"The Great Bambinos" Granddaughter.

~part 10~

A couple days after all the boys were satisfied with acting like big shots, we returned to the sandlot. Benny went up to bat as everyone ran to their spot. Kenny pitched to Benny, hitting the ball with a loud crack. I caught the ball, well, then insides at least.

Benny had done the same thing I did, knocked the guts out of the ball. We all surrounded the ball, amazed. "Bitchin'" someone said. "Nah it ain't." Benny protested. "C'mon Benny man, only two or three guys in history ever busted the guts out of a ball. Must be an omen." Kenny said, I think. 

"All it means is that we can't play no more," Benny whines, "I mean it's only 12:00 and I just ruined the whole day for us.". "No, you didn't. That's the most amazing thing I ever saw." Kenny said. 

"Anybody got any money?" Benny asked, we all answered no, "Then it ain't ok cause now we can't play no more." "Yeah, we can." Small, chimed in. "What, you got 98 extra cents lying around at home smalls?" Benny asked.

  "No but I got a ball." "Go get it!" We all yelled, pushing him. As he ran off, I sat on the ground, flopping on my back. "I agree with n/n." Ham said, flopping on the ground next to me. 

"I have no clue what we're doing but I agree too." Kenny said, and soon everyone was just lying down waiting for smalls. Benny's hand slowly creeped up to mine, and we cautiously locked pinkies.

"I got it! Right here guys! I got the ball!" Small yelled, running towards us. "Here Benny, I got it." Smalls handed Benny the ball. "Bitchin' your ball, your up." Benny responded, handing him the bat.

Benny ran out to the outfield as Kenny got in the pitching stance. "BATTER UP!" Ham yelled as smalls came to plate. Ham said what I could only assume to be "Your fly is open." As smalls looked at his zipper, inevitably striking out. 

Kenny pitched to smalls again, and he hit it straight to outfield, straight over Benny's head, straight. Over. The fence. We all cheered as smalls ran bases, but he slowed down as he came to second base. 

Smalls kept walking to outfield as Bertram tried pointing him to third base. Benny cheered as we all ran up to him, chanting smalls. Except me, cause I wasn't blind and could see something was wrong. Very wrong. 

"You forgot to turn! You go to third base!" Ham shouts to him as he keeps walking. "Smalls? What the hells he doing?" Ham asked. "Maybe the shock of his first homer was too much for him." Bertram said as I hit him with my glove. 

"No you idiots! Somethings obviously wrong!" I yelled. We all came up to him as he stood staring at the fence. The beast growled fiercely. "We gotta get that ball back." Smalls said. "Oh yeah, good one smalls!" Someone said, the boys laughing. 

"Hey, forget about it man, we'll just get another ball." Benny said calmly. "No you don't understand!" "Sure we do! You feel bad cause you belted a homer and we can't play." "No you don't understand that wasn't my ball!" Smalls yelled. 

We all starred blankly. "What do you mean that wasn't your ball?" Squints asked, "It was my stepdads. I stole it from his trophy room, it was a present or something, somebody gave it to him. But he gotta get it back, he's gonna kill me!" Smalls yelled through barred teeth.

"Listen to me Smalls," squints said, oh god please don't listen to squints, "it's a matter of life or death. Where did your old man get that ball?" He asked. "What? I don't know, some lady gave it to him, why?" 'A lady?' Could be heard from us all. "Yeah, she even signed her name on it. Some lady named... Ruth. Baby Ruth." 

"BABE RUTH?!" We all screamed, running to the fence, hopping to see over it while yelling. The beast growled, its chains moving and snatching the ball. All the boys yelled like cowards, hopping off while I jumped down like a normal person.

"The beast got it!" Kenny breathed out. "Your dead as a nail Smalls." Timmy said, "Your-" I cut off Tommy, "Tommy if you repeat that I will feed you to the beast." I threatened. He coward and nodded. "Smalls you went to tell me that you went home and swiped a ball that was signed by Babe Ruth, and you brought it out here and actually played with it?" Timmy asks. Tommy staying quiet. 

"Yeah! Yeah but I was gonna bring it back." Smalls defended. "It was signed by Babe Ruth!" Squints cried out. "Yeah, yeah yeah, you keep telling me that. Who is she?" Smalls asks. "What?!......What?!" Ham repeats.

"The Sulton of swat?!" Kenny, "The king of crash," Bertram, "The colossus of clout," "The colossus of clout," Timmy and Tommy, "BABE RUTH!" We all shouted at him. "THE GREAT BAMBINOOO." Ham emphasis. "OH MY GOD YOU MEAN THATS THE SAME GUY?!" Small shouts, clearly upset. Everyone said yes, mailing Scotty look like an idiot. 

"Smalls, Babe Ruth is the greatest baseball player that ever lived," Benny explains, "People say he was less than a god but more than a man! You know like Hercules or something!" "That ball you just aced to the beast is worth...well more than your whole life man." I explain half heartedly. 

Smalls groaned and fell to the ground, "I don't feel so good." We all took off our hats and fanned him, giving him air. "Ugh, we have to get that ball back." Scotty whines, Benny sighs. "Alright when does your old man get back from work?" I ask, "He's gone on business, out of town, but he could be back anytime." "Alright, find out when, and boys, spread out and look for bottles, and cash em in. We need 98 cents, we gotta buy us a ball." I instruct

  Everyone nodded and went to go search but I stopped Smalls, "Smalls wait a sec."

  Benny pov:

  I heard y/n stop Smalls and stopped running, listening to them. "Smalls, I know this situation seems tough...and it is, you're in deep shit," she laughs, "but we're all gonna help you get through this, if I know anything is that family sticks together, and we're all a big family now, no matter what." She hugs Smalls comfortingly, him hugging back tightly.  She's gonna be a great mother one day, and hey, maybe it'll be to our kids, who knows.