The Spy Who Came North from the Pole by Mary Elise Monsell

Author:Mary Elise Monsell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media

“Come to my office after the game,” the note said. It was signed: “Walter Wavemin.” Walter was the Cubs manager.

Mr. Pin ate the frosty malt but saved the lid. He dropped it into his black bag.

The Dodgers were up at bat. Runners were at the corners. And the game was tied 5 to 5 in the top of the seventh.

“Steeeeerike!” growled the umpire. The bleacher fans went wild. Someone threw peanut shells into the air. Maggie kept score on a pad of paper held on her lap.

“Ball one.” The crowd was suddenly quiet.

After three more pitches, the count was full, and the batter fouled down the right field line.

The next pitch came in low, over the plate. The Dodgers’ batter got behind the ball, and it rode the breezes toward the bleachers. Cubs fans gasped. An outfielder leaped but was unable to reach the homer. Several fans sprang eagerly for the ball. But it was a black wing that easily grabbed it out of the air and threw it back onto the field. A TV camera zoomed in.

“Nice wing on that penguin,” said the outfielder as he tossed it to the shortstop.

Wavemin went to the mound. He called in his ace relief pitcher Sam Spitter, hoping he could get the Cubs back in the game. Sam held the Dodgers in the eighth inning. But he let two runs score in the ninth. The Dodgers won 10 to 5.

“There’s always the next game,” said Maggie to Mr. Pin. “We’re not out of the race yet.”

“No. And we’re not out of the park yet either,” said Mr. Pin.

“What do you mean?”

“Walter Wavemin wants to see us,” said Mr. Pin.

“Really!’ said Maggie. “How do you know?”

“I was given a note on a frosty malt lid.”

Many strange things had happened, thought Maggie, since Mr. Pin had come to live at her aunt Sally’s diner. But never before had the manager of a major league baseball team written a note on a frosty malt lid asking to see Mr. Pin.

“Do you think the note is really from Walter Wavemin?” asked Maggie as the two detectives made their way through the crowd.

“There’s only one way to find out,” said Mr. Pin.

Maggie and Mr. Pin slipped through an unmarked door and went down a flight of stairs. They waited for some time until all of the players had gone home; then they went inside the locker room.

The room was shaped like a cylinder and smelled like bubble gum, wet towels, and sweaty athletic tape. Uniforms tumbled out of hampers, and a box of new baseballs had been left on a table along with an unfinished game of cards. Maggie and Mr. Pin made their way past the wooden lockers as the batboys came in to clean the players’ spikes.

The two detectives walked down another hallway and up a flight of stairs to Wavemin’s office. He was sitting behind a desk, a pile of bubble gum wrappers at his elbow.

“Detective Pin,” said Mr. Pin. He tipped his checked cap and added: “Reasonable rates.

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