The Aurora County All-Stars by Deborah Wiles

Author:Deborah Wiles
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

19

We convince by our presence.

—WALT WHITMAN

“Not you!” said Cleebo. He sprinted back to home plate and almost splayed himself over it. “This is my plate! I say who catches here!”

“Really?” Ruby looked at House, who adjusted his baseball cap and sighed.

“She’s a girl!” yelled Ned.

“You’re brilliant, Ned!” hollered Boon from left field.

“Don’t forget our bylaws!” cried Evan Evans from third.

“That’s right!” said Cleebo with great satisfaction. “No girls. And especially since you-know-what!”

Ruby pulled up her left overalls strap. “Cleebo, you’ve played ball with me ever since I can remember!” She pointed at Boon and Ned. “And so have you! Right in my back meadow! With my grandma! And your daddy, too, Cleebo. And now you’re going to tell me that I’m not good enough because you’re all mad at Frances for breaking House’s arm, so now no girls can play? That’s just plain stupid.”

“How so?” Cleebo stuck out his chin.

“If you’d let girls play you’d have enough players for a full team. You want to play so much, you should be happy you’ve got another player, Cleebo—I’m just as good a catcher as you are, and you know it!”

“She is pretty good,” said Boon.

“Do girls play on Little League teams in Jones County?” asked Ned.

“I don’t know,” said House.

“You’d better believe they do!” said Ruby. “You boys aren’t thinking straight.”

“Well, we never had to think about it before you showed up wanting to play,” said Ned.

House’s mind bubbled back to the thoughts he’d had in the kitchen. Maybe a rescue was possible after all. He pointed at Cleebo. “You want to have a run at the bases?”

“You know I do.”

“Grab a bat,” said House. “Ruby, you catch.”

Ruby grabbed a ball from the bucket by the backstop.

“Hey!” yelled Evan and Lincoln and Arnold.

“Wait a minute!” Cleebo stood his ground over home plate. “You tricked me! I ain’t playing ball with no girl! Next thing you know, we’ll all have our arms broken!”

Before the arguing could escalate, Leonard Jackson’s truck came dusting down the dirt road near the ball field. In the back was a giant silver pressing machine from the Sunshine Laundry. Waving both arms from the open window at the passenger seat and hollering herself blue in the face was Mary Wilson.

“Cleebo Wilson, you git yourself over to pageant practice this instant! I’ve got to get this machine repaired and I can’t be worrying about your whereabouts! I got laundry piled to the skies waiting for pressing! Git now! Git!”

“Ha, Cleebo! You gotta git!” said Boon.

“And the rest of you! Git!” said Mary Wilson. She pointed to the chinaberry tree behind Halleluia School. “They’re over there waiting on you! Shame on you boys! Get over there this minute!”

Each boy ducked his head in order to look suitably shamed. “Yes’m,” they all said, including Ruby.

The truck came to a complete stop and dust swirled all around it in a little brown cloud. Leonard Jackson opened the back door of the cab and Honey slipped out of the truck with Eudora Welty, whom she had on a rope leash threaded through a white tutu.

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