We walked into a room and I looked around. I was in awe. He had baseball stuff everywhere! This is amazing. Benny closed the door and we looked around the room. "You're in trouble, aren't you son?" Mr. Mertle asked Scotty. He looked down, sighed, and then looked back up. "Yeah, well, that was my stepdad's ball. I took it without asking. It was signed by Babe Ruth." Scotty said. I winced a little when he said that. I sorta forgot that Babe Ruth signed that ball, and now it's all ruined. "George signed this?" Mr. Mertle asked, with a smile on his face. "George Herman Ruth... yeah." Scotty replied. "I take it back. You're not in trouble. You're dead where you stand." He said. I bite my bottom lip and Benny and Scotty looked down.
"Hold on." Mr. Mertle said. He walked away to a cabinet that had a lot of things in it. We all stared at him catiously. He picked up a ball and then walked back over to us. "Here." He said and sat down at his desk. "I'll trade ya." He said. Scotty looked back at me and Benny confused. "That's really nice of you, but that ball really is signed by Babe Ruth." Benny said. We all walked closer to his desk. "So is this one. With the rest of the 1927 Yankees." Mr. Mertle said. What?!?! We all looked at each other shocked. Benny and Scotty took a hold of the ball at the same time, reading the names. "Oh man. Murderer's Row! Lou Gehrig!" Benny said in excitment. "Babe Ruth!" Scotty basically shouted. "But why trade? That one's all chewed up." Scotty said. I looked at Mr. Mertle and he was just smiling. "I got a lot of good stuff. Look at that stuff." Mr. Mertle said. Scotty went and walked to the cabinet. "Besides. You need it more than I do." I looked at Mr. Mertle. "Thank you, Mr. Mertle. It really means a lot." I told him. He looked over at us from the sound of my voice. "Anytime miss. What's your name ma'am?" He asked and smiled. "Oh, my name is Ashley." I said to him. "You like babseball?" He asked me. "I sure do. I love it." He smiled and looked ahead. "You play?" I smiled, "I do. With Benny, Scotty and the rest of the guys that are outside." I told him. He nodded and smiled.
Scotty looked back, shocked. "You knew Babe Ruth?" He asked. Mine and Benny's eyes grew and we looked at Mr. Mertle. "George? I sure did. And he knew me." He replied. Oh wow, this is amazing! "He was almost as great a hitter as I was. I would of broken his record too, but..." He stopped talking. "You went blind." Scotty said. "Yep. I use to crowd the plate so the strike zone almost disappeard. Pitchers hate that." He said laughing. Benny had a huge smile on his face. Mr. Mertle continued. "That's the way I played. 100% all the time! Baseball was life. And I was good at it. Real good." He said. I smiled and looked up at Benny. "Just like Benny." I said. Benny looked down at me and smiled. "You'll go far son. Never give up!" Mr. Mertle told Benny. "Thank you sir." Benny said. "And then... one day..." Mr. Mertle went to finish. "A high fast one and pow! Lights went out." he said. I looked down sadly. It was quite for a little bit. "I don't think we could take this ball." Benny said. "I'll tell you what. You guys come by once a week and talk baseball with me, we'll call it an even trade." He said. We looked at each other and nodded. "Can I join?" I asked. He laughed, "Of course ma'am." I smiled and looked at Scotty. "Deal!" Scotty said and took his hand to shake it. "You can even play with Hercules." He said. I smiled. "I'd like that."
After we were done talking and I finished petting Hercules, we walked out the door and walked up to the boys. "So? What happened?" Ham asked. "He gave us a signed baseball of Babe Ruth." Scotty said. "Uh... isn't that your ball?" Ham asked confused. "No. This one has all the players from the 1927 Yankees on it. Signed by them." I said. They all rushed to Scotty to look at the ball. I laughed and looked over at Benny. He looked at me and smiled. He walked over to me and wrapped his hands around my waiste. "I love you." He said. I smiled wide. "I love you too. A summer to never forget." I replied. He bent down and kissed me passionalty. I never wanted this moment to end.
