Ann Martin - Kristy And The Walking Disaster

Suddenly they were shouting out dozens of suggestions - the Stoneybrookers, the Tigers, the Big Leaguers. But when Jackie yelled out, "How about Kristy's Crushers?" everyone agreed.

"And we could spell 'Crushers' with a 'K'," added Margo Pike. "You know, to go with Kristy. Kristy's Krushers."

"No!" cried Karen. "That's wrong. That's not how you spell 'crushers.' You spell 'crushers' with a 'C'!" (Karen takes her spelling very seriously.)

But she was voted down. Every other kid liked "Kristy's Krushers-with-a-'K.' "

"And we should have team uniforms," added Jake Kuhn. "The kids in Little League do."

I hadn't thought about that. It seemed expensive. "Where will we get uniforms?" I wondered aloud. Even Watson hadn't thought of that.

"How about team T-shirts?" suggested Mallory, corning to my rescue. "If each of you could get a plain white T-shirt, you could iron on 'Kristy's Krushers.' You know, with those letters you get at Woolworth's."

This seemed to appease the kids, even though we all knew that T-shirts were not as good as real uniforms.

"Well," I said, "let's get a game going here. Everyone stand in a line."

It took a few moments, but the kids organized themselves into a long, straggly line.

"Now count off in twos," I instructed them. "One, two, one, two. . . ."

I gathered the Ones and the Twos. "These are your teams," I said. "We'll toss a coin to see which one is up at bat first. Then I'll assign positions to the rest of you."

The game began. Linny Papadakis was the pitcher.

He pitched to Claire, who missed the ball by a mile.

He pitched to Jamie Newton, who, at the last moment, dropped the bat, covered his head, and ducked.

I winced, then hoped that none of the kids had seen me.

Off in right field, I caught sight of Laurel Kuhn making a dandelion chain. "Hey, Laurel!" I yelled. "Watch the game, okay?"

Laurel nodded, but over in left field, Hannie Papadakis was looking for four-leaf clovers.

"Hannie! Heads up!"

"Left field is boring!" she replied.

Linny pitched the wiffle ball to Gabble Perkins, who made the first hit of the game. She even ran for first base, but halfway there she got a case of the giggles, which slowed her down. The first basewoman caught the ball before Gabble reached her.

Jackie was up at bat next. He got in the next hit of the game - right into the woods behind the school.

"Foul ball!" I cried.

Eight children went looking for the softball. They couldn't find it, and no one wanted to play with the wiffle ball.

"Game over," I announced.

"Thanks to Jackie," someone muttered.

But all I said was, "You guys were great! Keep up the good work. I'll see you on Tuesday."

" 'Bye, Coach!" called Linny Papadakis.

Coach? . . . Coach! I liked the sound of that.

I couldn't wait to tell Watson about our first practice. No one had cried or gotten hurt. The kids had been excited. They'd had fun. They'd come up with a team name. As far as I could tell, the practice had been a success.

Chapter 7.

Sometimes I think the Pikes are the best thing that ever happened to Matt Braddock and his nine-year-old sister Haley. When they moved to the Pikes' neighborhood, Haley thought it would be the end of the world. She thought that because Matt's deaf, kids would think he was weird - and if they thought he was weird, they would think she was weird, and that neither one would ever make new friends.

Luckily Haley was wrong, thanks to Jessi and Mallory. Jessi started bringing the Braddock kids over to Mallory's house, and Mallory and Jessi told the Pike kids that Matt knew a secret language. What a mystery! They all wanted to learn it, too. Now they can talk to Matt pretty well. If there's trouble, Haley helps out, since she can sign almost as well as she can speak. Plus, Haley has gotten to be friends with Vanessa, and Matt is friends with the Pike boys.

Anyway, on the day that Claud and Mallory were sitting for the seven other Pike kids, Jessi brought Matt and Haley over as usual. Claud and Mal were in the backyard with the Pike kids. It was a sunny day, and everyone felt like being outdoors. Margo was jumping rope on the patio, Vanessa was teaching Claire to play jacks, the triplets were trying to do

acrobatics in the grass, and Nicky was examining a scab on his elbow.

"That drives me crazy," said Mal, watching the triplets. "They're going to break their backs or something. 1 just know it."

"Oh, they are not," said Claud. "How many times have you tried stuff like that?"

"Just once," replied Mal, "and I sprained my wrist."

"Oh."

Claudia was saved by a shout of, "Hi!"

Vanessa had spotted Jessi, Haley, and Matt. She left the jacks game and ran to them, waving to Matt. Waving is the sign for "Hi!" (Easy, huh?) Matt waved back, then joined the triplets. The triplets stopped fooling around (to Mallory's relief).

"Want to play ball?" they asked Matt with their hands.

Matt nodded vigorously.

"Can we play, too?" asked Claire. "Nicky and Margo and me? We're on a ball team now, you know. We're Kristy's Krushers, just like Matt."

Mallory could tell that her brothers wanted to snicker - obviously, they didn't think much of the Krushers - but they didn't want to hurt Matt's feelings.

"Hey!" Adam cried suddenly. "How about

Little Leaguers versus the Krushers? That would be an, um, interesting game."

"Oh, but it wouldn't be fair," spoke up Nicky. "There are only three of you guys . . . and four of us Krushers."

"Believe me, that'll be plenty fair," said Jordan snidely.

By that time, Matt was looking angry, as he often does when he's left out of a conversation. (It must be awfully frustrating.) Haley rushed over and signed to him. When Matt understood what was being planned, his face lit up. He signed furiously to his sister.

Haley burst out laughing. "Matt says the Krushers can beat the pants off you Little Leaguers!"

"Oh, yeah?" said Adam, leaning toward Matt menacingly.

No one needed to translate that, and Mart's response was to draw his finger across his throat, clearly meaning, "You die!" But he was smiling and so was Adam.

"Are we on?" said Byron.

Claire, Margo, Nicky, and Matt were facing the triplets. Their answer? Yes! And Claire added, "And we'll beat you, all right!"

"Oh, sure," said Jordan. "You know what Claire's batting average is? Zero. She has never hit a ball."

"But I've caught a lot of them," she pointed out.

Adam and Byron headed into the Pikes' garage and returned with some mitts, bats, and softballs.

"Because we're so nice," said Byron, "we'll let you Krushers be up at bat first." And he signed to Matt, "Your team first."

Matt nodded, looking as if he thought the triplets were making a big mistake.

The triplets held a conference to choose positions, while Nicky signed that Matt should be the first batter up. Matt nodded, all business.

Jordan was the pitcher. Adam and Byron were combination outfielders and basemen. Jordan stared at Matt. He shuffled his feet around and adjusted the brim of his cap, trying to look professional. Then - zoom! He threw a fastball.

Matt was ready. His eyes on the ball, he swung and connected. The ball sailed over Jordan's head.

"I've got it! I've got it!" shouted Adam. And he did have it - but not on the fly. He didn't get it to third base until just after Matt had slid in.

"Yea!" cheered Vanessa and Haley from the sidelines.

"All right!" shouted Nicky. "See what us Krushers can do?"

Matt grinned and waved his fist over his head in a silent cheer.

"I see what Matt can do," said Jordan, getting set to pitch. "Now I want to see what you can do, little bro."

What Nicky could do was strike out. He handed the bat to Margo. Mar go took it, positioned herself in the batter's box and kept her eyes on Jordan. She concentrated so hard that she didn't even blink when Adam called out, "Hey Margo, you're gonna strike out!"