The Unwilling Umpire (6 page)

“And I promised Nate I’d play with him, so I have to go, too,” Ruth Rose said. “See you guys later.”

Ruth Rose walked to her house next door.

“Your friends are nice,” Buddy said as he followed Dink to his front steps.

Dink’s mother opened the door. “Hello, Buddy,” she said. “Come on in.”

“Hello, Mrs. …” Buddy hesitated and looked at Dink. “I don’t know your last name.”

“I’m Mrs. Duncan,” Dink’s mom said. “And I’ve left a plate of cookies on the table.”

Dink took Buddy upstairs and showed him the guest bedroom. “You can leave your pack here,” Dink said.

Buddy knelt down and looked into Loretta’s cage. The guinea pig squeaked and stood on her hind legs.

“I wish I could have a pet,” Buddy said. “But Pete says we’ll have to wait till we’re not living in that tiny trailer.”

“Are you guys really going to Florida?” Dink asked as they walked back downstairs and into the kitchen.

Buddy shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “I kind of like it here in Green Lawn.”

Dink poured two glasses of milk and handed one to Buddy. “We’ve got a real good high school,” he said, taking a cookie.

“Do they have a soccer team?” Buddy asked.

“Big-time!” Dink said.

Buddy smiled and helped himself to a cookie.

Josh rubbed his stomach. “I think I’m going to explode,” he said.

“Gee, why?” asked Ruth Rose, eyeing the two empty pizza boxes on Dink’s picnic table. “You only ate ten pieces.”

Josh fed his last crust to Pal under the table. “Nine pieces,” Josh said, grinning at Dink. “I wanted to save room for dessert.”

“There is no dessert,” Dink said. “Not until we find out who took those baseballs.”

“I wonder if Officer Fallon had any luck,” Ruth Rose said.

“Maybe the crook already sold them,” Josh said.

“Where would he sell them?” Dink asked.

“Well, if it were me, I’d use the Internet,” Buddy said. “The crook would reach millions of people at the same time.”

“A lot of people shop online with YuBuy,” Ruth Rose said.

“Yeah, they sell all kinds of stuff,” Dink said. “Do any of you guys know how to use YuBuy? I sure don’t.”

“Me neither,” Josh said. “But Mrs. Mackleroy does.”

“The library closes at six,” Ruth Rose said. “Why don’t we go see her?”

Dink checked his watch. “We’ve got ten minutes. Come on!”

The four kids and Pal trotted to Main Street, then down to West Green Street. It was one minute to six when they ran up the library steps.

Mrs. Mackleroy was still sitting at her desk when they hurried inside. “Hi there. I was just getting ready to close,” she said. “Do you need something?”

The kids introduced Buddy then quickly explained their idea.

“And you think the thief would try to sell the baseballs on YuBuy?” she asked.

“It would be the fastest way wouldn’t it?” Buddy asked.

“Well, online shopping
is
fast,” Mrs. Mackleroy said.

“Could we try?” Dink asked.

“Sure, why not?” Mrs. Mackleroy said. She booted up her computer, clicked on
Internet
, and typed in
YuBuy.com.
A few seconds later, they were all looking at YuBuy’s home page.

“Look, there’s a place to type in what you want to buy!” Josh said. “Should we type in
baseballs?”

“That would give us too many
choices,” Mrs. Mackleroy said. “How about we try
autographed baseballs.”

She typed in the words. Seconds later a window popped up telling her that there were about fifty possibilities.

“How do we choose?” Dink asked.

“We need to be more specific,” Mrs. Mackleroy said. “Do you know whose signatures Mr. Pocket had?”

“One ball was signed by Babe Ruth,” Ruth Rose said.

“Okay,” said Mrs. Mackleroy. She scrolled back up and typed in
baseballs signed by Babe Ruth.

A new window popped up. It said there was one Babe Ruth ball for sale.

Mrs. Mackleroy clicked, and there was a picture of a baseball. Babe Ruth’s signature was clearly visible.

Next to the picture were these words: B
UY THIS BASEBALL SIGNED BY THE GREAT
B
ABE
R
UTH
! O
THER AUTOGRAPHED BASEBALLS AVAILABLE
!

“Does that look like it could be Mr. Pocket’s ball?” Mrs. Mackleroy asked.

The four kids leaned closer to her computer screen.

“I don’t know,” Dink said.

“Why don’t we call Mr. Pocket?” Ruth Rose suggested.

“We should also call Officer Fallon,” Dink said. He pointed to the screen. “If this is the thief, Officer Fallon should be the first to know!”

“This is exciting!” Mrs. Mackleroy said, reaching for the telephone.

A few minutes later, Officer Fallon and Mr. Pocket hurried into the library.

Mr. Pocket put on his glasses and leaned close to the monitor.

“That’s my baseball!” he announced.

“How can you tell?” Officer Fallon said, also peering at the picture.

“Look closely,” Mr. Pocket said. “Right above Babe’s signature there’s a dent in the ball. That’s where his bat
struck. Babe Ruth signed this ball for my father personally.”

Everyone moved closer to the screen.

“I see it,” Officer Fallon said. “But a lot of used baseballs would have bat dents, wouldn’t they?”

“But not in the same place,” Mr. Pocket insisted. “If I held the ball in my hands, I’d be sure.”

“Why don’t you buy the ball?” Dink suggested to Mr. Pocket. “Have the thief mail it to you. Then, once you have it, Officer Fallon can arrest the guy and get your money back!”

“It won’t work,” Buddy said. “The guy’ll be suspicious if someone who lives in Green Lawn tries to buy the ball. This is where he stole it!”

“Buddy’s right,” Officer Fallon said. “And our thief may very well live in this town. So what do we do?”

“I have a suggestion,” Ruth Rose
said. “E-mail the guy, saying you want to buy the baseball. Then ask him where you should send the check.”

“And if he really does live around here, you can go arrest him right now!” Dink said.

“Yeah,” Josh said with a grin. “The dude will probably still be sitting at his computer when you ring his doorbell!”

They all looked at each other.

Then Officer Fallon nodded at Mrs. Mackleroy

She clicked on a small window that said
BUY IT NOW FOR
$1,000. Under the window was a space to type a reply.

“A thousand bucks!” Josh squeaked.

“Okay, Mrs. Mackleroy, let’s reel this fish in,” Officer Fallon said.

Mrs. Mackleroy typed a message that said:
I wish to buy the Babe Ruth baseball. Please e-mail me your address, and I’ll send $1,000 immediately. I may want to buy other balls as well.

“Good job,” Officer Fallon said.

Seven sets of eyes stared at the computer screen.

“Come on, take the bait,” muttered Mr. Pocket.

A few seconds later, Mrs. Mackleroy checked her mailbox, and there was a message:
Send your check to Ted Gundy, 13 Boxwood Lane, Green Lawn, CT 06040.

“Gotcha!” said Officer Fallon as he headed for the door.

The baseball game continued on the following Saturday. Now it was the bottom of the ninth inning. The score was
MEN
6,
WOMEN
3. The women were at bat.

“Guess you’re gonna owe me an ice cream cone,” Josh teased Ruth Rose. “I think I’ll have ten scoops.”

“Think again,” Ruth Rose said. “The bases are loaded, and Livvy’s up. She’s their best hitter!”

“Yeah, but there are two outs,” Josh said. “If Livvy gets an out, the game’s over and I win!”

“If
she gets an out,” Ruth Rose said.

While Dink watched Livvy Nugent practicing her swings, he thought about the last several days.

It had been an exciting time in Green Lawn. Officer Fallon had arrested the thief, Ted Gundy. The six stolen baseballs were found in his closet, and he went to jail.

“It’s neat that Pete and Buddy are staying in Green Lawn,” Josh said.

“Yeah, and Buddy told me that Officer Fallon had a long talk with Pete,” Dink said. “He told him lying is wrong, even if it’s done to protect someone else. But Pete really learned his lesson. Now Officer Fallon is trying to talk Pete into becoming a policeman!”

“Hush, you guys,” Ruth Rose said. “We don’t want to distract Livvy!”

Pete was signaling Livvy to step up to the plate. She tapped dirt out of her
cleats and yanked her cap tighter.

Buddy had joined the men’s team, and he was pitching. His first pitch was low, but Livvy swung and missed.

“STRIKE ONE!” bellowed Pete.

Buddy’s second pitch was high.

Livvy tried but missed again.

“STRIKE TWO!” Pete yelled.

By now everyone in the bleachers was standing. Some were rooting for the men, but most were chanting, “HOME RUN, HOME RUN, HOME RUN!”

Buddy wound up for the pitch. Suddenly everyone was quiet. The ball came right over the plate, right at Livvy’s knees.

CRACK!
The hit was a line drive just inside the first-base line. Livvy took off for first. Mrs. Mackleroy left first for second. Josh’s mom tore away from second toward third.

Ellie shot away from third base and ran for home, where she got a huge
cheer. Then Josh’s mom came in, followed by Mrs. Mackleroy.