Waiting It Out - Benny Rodriguez - Book 1

Track Records

Phillips didn't show up after his quite embarrassing tag-out yesterday but I'll bet good money he'll continue his "efforts" within the next couple months of summer break.

We just walked up to the entrance of the sandlot this morning to see a moving van in front of Mr. Mertle's old house.

I guess it was only a matter of time before someone else moved in.

"How many people do you think it is?"

"You think they have a dog too?"

"Does this mean we have to stop playing baseball here?"

We had all been asking each other these questions with no one getting an actual answer.

"Let's just... go in." I tell them and walk to the sandlot hesitantly with them following me. Our eyes never leaving the moving van.

It'll be weird with someone else living in that house. Especially with there being no barrier between the sandlot and the house.

We walk in and are gonna go to our positions before we hear a man's voice shout out.

"Hey, kids!" the voice yells at who I can only assume is us.

We all look back at the house to find a guy in his late 30s to early 40s.

"Yeah?!" Squints asks since no one else did.

"You all better be careful!" he tells us. "I'm leaving now to go out of town. I won't be back for a week and some movers set the house up for me starting in 3 days! You better not break any of my windows while I'm gone!"

I look over to Benny who's standing on my left side with slightly wide eyes and furrowed brows.

"How did we already piss him off?" I whisper to him.

"It's not like you or Ham insulted him." he points out. "I got no idea."

If any of us were to accidently insult someone, it would be either me or Ham. Ham's more likely to since I can guard my mouth when I have to but I've still managed to do it before.

Point is, I take no offence to his comment.

"Dude's a prick anyway. Already leaving and having other people move into his house for him." I say.

"It's not like he's going on business in that flowered shirt." Benny backs my point up.

"Seriously, though." I agree.

The guy walked back into his house and we heard a car start up not that long after.

We decided to switch things up today ahead of time.

We're all gonna be in a position we're not usually in. We'll do it every once and a while to keep us on point.

I've been moved to second base which isn't a drastic change but enough for me to have to focus a little more than I usually do.

Smalls is at bat and they're all shouting batter teases.

"Oh, batter, batter!"

"Batter, batter, batter!"

Bertram is pitching this time and does an alright job. 

Pretty sure I can hear Kenny scoffing from his position at left field though.

Smalls hits the ball with a little too much force and I can already see this going down hill.

The ball goes way past everyone in the out field looks like it'll touch ground in the backyard of sir-jackass-alot.

I hear Smalls run towards my temporary base.

He touches the plate but I grab the back of his shirt with little effort and stop him from running.

"What?" he asks looking back at me.

I don't break my stare from the backyard.

Smalls follows my eyes just in time to watch the ball crash into one of the back windows of the house.

He literally did exactly what the dude told us not to do.

He could've just broken one of the wooden planks of his back porch but no.

I shift my gaze to Smalls and release his shirt knowing he won't start running again.

He looks like he's gonna hurl.

Two summers in a row.

The guys start groaning and complaining about the situation as Smalls slowly starts to walk towards the outfield.

Benny, who was formerly at right field, comes up to me as Smalls walks away.

"Note to self and you: never let him hit during the summer." Benny says and I nod my head in agreement.

"We're gonna have to fix this aren't we?" I groan.

"I think you know." Benny says while cringing slightly.

I cover my face with my hands and place my head on his shoulder.

I feel his arm wrap around my waist as I pull away.

"You have some sort of track record where you come from, Smalls?" I ask as I walk towards him.

"What do you mean?" he asks me.

"This is the second summer in a row you hit a ball and caused a problem that we're all gonna try and fix." I explain. "Just trying to gather information for future references."

"What're we gonna do?!"