Jake and the Magic Baseball

            by Amelia Starr

 

There was nothing Jake loved more than baseball; unfortunately, he was the worst player in the whole second grade. He was so bad that his teammates called him “the benchwarmer” and he only got to play when his team, The Pinchingdale Pirates, was winning by at least 10 runs. His best friends were Gracie and Milo. Gracie was the only girl on the Pirates, and she was the best player on the team. She had freckles and red hair that she always wore in two braids. Milo was blonde, portly (his mom called him “festively plump”) and played catcher.

 

 

            One sunny day in April, Gracie was practicing her mean face in the mirror. She had just lost a tooth, and she thought the gap made her look intimidating. She had never felt so much like a Pirate, and she was ready to take on the Middletown Minnows in the championship game that afternoon. 

            “Gracie, telephone,” her mom called from downstairs, “Its Jake.”

            “Hi Jake,” said Gracie, “What’s up?”

            “I’m worried,” Jake answered, “What if I strike out every time I come up to bat, or what if I try to steal a base and get out and everyone laughs at me?”

            “You’ll do great,” said Gracie, who was used to Jake’s nervous phone calls. “Call Milo and meet me at the field at 11:30, we can practice for an hour before the game starts.”

            “Ok. See you soon,” Said Jake, trying to feel as confident as he hoped he sounded. He grabbed his favorite hat and shouted, “Bye mom!” as he hurried out the door. The baseball field was around the corner from his house, and Jake was allowed to walk there all by himself if he promised not to cross any streets or talk to strangers. Gracie and Milo were already there when Jake arrived. Gracie was doing warm up exercises, and Milo was sitting in the dugout eating a Snickers bar.

            “Hi guys,” said Jake a little sadly. He was getting more and more nervous about the big game. He was sure that he was going to make a mistake and lose his team the game and then everyone would hate him and then he would have to go to a new school and-

            “Jake! Jake! Earth to Jake! Can you hear me?” demanded Gracie.

            “Whaa, oh yeah,” Mumbled Jake.

            “Go out to left field” ordered Gracie, “Milo will pitch and I will bat and you can practice fielding.” She was a little bit bossy. Jake headed out to left field and watched as Milo finished his candy bar and got up to start pitching. Gracie didn’t hit the first two pitches very far. On the third one, Jake ran to catch the ball but then dropped his glove. So far, he was not looking forward to the championship game. Two more uneventful pitches were thrown before Gracie’s bat connected with the ball and sent it way over Jake’s head and into the woods by the side of the field.

            “Awwwwwww, come on Gracie,” complained Milo, “That was our only ball, can’t you play like a girl once in awhile?” Gracie merely stuck her tongue out at him and went off in search of the baseball. Milo and Jake followed her into the woods, looking all around, hoping to see the ball so that they could keep practicing. After a few minutes of searching, Jake realized that he couldn’t see the baseball field anymore. He was starting to worry, what if there were bad guys in the woods or something?

            “I think the ball went in this cave!” shouted Gracie.        Jake looked around and saw that Gracie was pointing to a dark spooky, cave.

 

 

            “Let’s go get it!” Milo exclaimed. He and Gracie ran towards the cave, and not wanting to be left behind, Jake followed. After they had walked 27 feet into the cave, they heard a voice say, “ Who dares to enter the Cave of Wishes!?!”

            “Um, well, I’m Gracie and this is Milo, and that’s Jake,” Gracie answered quickly. “Who are you?”

            “I am Madame Zelda,” the voice answered. “Why do you disturb me?”

            “We just want our ball back,” said Jake quickly before Gracie could make a snappy retort.

            “Ah,” replied Madame Zelda. “You seek to find what you are missing. You have come to the right place. If you find what is lost, I will grant you each a wish!”

            “Guys! If we find the baseball, we can use a wish to make sure we win the championship game and maybe I can even hit a home run!” Jake yelled excitedly.

            “I’m gonna wish for a banana split!” Milo said. Gracie rolled her eyes and they kept on walking until they came to the edge of a small lake. Jake looked around, but there was no boat and no bridge. “Uh oh,” he said. “How are we going to cross the lake?”

            “We need a boat,” said Gracie.

            “We need a bridge,” said Milo.

            “You need my help,” said a sparkly orange fish.

 

 

            “Milo, did that fish just talk?” asked Jake. Milo only nodded, looking at the fish in horror.

            “Of course I just talked, you dingbat!” the fish cried. “My name is Howard P. Wetherby IV, and I am a magic fish.”

            “Ohhhh,” said Jake, staring at Howard P. Wetherby IV. “Can you help us get across the lake? We are looking for our baseball.”

            “I don’t know about that young man,” said Howard P. Wetherby IV slowly. “ I only help people who answer my riddle correctly.”

            “Okay then, tell us the riddle,” Gracie said with a little bit of attitude.

            “What is black and white and read all over?” the magic fish asked.  The three kids sat down on the shore of the lake to think. This was a hard riddle. After a few minutes, Gracie stood up. “I’ve got it!” she exclaimed. “It’s a zebra with a sunburn!”

            “No, it’s an oreo covered in ketchup!” shouted Milo.

            “A newspaper!” cried Jake.

            “Bingo!” said Howard P. Wetherby the Fourth. “Climb onto my back and I will carry you across.” They climbed onto his back and held on to his tangerine-colored scales as he swam through the water. When he dropped them off on the other side, he said, “Good luck in your quest, come visit soon,” dove under the water and disappeared. They continued walking for 68 more feet until they came upon a mole sitting in the middle of the path.

 

 

            “Hello mole,” said Gracie. “Can you talk too?”

            “I can’t seem to find my glasses,” the mole said. “Can you help me look for them?”

            “Sure,” answered Jake. “Did you see a baseball by any chance?”

            “I can’t see anything!” the mole replied. “But I did feel something roll past me a few minutes ago. If you help me find my glasses, I will help you get your baseball back.”

            “Okay,” said Milo and Gracie in unison. Jake was already looking for the glasses. He found a button, a ball of string and 42 cents in pennies, but no glasses. “What do they look like?” he asked.

            “They’re blue and round,” the mole answered. “The problem is that without them I can’t see, and if I can’t see, I can’t find them!” Just then Jake spotted something blue behind a big rock.

            “I think I found them!” he shouted to Gracie and Milo, who were arguing about the best way to look for the glasses.

            “Guys, we have a problem,” called Jake. “I found the glasses, but they are broken.”

            “Oh no!” wailed the mole. “That was my only pair! What will I do?”

            “We can fix them!” said Gracie. “We’ll use tape.”

            “We are in a cave,” Milo helpfully pointed out. “There is no tape.”

            “I have some string,” said Jake.

            “I have bubble gum,” said Milo. So they got to work, and in no time at all, the glasses were fixed and the mole could see again.

 

 

            “Thank you so much!” he exclaimed. “Let’s start looking for your baseball. I think it rolled this way,” he said pointing. As they walked down the path, Jake looked at his watch.

            “Oh no! Its 12:15!” he cried. “The game starts in fifteen minutes!”

            “We’d better hurry then,” said the mole. They hurried down the path looking under and over and in between the rocks for the baseball, but it was no where to be found. Finally, they came around a bend and saw a raccoon holding sitting on a huge pile of junk. There were soda cans and old tennis shoes, plastic bags and partially hidden under a broken umbrella, the baseball!

 “Uh oh,” muttered the mole. “That’s Randle the Raccoon, he never gives back what he finds.”

            “We have to try,” said Jake. “The game starts in ten minutes and we can’t play without a ball.”

            “Excuse me!” Gracie walked towards Randle the Raccoon. “You have our baseball and we need it back!”

            “Excuuuuuuuuse me,” sneered Randle. “But I found eet, so I keep eet.”

            “Are you willing to trade?” Jake asked. “I have a button and some pennies,” he held them out in his hand, but Randle the Raccoon turned his nose in the air. “What would I do wiz zat?’ he said.

 

 

            “You can have my chocolate bar,” said Milo.

            “Oh la la! I do love de chocolate!” said Randle the Raccoon excitedly. “Eet is a deal!” He tossed them the baseball and Milo helped him unwrap the chocolate bar.

            “Congratulations, you have found what you lost!” Madame Zelda called. “You may each have one wish.”

            “I wish for ice cream!” shouted Milo.

            “I want to hit a home run!” cried Jake.

            “I want to get out of this dirty cave!” yelled Gracie. All of the sudden the cave started to spin around and before they knew what was happening, they were standing at the edge of the woods next to the field.

            “Jake! Gracie! Milo! What are you doing over there? The game is about to start!” their coach shouted. The three friends ran to the dugout and handed him their baseball.

            “Can we play with this ball? Coach?” Jake asked. “It’s lucky.”

            “That sounds like a great idea,” answered the coach.

It was the bottom of the ninth and the Pinchingdale Pirates were tied 2-2 with the Middletown Minnows. Jake had been playing right field as always and was beginning to wonder if going through so much to get the lucky baseball was even worth it when the coach called out, “Jake, you’re up.”

            “Me?” Jake asked.

            “Your name is Jake isn’t it?”

            “Yes,” Jake answered. He thought about all of his adventures in the cave and walked onto the field with his head held high. He was going to get a home run, he was sure of it. The first pitch came. He swung and missed. The second pitch, another strike. This was his last chance. The ball came towards him, he swung and with a loud “THWAK” the ball went flying.

 

 

            “Run. Jake, run!” Gracie screamed. Jake took off around the bases. An outfielder had the ball. Jake rounded second base. The outfielder threw the ball. Jake crossed third. The catcher leapt into the air to catch the ball just as Jake slid into home plate.

            “Safe!” the umpire called.

            “Jake! Jake! Jake!” his teammates called. “Hooray for the benchwarmer!”

            “Lets go get ice cream to celebrate,” said the coach. And so they did.