Home Field Advantage #3 by Michael Teitelbaum

Author:Michael Teitelbaum
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2010-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

“That’s it then,” Tony said, throwing up his hands as they left the ranger station.

“No!” Dmitri said firmly. “We can do this.”

“Come on, Dmitri, give it up!” Tony yelled. “You messed up and that’s that.”

“Hey, it’s not Dmitri’s fault the water pipe under Miller’s Field broke,” Joey said. “Cut him some slack, Tony. Dmitri was just trying to help.”

“Okay,” Tony admitted, looking at Dmitri. “You were just trying to help. I get it. But where does that leave us now?”

“That leaves us with two days to get ready,” Dmitri said. “So here’s the plan. We’ve got to go to all the stores in town for donations. We need paint and painting supplies, lawn mowers, garbage bags, and work gloves. Anything you can think of. And don’t forget, ask the store owners to sign a list of the stuff they agree to give us so we can show it to the city council.”

“I know Ralph at the hardware store,” Joey said. “My dad shops there all the time. I’ll see what he’s willing to donate.”

“We bring the mower into Mr. Walton at the garden store for repairs,” Ernie explained. “I can see if he’ll donate one of those big rider mowers.”

“Okay guys, we’ve got two days,” Dmitri said. He was still worried, but he was also beginning to feel a little hopeful that this plan might actually work. “Let’s do it!”

The Lightning spent the next two days trying to round up donations. Dmitri knew that it was a long shot—even if they got local store owners to donate enough supplies, there was no guarantee that the city council would give them a permit.

Tony was right about one thing, Dmitri thought as he walked up to the local sporting goods store. We are just “a bunch of kids.” He took a deep breath, then stepped into the store, hoping he could convince the owner to donate some brand-new soccer goals.

Late in the afternoon the day before the town meeting, the Lightning all met up at Field Number Four. When the rest of the kids arrived, they found Dmitri and Tony kicking around a soccer ball. But the two friends didn’t seem too enthusiastic.

“Okay!” Joey announced, waving a piece of paper in the air. “Ralph’s Hardware has signed on to give us paint and brushes. It didn’t take much to convince Ralph that he’d be helping out the community. He liked that, I guess, because he gave me the stuff.”

“I got us a couple of lawn mowers from the garden supply store,” Ernie said, smiling and holding up his signed agreement. “Mr. Walton liked the idea of making a place for all the kids to play.”

“Nice work, guys,” Dmitri said. “It didn’t take long to convince Mr. Gold at the sporting goods store to give us the goals. Turns out he’s a big soccer fan. He’s got season tickets for all the Stingers’ home games.”

“Then why don’t you guys look happy?” Vicki asked.

“Because it all means nothing if they don’t give us that permit tomorrow,” Tony explained.

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