Basics [A Sandlot Story]

9 || Leap of Faith

Ty's bike popped a tire on the way home that afternoon. She'd been so lost in her thoughts that she barely noticed the nail in the road before it was too late, and she was over the handlebars and on her bum in the dust of the baking summer street. She sat for a moment, dazed, before she noticed the blood beginning to run in rivulets down her knee.

That was when the cursing started, and she hopped to her feet, inspecting the damage to her tire. The nail had blown a four centimetre wide hole in the rubber, leaving the shredded remnants to flop feebly where they were still attached to the wheel frame.

"Well that's just fan-fucking-tastic." She grumbled, straightening and pulling the bike off its side.

Ignoring the sharp sting of her skinned knee, she glanced about. She was about a fifteen minute walk from the house, if she took the most direct route. But that required walking down Main Street, and through the busy afternoon crowds. She'd probably see someone who recognised her, and in all honesty, she really couldn't be bothered having to explain her current state of disarray. So instead, she took a right turn, hoping that she'd be able to find a way to wind through the back streets and end up in the right place.

She walked alone for a good ten minutes, without seeing a soul - aside from the two children playing with a Wham-O! bouncy ball in their driveway. She began to recognise her surroundings a few minutes later, as she stepped up to a corner and realised that she was four blocks away from her street. Breathing a sigh of relief, she rounded the bend and took another step forward and -

- fell straight back down onto her bum again, after colliding with something very solid and very human.

A flare of white-hot frustration shot through her stomach, and she rocketed to her feet, prepared to cuss out the offending stranger within an inch of their life. But when she locked eyes with the boy opposite her, she realised he was very much not a stranger. He was Benny Rodriguez, the boy from across the street, and her little brother was standing alongside him, eyes so wide in his small face a little voice in her head worried they might fall out.

"Ty?" Benny ventured cautiously. She watched as his eyes took her in, flicking down to the dried blood crusting her leg from knee to shin. "Are you ok?"

"Are you hurt?" Scotty stepped forward quickly, tugging at her arms as if to search for more scrapes or bruises. "What happened?"

She took a quick step back, the fire in her abdomen cooling with Scotty's concern. Shooting him a small smile, she gently removed his hands from where they had started pulling at her shirt sleeves.

"I'm alright, kiddo. Just took a bit of a tumble." She bent down slightly to ruffle his hair, grinning a bit wider when he shirked her off, shooting an embarrassed look at Benny.

"What happened?" The older boy repeated Scotty's question. Ty glanced up at him, biting her lip.

"There was a nail in the road back near Fox and Hewitt. Didn't see it." She said simply, shifting sideways so they could see the hole in her tire. Benny let out a low whistle, and Scotty's eyes bugged out again.

"That's some tear." Benny said. She nodded in agreement, before suddenly remembering the oddity it was to find her little brother with Benny Rodriguez, with the boy whose team had so viciously requested their removal from the sandlot only a week ago.