The Missing Mitt (3 page)

The boys introduced themselves and shook hands with Mr. Mack.

Lucy dropped the stick at Joe's feet. She wagged her tail, waiting. Joe took the stick and threw it as far as he could. Lucy ran off after it.

“Catch!” shouted Mr. Mack.

Catch?
Suddenly Frank remembered why they had been going so fast in the first place. He looked at his watch—it was two minutes to nine!

“The game! We've got to go!”

He got back on his bike and started to pedal.

“Good-bye!” called Mr. Mack.

“Bye!” said the boys.

Ahead of them, they could hear the voices of their teammates at the baseball field. They were so close. They had to make it!

The boys burst out of the meadow and raced over to the bleachers. They could see Jason Prime and the other Bandits getting ready. But where was Coach Quinn? Were they already too late?

They jumped off their bikes and hurried to join their teammates.

“Hey, Joe. Hey, Frank!” Jason Prime gave them high fives.

Frank opened his mouth to ask if they were late.

TWEEEET!
Coach Quinn's whistle blasted through the air. All the boys jumped to attention.

“Bayport Bandits, line up!”

They had made it in time!

3

All right, Bandits,” said Coach Quinn. “This is going to be the hardest game we've ever played. The Jupiters haven't lost a game this season.”

Coach Quinn was tall, with long red hair. She was the best coach the Bayport Bandits had ever had. She wanted them to win. But more than that, she wanted them to play well and have fun.

She called out their names and made sure everyone
was there. Then she divided them up into pairs to start practicing.

“Jason, you're with Joe. Frank, you're with Speedy. Now go warm up!”

Cissy “Speedy” Zermeño was the team's
pitcher. She was short, with dark hair and dark skin. She was known for her fastballs. In fact, everything about her was fast. She walked fast, she talked fast. She said it was because she was from New York City.

“All right!” yelled Speedy. “Let's do it, Frank. Come on! What do you think our chances are against the Jupiters? Have you seen them play before? I hear they're all really tall. They say Conor Hound is, like, six feet! And he's only in the fourth grade.”

Speedy talked so fast there wasn't even a chance for Frank to answer her. But he didn't mind. He liked Speedy. Most of the time, even when he could get a word in, he didn't say anything because he was too shy. Frank was usually shy around girls. Joe was always the loud one.

Joe, Frank, Speedy, and Jason all went over to one end of the field. They practiced sliding into
the bases, pitching, catching, running, and swinging. They did everything they could think of to get ready.

Right before throwing one of her special fastballs, Speedy paused.

“Jason,” she said, “Did you bring your lucky mitt? We can't play the Jupiters without it!”

Jason's lucky mitt was the one his father, Willy, had won during the final game of the last World Series he'd played in. It was Jason's good-luck charm. The whole team touched it before every game.

“It's in my bag,” Jason said when Speedy finally stopped to breathe. “I'm saving it for the game.”

“Phew!” said Speedy. “I was worried that—look!”

The boys all turned in the direction Speedy was pointing. A big silver school bus was driving up to the baseball field. Painted on one side was a giant
planet. Frank knew it was Jupiter, the biggest planet in the solar system. It was also the namesake of the Bandits' biggest rivals, the Johnston Jupiters. The two undefeated teams would be playing each other for the first time all season.

The bus came to a stop near the bleachers. Out came the Jupiters, one by one. Speedy was right. They were big! Maybe not six feet tall, but big. And the biggest of all was Conor Hound, the Jupiters' first baseman.

Coach Quinn blew her whistle again. All the Bandits lined up to meet the Jupiters. They shook hands and promised to play fair.

The Bandits went back to practicing. The Jupiters put their extra gear in a pile on the other end of the field.

“Gosh, guys. They sure are big!” Speedy said. She looked even smaller compared to the Jupiters.

“You know what they say,” said Jason. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” Then he laughed. He didn't seem worried at all.

“Okay, get back to practicing! This game won't win itself!” Coach Quinn shouted. The team leaped to attention and went back to practicing.

Finally it was almost time for the game to start. Coach Quinn pulled out a large cooler from the back of her truck.

“What flavor do you think it is?” wondered Speedy. “I hope it's watermelon. That's my favorite!”

“It's orange,” said Frank.

“How do you know?” asked Speedy. “It could be watermelon.”

Frank shook his head.

“Frank's never wrong about these things,” said Joe.

They waited in line. When, they got to the front, Coach Quinn handed them each a cup of orange-flavored water.

“How did you know?” asked Speedy, stamping her foot.

“Easy,” said Frank. “I saw a stain from the orange powder on Coach Quinn's uniform. She must have spilled some on herself while mixing it.”

Frank always paid attention to the small details. You never knew when they might tell you something important. His father had taught him that. Mr. Hardy was a detective, and he always told Frank and Joe to keep a sharp eye out. A clue could be anywhere. The brothers had already solved one mystery, and they were on the lookout for another.

All of a sudden, a shout came from the other side of the field. “AAAAH!”

Frank jumped, spilling the contents of his cup everywhere. He turned around.

Jason was standing by the pile of the Bandits' gear, screaming!

4

Frank and Joe ran over to where Jason was standing. Seconds later, the rest of the team and Coach Quinn were there.

“What's wrong, Jason?”

Jason didn't answer Coach Quinn. He was red in the face. He kicked at the pile of gear.

“Tell us what happened, Jason,” said Coach Quinn.

“My mitt!” said Jason finally. “Someone stole my lucky mitt. I can't play without it!”

The Jupiters heard the commotion and came over. Now both teams were there, surrounding Jason.

“Is everything all right?” asked Coach Riley, the leader of the Jupiters. “What's going on?” He wasn't very tall, but he sure had a loud voice!

“No!” yelled Jason. “One of your players stole my lucky mitt!”

There were shouts from the Bandits and the Jupiters. Some of the Bandits began shouting at the Jupiters to give back Jason's glove. The kids started shoving one another. It looked like a fight was about to break out!

“Stop this right now, or I will cancel the game!” said Coach Quinn angrily. “Now, Jason, I'm sure no one stole your mitt. It's probably just lost in the pile of gear here.”

“Yeah,” said Joe, trying to calm everyone down. “When did you last see your mitt?”