The Home Run

Mr. Mertel's Secret.

Izzy's POV

       Smalls, Benny, and I all walked up to Mr. Mertle's back door. Smalls knocked with his right hand as he held The Beast's collar in his left hand. Then the inside door opened and Mr. Mertle walked up to us at the back door.
       "Hello?" Mr. Mertle questioned.
       "This is bad." Squints said behind us, "This is very bad."
       "Um, we... we..." Smalls looked at Benny and me. We both nodded, "We brought your dog home."
       "Hercules? How'd he get out?" Mr. Mertle asked.
       "I'm telling you guys, we should've just turned it loose." Squints said. I quickly turned around and shushed him before turning back towards the door.
       "Um, uh, well, uh... We, uh..." Smalls struggled to find his words.
       "Well, what happened was, we hit a baseball into your yard. We tried to get it back." Benny said, saving Smalls.
       "So you're the ones that've been making all that racket." Mr. Mertle asked, sharply.
       "Yes, sir," Smalls said.
       "You get it?" Mr. Mertle asked again.
       "Um, y-yeah," Smalls said, taking the ball from me and handing it to Mr. Mertle.
       "Well, first time that anybody ever got the best of old Hercules," he said. Benny hugged me and kissed me on the cheek, "Why didn't you just knock on the door? I'd have gotten it for you."
       All the boys yelled at Squints and hit him.
       "We got the ball back, didn't we?" Squints asked.
       "We almost got killed!" Ham said.
       "Didn't we get the ball back?" Squints asked as he got pushed around.
       "Just shut up!" Timmy said.
       "We got the ball back." Squints said, upset. Mr. Mertle let out a laugh.
       "Thanks for bringing him home. Come on in. We'll talk about this baseball. Come on." he said.
       I looked at Benny and shrugged. The Beast, Hercules, ran in in front of us as Smalls, Benny, and I walked into the house.

*~*

       "Woah..." I whispered as we looked around the room. It was decked out top to bottom in baseball stuff.
       "You're in trouble, aren't you, son?" Mr. Mertle asked Smalls.
       "Yeah, well, uh, that was my stepdad's ball. I took it without asking." Smalls said, upset, "It was signed by Babe Ruth."
       "George signed this?" Mr. Mertle asked, smiling a bit.
       "George Herman Ruth?" Smalls asked, "Yeah."
       "I take it back. You're not in trouble. You're dead where you stand." Mr. Mertle said. The three of us all looked down.
       "Hold on. Hold on." Mr. Mertle said, feeling around till he grabbed a ball, "Here. I'll trade ya." he said, sitting down and holding the ball out to us. We walked up to him, looking at the ball.
       "That's nice of you, but that ball really is signed by Babe Ruth," Benny said.
       "So's this one, with the rest of the 1927 Yankees." Mr. Mertle said. Smalls and Benny grabbed the ball as carefully as possible.
       "Oh, man," Benny said.
       "Murderer's Row!" I whispered in awe.
       "Lou Gehrig!" Benny said, happily.
       "Babe Ruth! But why would you trade? That one's all chewed up." Smalls said, handing me the ball.
       "I got a lot of good stuff. Look at that stuff. Besides, you need it more than I do." Mr. Mertle said as Smalls walked over to his trophy case.
       "You knew Babe Ruth?" Smalls asked.
       "George? I sure did. And he knew me. He was almost as great a hitter as I was." Mr. Mertle said. I smiled putting an arm around Benny. "I would've broken his record, but..." Mr. Mertle trailed off.
       "You went blind," Smalls said, walking back over to us.
       "Yep. I used to crowd the plate so the strike zone almost disappeared." Mr. Mertle laughed, "Pitchers hate that." Benny and I smiled at Mr. Mertle.
       "That's the way I played 100% all the time. Baseball was life. And I was good at it, real good. And then... one day, a high fast one, and pow, lights went out." he said, pointing to where he was hit.
       "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." Mr. Mertle said. Smalls, Benny, and I exchanged looks and nodded.
       "Deal!" Smalls said, reaching for Mr. Mertle's hand and shaking it.
       "One more thing." Mr. Mertle said, stopping us from leaving.
       "Yeah?" Benny asked.
       "What are your names." Mr. Mertle asked us.
       "I'm Benjamin Rodriguez, call me Benny."
       "I'm Scott Smalls."
       They both looked at me. I shook my head afraid of what he'd say about a girl playing ball. Especially because he was a professional.
       "There are three sets of footsteps, but one of them is lighter. Who else is with you?" he asked. Benny and Smalls looked at me, "What's your name, little lady?"
       "Isabel Juarez, call me Izzy," I said, quietly.
       "You play ball little miss?" Mr. Mertle asked me, smiling.
       "Yes, sir," I replied, nervous.
       "How is she at it?" he asked.
       "She's the best on the team," Benny said.
       "Yeah, she's the one who got the best of your dog," Smalls added
       "I'll be damned." Mr. Mertle said, "You must be fast."
       "I guess so," I said as Benny wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
       "You ever hit any balls over my fence?" Mr. Mertle asked.
       "A couple." I smiled.
       "Don't you ever stop playing." Mr. Mertle said, "No matter what people may tell you."
       "I won't," I said, happily.

*~*

       Benny and I were laying in my backyard looking at the stars when he broke the silence.
       "We pickled The Beast," Benny said.
       "We pickled Hercules," I said, smiling. We both looked at each other and laughed.
"Man, that was crazy!" Benny said, happily.
"Right?" I propped myself up on my hand, looking at Benny, "Can you believe we were the first ones to do that."
"It's insane." Benny looked at me.
"No summer will ever compare to this one."
"Agreed," he said. I leaned over him and kissed him.
"I love you," I said, putting my head on his chest.
"And I love you," Benny said, putting his arm around my back.