"John D. Fitzgerald - The Great Brain ReformsUC - 5" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fitzgerald John D)

ment they had received while he was at the academy. Basil
Kokovinis showed Tom his new Spalding League Model
bat. Jimmie Peterson, who was my age, showed Tom the
new baseball he'd gotten for his birthday. Danny Forester
had a new infielder's glove he had received for Christmas.
Danny was Tom's age and had something the matter with
his left eye. The eyelid was always half closed unless Danny
became excited. Then it would flip open. It was open as'
he proudly showed off his new glove. The rest of us had'
the same mitts and gloves as the year before.

Danny and Tom were team captains and chose up
sides. Tom made me the catcher on his team because, if I
do say so myself, I was a pretty darn good catcher. After
both teams had been selected, Frankie pulled on Tom's

pants leg.

"Why can't I play?" he asked.
"Because you're too little," Tom said, "You ivatch."
"When will I be old enough to play?" Frankie asked.
"Next year," Tom said. "I'll organize a couple of

teams for kids your age."

Danny's team got to bat first. I knew right away that
Tom hadn't been able to play any baseball at the academy.
, He was so wild that he was giving up bases-on balls as if
he had money bet on Danny's team. His curve l?all wasn't
breaking. We played our usual five innings and boy, oh,
boy, did we get skunked, eighteen to four. Then it was
time for the kids to go home to do the evening chores.

Tom held Frankie by the hand as we walked toward
home. "That is a beaut of a baseball Jimmie has," he
said.

"It should be," I said. "It's a genuine Spalding Dou-
ble-seam baseball from Sears Roebuck."

"I've got a bat just like Basil's," Tom said. "But that
is some infielder's glove Danny has. With its velvet-tanned
buckskin and felt lining, it makes this old glove of mine
look sick."

I knew from the conniving look on his face that he
was going to put his great brain to work on how to get
.that baseball and glove.

╗. "'Those Jesuit priests at the academy sure as heck