The Home Run

The Great Bambi?

Benny's POV

       I woke up and started getting dressed. Once I was done I put on my hat, grabbed my gloves, bat, and walked out the front door. I looked around for Izzy but, she wasn't there. While I was looking around I saw Smalls. I remembered what I had told Izzy the other day and walked over to him.
       "Hey, Smalls, right?" I asked.
       "Yeah," he said, looking up from his glove to me.
       "We're gonna go play some ball. We need an extra guy. Wanna come?" I knew he would be in a made-up position but, if one of us was ever grounded or sick, it would be nice to have an extra guy.
       "No, thanks."
       "Why not? Don't you like baseball?"
       "Oh, yeah. But..." he trailed off, looking down.
       "But, what?"
       "I um..." he stood up, "My glove. It's busted. See, now I can't go."
       I rolled my eyes and shook my head, "Here, I got an extra one." I pulled out my old glove out of my belt and tossed it to him.
       He turned around to his house opened the door and yelled, "Mom! I'm gonna go play some ball. I'll be back in a little while!" he closed the door and turned back around.
       "C'mon. Let's go." I said and we turned around. I saw Izzy standing in front of her house braiding her second french braid.
       "Hey, Smalls. Nice shiner. I got one too." she said, pointing to it with her shoulder as she kept braiding. "What are you looking at, Rodriguez?"
       "It's about damn time Izzy. I made a friend and I think my hair grew a couple of inches." I said in a high pitched voice, mimicking her from the other day. To finish off my act I bumped her with her hip as she had done to me. Not my best flirting.
       "Wow. Very funny smart ass," she said, smirking at me.
       "C'mon the guys are waiting for us at Vincent's," I said, laughing.

*~*

       We were about halfway to the drugstore with Smalls walking a few feet behind us. I looked at Izzy who was on my left side. Her cheek was purple and had one dark line from her cut.
       "How come you were late?" I asked.
       "Well, last night Danny and I thought it was a good idea for a teenager and a soldier to wrestle. I won though. I left him a worse one." she smiled then got serious and lowered her voice, "He's pretty pissed at my dad."
       "Well, I don't blame him." I said, "I'd stand up for you."
       "You're a pretty great guy Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez." she gave me a side hug as we walked.
       "You're not too bad yourself Isabel Marina Juarez." I hugged her back.
       We looked back at Smalls who was looking down at the glove I gave him.
       "You okay?" Izzy asked, slowing to walk next to him, "How'd you get the shiner?"
       "It's embarrassing," he said.
       "It can't be that bad," I said, slowing down.
       "Yeah. I mean, I got my cut from falling out a tree and the shiner from wrestling my brother," she said, pointing at her cheek and eye.
       He let out a small laugh, "Mines still worse."
       "So what happened?" she asked.
       "My dad, Bill, well he's actually my stepdad, anyway he was trying to teach me how to catch and I took 'keep your eye on the ball' a little too literally," Smalls said.
       "Okay, maybe that is a little worse," Izzy said, laughing a bit.
       It got quiet then Izzy let out a squeak sort of noise, then she just started laughing. "I'm sorry," she said, covering her mouth then, she started laughing again.
       I looked down and let out a small laugh. Smalls looked at Izzy and started laughing. I looked at both of them and started laughing too. After a few minutes, I was bent over laughing, Smalls was leaning on a tree in someone's yard, and Izzy was laying on the sidewalk with her hand covering her face.
       We all stopped laughing and continued walking to Vincent's with the occasional giggle fit. The closer we got the more serious we got too. All the guys were sitting by the back entrance to the Drugstore.
       Ham stood up, "Watch this." he put a long piece of something in his mouth and tried talking, "Ihm he gret hamhino."
       "What?" the guys questioned.
       He adjusted how he was standing and spoke a little louder, "Ihm he gret hamhino!"
       "C'mon Ham. Didn't your mom ever teach you to not talk with your mouth full?" Izzy said. She playfully hit him in the arm before sitting with the rest of the guys and taking some bubblegum from Yeah- Yeah.
       He scoffed taking the thing out of his mouth, "I'm the great Bambino." he said, defeated.
       "Ooh," the guys and Izzy said. Then the guys all looked in my direction with Smalls.
       "Who's that?" Smalls asked.
       "What?" Squints asked and all of them stood up. I closed my eyes and looked down. This was gonna be rough.
       "What did he say?" Ham asked.
       "What? Were you born in a barn man?" Bertram asked.
       "Yeah, yeah, what planet are you from?" Yeah- Yeah added.
       "You've never heard of the Sultan of Swat?" Squints asked.
       "The Titan Of Terror?" Kenny asked.
       "The Colossus Of Clout?" Timmy said.
       "The Colossus Of Clout?" Tommy repeated.
       "The King of Crash, man," I said.
       "Oh, yeah. The Great Bambino. Of course. I thought you said the great... Bambi." Smalls said.
       "That wimpy deer?" Ham asked.
       "Oh, my god," Izzy whispered loud enough to hear.
       "Yeah. I guess. Sorry." Smalls said, looking down. I decided to change the subject and introduce Smalls to the guys.
       "Smalls that's Timmy and Tommy Timmons," they spit, "Michael "Squints" Palledorous," he spit, "Alan McClennan, we call Yeah- Yeah," he spit, "Bertram Grover Weeks," he spit, "Kenny DeNunez," he spit, "Hamilton Porter, we call him Ham," he spits, "and you already know Isabel Juarez, and that we call her Izzy." she spits, "Guys this is Scott Smalls."
       "Hi," Smalls said, waving. Squints spit again.
       "Yeah, well uh... he's gonna play with us 'cause he makes ten, but now we got an extra player if someone gets sick or grounded," I said. The guys looked at me like I was crazy, but Izzy looked happy. "C'mon we're wasting time. Let's go to the Sandlot."
       "Benny, it's 9:00." the guys said.
       "Way to go, Rodriguez," Izzy said, walking up to me while she put on her hat.
       "Let's hope this goes well," I said, looking over my shoulder at the guys who were sizing up Smalls.
       "It will. He'll be fine." she looked at him.