is covered with tiny dings and scratches, but underneath, itâs shiny and bright blue. âCome on,â she says. âWe canât score if we donât get on base.â
We find a spot on the playground away from everyone else. Lin pitches slow, without any wind-up, but the ball still feels like itâs hurtling toward me. Whiff!
âWatch the ball,â she says, for the zillionth time.
But as soon as itâs coming at me, I lose track of it again. Whiff!
âRight here, Meena,â She grabs another ball and holds it up, like sheâs giving me a chance to memorize it.
I glare at it like Iâm trying to beat it in a staring contest.
She throws. The ball comes toward me in a gentle arc. For a second, I can actually see it turning in midair as I bring my bat around.
Tap.
Lin gasps. âYou hit it.â
I look at where it landed at my feet. âI did?â
âYou got a piece of it, yeah!â
âNot a very big piece.â
But I get a few more pieces after that. I start to find a just-right spot on the ball that makes it zing into the air. By last recess on Thursday, I even hit it over Linâs head!
When we get to practice that night, my fielding still isnât great, but Iâm sure Iâll do better at the plate. Then Mom waves us in for batting practice and calls out, âBrooklyn, come in and face a few batters.â
I suck in a breath. âArenât you pitching to us?â
Mom smiles. âWelcome to the big leagues. Letâs hear it for our first pitcher, team!â
The other girls cheer as Brooklyn jogs to the pitching circle, looking smug. I clap a little, but itâs hard to feel much team spirit for her.
She scuffs her cleat in the dirt and throws a few warm-up pitches. They rocket into Averyâs glove. Thwap! Thwap! Thwap!
âDang, girl,â Avery says, shaking out her hand.
Download
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.
Men In Love by Nancy Friday(4943)
Everything Happens for a Reason by Kate Bowler(4465)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot(4233)
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker(4179)
The Sports Rules Book by Human Kinetics(4057)
Not a Diet Book by James Smith(3134)
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee(2890)
Sapiens and Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari(2823)
Day by Elie Wiesel(2571)
Angels in America by Tony Kushner(2378)
Endless Forms Most Beautiful by Sean B. Carroll(2339)
A Burst of Light by Audre Lorde(2336)
Hashimoto's Protocol by Izabella Wentz PharmD(2184)
Dirty Genes by Ben Lynch(2145)
Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor(2118)
And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts(1998)
Wonder by R J Palacio(1971)
The Immune System Recovery Plan by Susan Blum(1951)
Stretching to Stay Young by Jessica Matthews(1934)
