Chapter One
"HEY! ELEPHANT EARS! WHEN YOU WALK DOWN THE street, Stoshack, you look like a taxicab with both doors open!"
The words burned in my ears, which do stick out a little from my head, I must admit.
I was at the plate. It was two outs in the sixth inning, and I was the last hope for the Yellow Jackets. We were down by a run, and the bases were empty. Their pitcher was only eleven, but he'd already whiffed me twice.
That crack about my ears threw me off, just enough so that I tipped the ball instead of hitting it with the meat of my bat. That was strike two.
Behind me, I could hear some of the kids on my team already packing up their equipment to go home. There wasn't much chance that I was going to smack one out of the park. I hadn't hit one out of the infield all season.
It's not that I'm not strong. My arms are really big, and people tell me my chest is broader than any other seventh grader they've seen. I'm short for a twelve year-old and a little stocky.
I'm actually a pretty good ballplayer. But those insults really get to me. The last time up, I struck out when they said my legs looked like a pair of parentheses. You know-(). Bowlegged? I guess I'm kinda funny-looking. If I wasn't me, I'd probably be making fun of me, too.
Nobody likes to make the last out. I sure didn't want to strike out looking at the last pitch whiz past me. I was ready to swing at just about any thing. The pitcher went into his windup again, and I stood ready at the plate. The pitch looked good, and I brought back my arms to take a rip at it.
"Hey Stoshack!" their shortstop shouted as the ballleft the pitcher's hand, "Is that your nose or a door knocker?" I'd never heard that one before. It threw off my timing. It felt like a good swing, but I hit nothing As usual.
"Steeerike threeeeeeeeeeeee!" the ump yelled as the ball smacked into the catcher's mitt.
Again. My third strikeout of the game. Did I swing over it? Under it? Too early? Too late? I couldn't even tell. All I know is that I wanted to shrivel up and fade away. The other team hooted with glee. Even some of my teammates were snickering.
