I woke up the next day just smiling all morning. I got up and got dressed and walked into the kitchen with a huge smile on my face. I looked over at Scotty and he had his head layed on his left arm and he was just playing with his cereal. "Okay. So one of my kids are happy, and the other isn't. What's wrong you two?" My said. "Oh mom. Last night was just... perfect." I said while smiling wide. My mom smiled and have me my bowl of cereal and I sat down and ate. "What about yoy, Scotty? What's wrong honey?" My mom asked. He sighed, "I'm just tired is all." He lied. "It's summer you know. You can sleep in." She said to him. "I know mom." Scotty said and gave her a little smile.
After we finished eating, we walked out and to the snadlot. As we got there, I didn't see anyone on the diamond. "Where are they?" I asked. Then we heard footsteps and we turned around and saw Benny. I smiled and ran up to him and hugged him. He laughed and kissed the side of my head. "We are heading into Timmy and Tommy's tree house." Benny said. We nodded and walked over to the tree house. After awhile we were all sitting there just being quit. Scotty had his hand on his chin, he was rubbing his chin just thinking. Squints shook his head a couple of times, Benny was swinging his bat and the rest of the guys were just sitting there, quit. Wow, they were quit. "Hey I got it." Scotty said out of the blue. We all looked at him as he started. "Why don't we just go over, and knock on the door, and ask Mr. Mertle if he can get it for us." Scotty said. I looked at him. I felt bad for him to be honest. If we don't get that ball back, he was dead meat. "Are you out of your mind? Mr. Mertle is the meanest old man that ever lived. He's the one who made The Beast eat that kid. It's not an option, Smalls. Forget about it." Squints told Scotty. Scotty looked down. "Oh, okay. Sorry. I- I will." He said slowly. I sighed. "Let's just look out the window." Squints said annoyed. We all got up and looked out the window. "Good idea." Timmy said.
We all looked out the window and I couldn't believe what I was looking out. There was old toys back there, all ruined and destroyed. There was a doll with a dart in her eye. Broken airplane toys. It was just a big mess. It was sad to look at actually. Then we heard The Beast growling. Next thing we know, we see the ball fly out from under the house. The guys rushed back to their spot. I stood in between Benny's legs as he was sitting on something high with his legs wide opened. Timmy gulped and pointed at the window. "He's daring us." Timmy said. "We're on his territory now." Ham said right after. Benny was rubbing my arm and he leaned forward. "Anybody got any bright ideas?" Benny asked. The guys stood wuit and we all thought about. "Why don't we quitly put a stick through a hole in the fence and grab it?" Ham said after awhile. "We can try that, but I don't know." I said. "It's worth a shot." Scotty said and the guys got up. I looked back at Benny and sighed. He smiled a sad smile. "We'll get the ball baby. Don't worry." Benny said. I nodded and we walked outside.
