Skinnybones Read Online Free Page A

one day, a few weeks ago, I heard him spouting off to a bunch of kids at the playground.
    “My coach told me I’m one of the best Little League pitchers in the whole country this year,” he bragged.
    As soon as I heard him say it, my mouth went right out of control. I started talking real loud to my friend Brian Dunlop.
    “HEY, BRIAN. I FORGOT TO TELL YOU ABOUT MY BASEBALL PRACTICE LAST NIGHT. MY COACH LET ME TRY OUT FOR PITCHER AND HE SAID I HAD ONE OF THE BEST CURVE BALLS HE’S EVER SEEN.”
    Okay,
I know
it was a dumb thing to say. ButBrian wasn’t much help. He fell right on the ground and started laughing himself sick.
    “You?” he roared. “You … you … you … 
pitched?”
    T.J. came strolling over with this big, smirky grin on his face. He bent down and tapped Brian on the head. “ ’Scuse me. But did I hear Skinnybones say that he can throw a curve ball?” he asked.
    Brian held his stomach and busted out laughing all over again.
    T.J.’s smirk got bigger. “Hey, Frankovitch. How’d you like to make a little deal?” he said.
    I shook my head and started to walk away. “Nope. Sorry, T.J. No deals. I’m gonna have to tell you what I’ve been telling everybody else today. No matter how hard you beg, I cannot pitch for your team. My coach made me sign a contract.”
    Brian let out another wild hoot of laughter. Apparently, the idea of me pitching was a lot more amusing than I thought.
    It’s not like I’ve never tried it before. Just last week, I practiced pitching with my dad. It didn’t actually work out that good, though. Most of the balls I threw didn’t make it to the plate. The one that did, beaned my father on the head.
    “What kind of stupid pitch do you call that?” Dad yelled.
    “That would be my bean ball!” I yelled back.
    We packed up our stuff right then and went home. I’m not kidding. The man cannot take a joke.
    Anyway, T.J. kept on bugging me and bugging me. “Come on, Alex,” he pleaded. “Just listen to my deal. What have you got to lose?”
    By this time a bunch of kids had started to gather.
    “Okay. Fine. Tell me your deal, T.J. But make it snappy. It’s almost time for Brian to massage my pitching arm.”
    Brian went off in another fit of hysterics.
    “All right. Here it is,” said T.J. “Since both of us are such good pitchers, why don’t we have a contest after school to see who’s the best? We’ll even get a couple of kids to be the official umpires. What do you say, Alex? That’ll be fun, don’t you think?”
    Oh, geez, what a mess! If I said no, everyone would know I was a liar. But if I said yes, everyone would be able to see how weak I threw. Somehow I had to get out of this.
    I hit myself in the head. “Oh, man. I just remembered. My coach told me not to tire my arm out by being in any stupid pitching contests. I’m mostly just supposed to rest it on a velvet pillow. Thank you anyway, though. See ya.”
    I started to walk away, but T.J. grabbed me by the shoulders.
    “I’m not
asking
you, Frankovitch. I’m
telling
you. You get one of your friends, and I’ll get one of mine. They’ll be the umps. I’ll meet you at the Little League field after school. If you don’t show, we’ll all know it’s because you’re a liar and you can’t throw a curve.”
    As he turned to leave, he stopped and looked back at me. “
Be
there, chump.”
    After everyone left, I looked down at Brian. He was still on the ground.
    I reached out my hand to help him up.
    “Thank you, Brian. You were very supportive,” I said dryly.
    Brian nodded his head “you’re welcome.” His sides were still hurting from all that laughing.
    “Geez, Brian. If you think this is funny, wait until you see my curve ball,” I said.
    This time both of us started laughing.
    I figured I’d better laugh now while I still had the chance.

chapter six
ALL WOUND UP AND NOWHERE TO THROW
    I kept praying that school would last forever that day. But before I knew it, the three