The Sandlot Girl: Small's Sister- Under Editing

Chapter 33

Catherine's Point of View...
     We all get back to the Sandlot and we all begin to breath."Where is he? Where did he go."
      We look around and then Scotty says. "There! Guys he's over there!"
     "Oh no." Squints says.
  We watch. Benny is in so much pain. The beast grabs the bottom of his pants and we can hear them rip. Benny just groans.
    The beast begins to bark and Benny climbs the wall again and jumps over. The beast is right behind him and does the same."Look out!" Benny yells.
     The wall falls and we hear the beast bark. Dust flies. After a few moments the dust clears. We see that the beast is just laying there. Everyone looks at a distant as the dog whines. Scotty goes and tries to lift the fence off of him. "He's hurt.I can't lift it. Guys, please help." No one moves for fear. 
     "Catherine! Benny! Please. Please help. He's hurt!"
   Benny walks over and helps lift the gate up. The beast crawls out. We all step back and Smalls looks to his side. The beast is standing there looking at him. Scotty freezes and just looks at the dog not sure what to do. Then the beast licks his face. They all laugh and some say "I knew he wasn't that bad" or "he's alright."
  Benny looks at his collar. And reads his name. "Hercules"
   "Like the story." Ham says to the guys.
    Now comes the hard part now. Telling Mr. Mertle what happened.
    We go up to the door . We coax Scotty into knocking on the door. "Scotty, Benny and I will be right behind you." Hello!" A man says as he opens the door. He is a middle aged man who is blind. We all stand there stunned.
   "Ah yes. Mr. Myrtle?"
  "Yes?"
"We brought your dog back." Scotty says.
  "How'd he get out?"
  "We should have just set it free." Squints said.
"Well you see uh Mr. Myrtle... ah..." Scotty begins.
   "What happened was we hit a baseball into your backyard. We tried to get it back..." Benny tells him.
    "Ah, so your the ones that are making all that racket." He says.
  "Yes sir." We all say.
  "You get it?"
"Well, yes sir." I tell him.
   He laughs. "Well, that's the first time anyone has ever gotten the best of old Hercules." 
   We look at one another. "Why didn't anyone come and knock on the door? I would have gotten it back for you."
   "Squints!" We yell.
  Everyone not on the porch begin to hit Squints with their mitts.
   "Hey we got the ball back!" Squints says.
   "Yah but we almost got killed!" Ham yells.
   "Just shut up! We got the ball back."
   Mr. Myrtle laughs. "Thanks for bringing him home. Come on in you three. We'll talk some baseball."
   We walk in leaving the guys outside to fight. Mr. Myrtle sits down in a old rocking chair after leading us into his study. There's baseball stuff all over. "It's refreshing to see a young lady interested in baseball." He says.
   I smile. He then says. "You're in trouble aren't you son?"
  "Yes sir." Scotty says. "I lost a ball signed by Babe Ruth."
  "George signed this." He says, holding the ball Scotty gave him. 
"George Herman Ruth? Yeah!"
"I take it back. You're not just in trouble, you're dead where you stand."
  We stay quiet. "Wait a second.Here."
  He hands us another ball. "I'll trade yah."
  Benny clears his throat. "That's nice of you. But that ball really is signed by Babe Ruth."
   "So is this one and by the rest of the Yankees."
We take the ball and look at it. "Oh man. Murderer's  Row." I say.
   "Lou Gehrig!" Cat points out.
   "Babe Ruth!" Scotty says.
  "But why trade?" I ask.
"I got a lot of good stuff. Look at this stuff." Mr. Myrtle says. "You need it more then me.
  "You knew Babe Ruth?" Catherine asks.
   "George? Sure. And he knew me. He was almost as good a hitter as me." He laughs. "I would have broken his record too if I didn't..."
   "Go blind." Scotty finishes.
  "Yep. I used to crown the plate... so the strike zone almost disappears.Pitchers hate that." He laughs. That was the way I played and I was good, real good."
  Mr. Myrtle sighs. "But then a high fast one came and pow!.. lights went out."
  We stay silent until Benny pipes up. "I don't think we can take this baseball."
   Mr. Myrtle smiles. "I'll tell you what. If you and this young lady come around once a week and  talk baseball with me. We'll call it an even trade."
  We smile to one another. Catherine takes his hand and shakes it. "Deal!"
 
We walk out the door and see the other guys. "Now don't forget!" Mr. Myrtle says.
   "We won't sir!" Scotty says.
  We all then walk back to Scotty and I's house and wait for our dad to get home.
   Dad wasn't all that pleased we stole his Autographed Babe Ruth ball, he did love the Murder's Row ball. So when he grounded Scotty and I for a week we didn't feel too bad.
  "Scotty! Catherine! Bedtime." Mom yelled.
   I left my pencil on the desk and walked to my window. "Goodnight Catherine." Benny says to me.
   "Goodnight Benjamin."