The Impossible Pitcher by Charles Curtis

Author:Charles Curtis [Curtis, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: children's, sports, baseball, superheroes, sports and outdoors, adventure, fantasy, friendship, social issues
ISBN: 9781946700223
Publisher: Month9Books, LLC
Published: 2017-11-01T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

“Which would you like first, Dex?” My dad asked a couple of days later. “The good news or bad news?”

It was Dex’s first visit to my dad’s underground laboratory below our house. The basement pipes opened to reveal a long metal tunnel that led to a door which only my mother and father could open using a password that changed every two minutes. My best friend had just finished a battery of tests that included some blood drawn and a run on the treadmill I’d used during football season when Dad figured out what triggered my powers.

“Bad, first,” he replied.

“Okay,” Dad said, as we sat across from him at a metal table. “The problem is, I never had baseline blood readings from you before, so this is merely a theory. Because all your powers work thanks to the increased hormones in your body chemistry, it looks to me like you’ve thrown everything out of whack with a recent increase in testosterone.”

“In other words,” he continued, “you already had an increase in certain hormones when puberty began, but with this new girlfriend, your body has started sending some of those hormones into overdrive. In turn, that’s begun to interfere with your powers kicking in.”

Dex put his forehead on the table and gave it a couple of gentle bangs.

“There’s good news about this?” he said through his muffled mouth.

Dad brightened a little.

“I believe this is temporary. The only thing is …”

“I’d have to break up with her,” Dex said as he looked up at my father, who shrugged. “It’s possible.”

My best friend moaned and banged his head a little harder. “But I really like her!”

Dad gave Dex an awkward pat on the head.

“The things we do for love,” Dad said. Dex grunted in response.

“Now,” my father said, turning his attention to me. “How have you been feeling?”

I shrugged. “Fine. Just focused on school and pitching.”

“I’m still working on a modified, more powerful sensor to implant, but it’s going to take a little while longer. Any activations I should know about?”

I averted his gaze for a moment. I didn’t want to tell him what I’d learned recently when I pitched for Kieran given how adamant he’d been about me not controlling my powers. For a second I wondered if I could use my nanobots to help me lie, that somehow they could keep me from smirking or sweating or even keep my heart rate down, but I ignored that and looked back up.

“Not really. I thought there were a few times the bots were kicking in, but nothing happened.”

“Even when you were pitching?” he asked, staring at me over his glasses. Dex looked up at me with confusion.

“Yeah, nothing yet.”

“Alright. Once I get this sensor fixed, we’ll get all that squared away. Speaking of pitching, you know I made some modifications to the robot to help you practice pitching, right?”

I sat up in my chair and grinned at him. He was referring to the robot he’d built that caught footballs and critiqued my quarterback technique.

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