Someone in Trouble

Chapter 7: Jumping Through Hoops

The sun shone in Robbie's eyes as he emerged from his lair. The shock of the bright and beautiful day almost made him drop the lid to the silo back on top of his head. Was it too late for him to change his mind and go back down?

He skulked through town in his usual manner, sticking close to walls and sneaking around corners. When he reached the sports field he didn't make himself known right away. Instead he kept back behind the gate to the court and peeked inside, scoping out the place. The kids were still there just as Stephanie had said they would be.

"I don't know, Pinkie," Trixie was saying, "are you sure about this?"

"It'll be fine," Stephanie said. "It's just for one day. How bad could it be?"

"Couldn't we call Sportacus, just to be safe?" Ziggy asked. Stephanie's face squinched up a little bit but she shook her head.

"We aren't getting in any trouble, guys. I think we can handle this on our own."

Robbie couldn't figure out for sure what they were talking about, and he didn't get any more time to eavesdrop. Stephanie chanced to glance away from her friends and spied Robbie spying on them. She put on a gratuitous, wide smile and waved at the villain, hailing him loudly and blowing his cover.

"Hey, Robbie, you made it!"

The other kids turned and followed Stephanie's gaze and Robbie jerked down out of sight for a second from force of habit. He quickly got a hold of himself and stood back up, acting as though he'd been merely stretching. The gate scraped as he pushed it open, further ruining his entrance. To his surprise none of them actually looked all that displeased by his arrival. The pink girl's welcoming reception was downright off-putting.

"Yes," Robbie said shortly, not quite comfortable with all the kids looking so openly at him, "I did. So what?" He cleared his throat, "I mean, so what now?"

"Well," Stephanie said, "we were playing HORSE, do you want to join?"

"I don't see a horse," Robbie said, peering around the basketball court.

"Not a real horse!" Trixie snorted. She held up the basketball. "We play the game with this." She thrust the ball at Robbie and the man took it, fumbling with the thing. He craned his head down and gave the ball a suspicious sniff before making a small gagging noise and holding it out at arm's length.

"It's sweaty," he said.

"Come stand over here and shoot some hoops," Trixie said, waving towards the basketball hoop. Robbie shuffled over to the free throw line painted on the court and the kids moved out of the way to watch him from the sideline. But once there Robbie didn't know what to do.

"How am I supposed to shoot it?" he asked. "I don't see any cannon here."

"You don't 'shoot' it like that," Trixie laughed now and the sound made Robbie start to glower. He hadn't come outside just so the kids could laugh at him over their stupid game! "Just throw it into the net."

"First hoops, now nets?" Robbie muttered under his breath. He looked at the basketball hoop looming at the end of the lane. "Well, that doesn't look so hard."

Clutching the ball between his hands Robbie cocked his arms back into his chest and bent his knees. Gearing himself up with a wiggle he sprang up with a forceful grunt and thrust the ball into the air!

The basketball soared out of Robbie's hands— and the arc ended only halfway down the key. The rubber reverberation of the ball against the blacktop was the only sound for a moment as everyone watched the toy bounce and roll out of the court, bypassing the hoop.