Karen's Softball Mystery

  The author gratefully acknowledges

  Stephanie Calmenson

  for her help

  with this book.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1 Up in the Treehouse

  2 Hello, Is Kristy There?

  3 Phone Calls

  4 Party Plans

  5 Too Many Players

  6 A Practice Game

  7 Krushers-Only

  8 Ms. Colman, Where Are You?

  9 Very Mysterious

  10 Detectives

  11 Interesting Clues

  12 Ewww and Ouch

  13 Kristy’s Idea

  14 Good-bye, Toys

  15 Just the Facts

  16 Kristy’s Toy Sale

  17 Case Closed

  18 Welcome Back, Ms. Colman

  19 A Special Visitor

  20 Play Ball!

  About the Author

  Also Available

  Copyright

  Up in the Treehouse

  “You carry the cookies, Andrew. Try not to drop them, okay?” I said.

  It was a warm, sunny Wednesday in June. I was about to have an after-school snack in the treehouse with my little brother Andrew. He is four going on five.

  Andrew and I built the treehouse with our little-house friends. (We have two houses — a big house and a little house. I will tell you more about them later.) Everyone gets to use the treehouse. But Andrew and I are lucky because it is right in our backyard.

  I was on the top step when I heard something drop.

  “Oops,” said Andrew.

  I turned around and saw the bag of cookies on the ground. Andrew looked as though he were going to cry.

  “It is all right,” I said. “Cookies taste good even when they are in little pieces.”

  I thought that was a very grown-up thing to say. Especially for someone like me who is only seven.

  My name is Karen Brewer. I have blonde hair, blue eyes, and a bunch of freckles. Oh, yes. I wear glasses. I have two pairs. I wear my blue pair for reading. I wear my pink pair the rest of the time. And I do not mind eating crumbled cookies.

  Andrew got the cookies and we put them on a plate. (Really we needed a bowl. They looked more like cereal now than cookies.) I poured us each a cup of apple juice.

  “I am glad we are not having Swiss cheese today,” I said.

  “What is wrong with Swiss cheese?” asked Andrew.

  “If you eat Swiss cheese you can get holes in your knees!” I replied.

  Andrew thought this was hysterically funny. I sang him the silly Swiss cheese song my teacher, Mrs. Hoffman, taught us at school.

  I am in second grade at Stoneybrook Academy here in Stoneybrook, Connecticut. Mrs. Hoffman is my substitute teacher. I used to call her Hatey Hoffman. But she turned out to be really nice. Even so, I could hardly wait for my real teacher, Ms. Colman, to come back. Ms. Colman went away to take care of her brand-new baby, Jane. I missed Ms. Colman a lot.

  “You could not run very well if you had holes in your knees,” said Andrew.

  “Huh?” I said. I was not listening to Andrew. I was busy thinking about Ms. Colman and her new baby.

  “I said it would be hard to run with holes in your knees,” Andrew repeated. “Kristy would not like that.”

  Kristy is our stepsister. She is thirteen and the best stepsister in the whole world. She is also our softball coach. She started a softball team called Kristy’s Krushers.

  “I think we have a practice tomorrow,” I said. “I will call Kristy later to find out.”

  Kristy lives at the big house. Big house. Little house. Do you want to know why I have two houses? I will tell you.

  Hello, Is Kristy There?

  A long time ago when I was little I lived in one big house with Mommy, Daddy, and Andrew. Then things started changing. Mommy and Daddy started to fight a lot. They told Andrew and me that they loved us very much. But they just could not get along with each other anymore. So they got divorced.

  Mommy moved with Andrew and me to a little house not too far away in Stoneybrook. That is when she met Seth. Mommy and Seth got married. That is how Seth became my stepfather. Now Mommy, Seth, Andrew, and I live at the little house. There are pets, too. They are Midgie, Seth’s dog; Rocky, Seth’s cat; Emily Junior, my pet rat; and Bob, Andrew’s hermit crab.

  Daddy stayed at the big house after the divorce. (It is the house he grew up in.) He met Elizabeth. They got married and Elizabeth became my stepmother.

  Elizabeth was married once before and has four children. One of them is Kristy. The others are my stepbrothers. They are David Michael, who is seven like me, and Sam and Charlie, who are so old they are in high school.

  I have an adopted sister at the big house. Her name is Emily Michelle. Emily is two and a half. She was adopted from a faraway country called Vietnam. I love her a lot. (That is why I named my pet rat after her.)

  One more person lives at the big house. That is Nannie. She is Elizabeth’s mother. That makes her my stepgrandmother. She came to help take care of Emily. But really she helps take care of everyone.

  There are also pets at the big house. They are Shannon, who is David Michael’s big Bernese mountain dog puppy; Boo-Boo, who is Daddy’s cranky old cat; Crystal Light the Second, who is my goldfish; and Goldfishie, who is Andrew’s caterpillar. (Did I fool you?)

  Andrew and I switch houses every month — one month we live at the little house, the next month at the big house. (Emily Junior and Bob go with us.)

  I have special names for my brother and me. I call us Andrew Two-Two and Karen Two-Two. (I thought up those names after my teacher read a book to our class. It was called Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang.) I call us those names because we have two of so many things. We have two mommies and two daddies, two houses and two families, two cats and two dogs. We each have two sets of toys and clothes and books — one set at each house. I have two bicycles. Andrew has two tricycles. I have two stuffed cats. (Goosie lives at the little house. Moosie lives at the big house.) I even have two best friends. Nancy Dawes lives next door to Mommy’s house. Hannie Papadakis lives across the street and one house down from Daddy’s house. (Nancy and Hannie and I call ourselves the Three Musketeers.)

  Andrew and I had finished our treehouse snack. It was time to call Kristy. I went into the little house and dialed the number for the big house.

  I listened to it ring once, twice …

  Phone Calls

  Kristy picked up the phone.

  “Hello,” she said.

  “Hi, it’s me, Karen,” I replied. “I forgot what time practice is tomorrow.”

  Kristy told me that practice was going to be at four o’clock. That was good. Andrew and I would have time to come home for our after-school snack and change into our softball shirts. Everyone on the team has a shirt that says Kristy’s Krushers. Only my shirt says Crushers with a C instead of a K. I like it that way because Crushers is supposed to be spelled with a C. I know that because I am an excellent speller.

  After our snack Mommy would drive us over to Stoneybrook Elementary School. That is where our practices are usually held.

  Kristy and I talked for awhile. She caught me up on the latest Krusher news.

  “I cannot believe how many kids want to join the team this year,” she said. “It’s a real spring rush. You better be ready for a hectic day tomorrow.”

  “No problem,” I replied.

  I love hectic days. They are my favorite kind.

  When I finished talking to Kristy, I asked to speak to David Michael. (I also love talking on the phone.)

  “I’m sorry, Karen,” said Kristy. “David Michael is not allowed to come to the phone. He has bee
n having some trouble in school lately. My mom is being very strict with him. It is his homework time now. I am not allowed to disturb him.”

  Hmm. This was something new.

  “Excuse me, Karen, I would like to make a call when you are finished,” said Mommy.

  I wanted to speak to everyone at the big house. But I did not want to tie up the phone any longer.

  “See you at practice tomorrow!” I said to Kristy.

  As soon as I hung up, the phone rang. It was Nancy.

  “Hi, Nancy!” I said.

  Mommy gave me a please-hurry-up look.

  I held up one finger. That meant one minute. That seemed an awfully short time to talk to my friend. So I held up one more finger.

  Nancy reminded me of some very exciting news.

  “Do you realize that Ms. Colman is coming back to school on Monday?” she said. “That is just five days away!”

  Wow. The time with Mrs. Hoffman had passed by quickly.

  “We should do something special on Monday,” I said. “We should have a welcome-back party for Ms. Colman.”

  Nancy thought this was a great idea. We decided to talk to Mrs. Hoffman about it as soon as we got to school the next day.

  I hung up the phone and looked at Mommy. She smiled.

  “Three and a half minutes,” she said. “That was not bad at all.”

  Party Plans

  “Addie, would you take attendance, please?” asked Mrs. Hoffman.

  Bullfrogs! It was Thursday morning. Mrs. Hoffman had just come into the classroom. I wished she had called on me. I like doing important jobs such as taking attendance. (Oh, well. Addie Sidney is really nice. So I did not mind too much.)

  Mrs. Hoffman passed the attendance book to Addie. Addie rested it on the tray of her wheelchair and began checking off names. She looked my way first and smiled. (You see. I told you Addie is nice.) I smiled back. Addie put a check in the book.

  Then she looked across my row. I sit at the very front with Natalie Springer and Ricky Torres. (Ricky is my pretend husband. We got married on the playground at recess one day.) The three of us are in front because we wear glasses. Ms. Colman said we could see better this way. (Ms. Colman wears glasses, too.)

  Addie put two more checks in the book. I looked around the room as if I were taking attendance with her. I saw Pamela Harding. (She is my best enemy.) She was passing notes to Jannie Gilbert and Leslie Morris. The three of them are best friends like the Three Musketeers. Only we were best friends first.

  I saw Bobby Gianelli. He lives on my street and helped build the treehouse. (He used to be a bully, but now he is nice most of the time.)

  Terri and Tammy Barkan, who are twins, were there. Audrey Green, Hank Reubens, Omar Harris, and Chris Lamar were there.

  And, of course, Hannie and Nancy were there. I waved to them. (I used to sit in the back with them before I got my glasses.) They waved back.

  Addie finished taking the real attendance and I finished taking my make-believe attendance at the same time. (Two kids were out sick.)

  Addie handed the book back to Mrs. Hoffman. I raised my hand. When Mrs. Hoffman called on me I told her my gigundoly good idea.

  “Ms. Colman is coming back on Monday. I think we should have a welcome-back party for her. Do you think the class could plan it together?”

  “It sounds like a wonderful idea to me. We’ll take a class vote,” said Mrs. Hoffman. “Anyone who would like to plan a party for Ms. Colman, raise your hand.”

  Every hand in the room popped up.

  “It is unanimous,” said Mrs. Hoffman. “If you like, I will come in on Monday to help with the party.”

  That gave me a second idea. I wanted to pass a note to Hannie and Nancy telling them what it was. But I was afraid Mrs. Hoffman would see it. That would be terrible because the idea was about her.

  I waited until recess. Then I gathered my classmates around me and told everyone all together.

  “I think we should have two parties at once,” I said. “We can have a welcome-back party for Ms. Colman. And we can have a good-bye party for Mrs. Hoffman. We can surprise both of them.”

  We took another vote. It was unanimous again. I spent the rest of recess planning the party with my classmates. We made sure Mrs. Hoffman could not hear us. We wanted her party to be a big surprise.

  Too Many Players

  That afternoon Mommy drove Andrew, me, and Nancy to our first softball practice of the season. (Nancy does not like to play very much. But she comes to help Kristy with the equipment.)

  “Hi, Karen! Hi, Nancy,” called Hannie when we got to the field. “Can you believe how many kids showed up for practice?”

  “Wow!” I said. “There sure are a lot. I guess being a Krusher is cool this year.”

  The team is made up of kids who don’t play in Little League or T-Ball. There are usually about twenty players. I went around saying hi to some of the regulars. I said hi to Nicky Pike, who is eight, and is one of the two main pitchers (David Michael is the other); Haley Braddock, who is nine, and is one of the Krushers cheerleaders; Matthew Braddock, her brother, who is seven, and is one of the best players on the team (we talk to him in sign language because he is deaf).

  There were other kids I wanted to say hi to, but Kristy was calling for our attention. We gathered around to hear what our coach had to say.

  “I am glad that so many of you want to join the Krushers this year,” said Kristy. “Right now it looks as though there may be too many kids for one team and not enough for two teams. For the first time in Krushers history, we may have to make some cuts.”

  “Boo! No way!” called the kids.

  “I said we may have to make cuts,” replied Kristy. “We are not doing it yet. Everyone will get to play ball today.”

  “Hooray! Yea!” called the kids.

  Practice was off to an interesting start.

  “I’m going to divide you up into two teams. I want you to step lively and show each other what it means to be a Krusher,” said Kristy. “Are Krushers lazy?”

  “No way!” we all replied.

  “Are Krushers bad sports?” she asked.

  “No way!” we all replied.

  “Do Krushers know how to win?” she asked.

  “Yes! Go Krushers!” we shouted.

  Just then a boy and a girl I had never seen before walked onto the field. The girl had long dark hair and was wearing cool clothes. She looked about twelve. The boy was tagging along behind. He was not as cool. He looked about eight. The girl stepped up to Kristy and introduced herself.

  “Hi, I’m Barbie Spencer and this is my brother Julian,” she said. “Julian is here to play ball.” She lowered her voice a little. I moved in closer to hear what she was saying.

  “We’re new in town and Julian is kind of shy,” said Barbie. “I thought if he joined the team he might make some new friends.”

  “You’re right. He will make lots of friends here,” said Kristy. “Come on, Julian. We are just about ready to start the practice.”

  Barbie sat on the grass with the parents, baby-sitters, and other big brothers and sisters of the players.

  “Okay, everyone,” said Kristy. “I want you to show me what you’ve got. We have a big game coming up against Bart’s Bashers to celebrate the beginning of summer. It is going to be held as soon as school is out. That is just a few weeks away.”

  She divided us up into two teams. With so many kids, it took forever to get called to bat. We bumped into each other in the outfield. And the regular players argued with the new players.

  By the end of the game everyone was gigundoly grumpy, and I was gigundoly happy to go home.

  A Practice Game

  The Bashers showed up at the ballfield just after we arrived on Saturday. Bart and Kristy, the two team coaches, had agreed to have a practice game. (Bart Taylor is in Kristy’s grade at school.)

  “Nicky, you are our only pitcher today,” said Kristy.

  “Where is David Michael?”
I asked. “Is he okay?”

  “He was not allowed to come. He had to stay home to catch up on his schoolwork,” replied Kristy. “He was really mad about that.”

  I would be, too, I thought.

  Kristy gathered us around for a pep talk.

  “Who are we going to play today?” she asked.

  “The Bashers!” we replied.

  “And who are we going to beat today?” she asked.

  “The Bashers!” we replied.

  (We did not believe it, though. The Bashers are a little older than the Krushers. So they usually win.)

  The Krushers were at bat first. Kristy lined us up in alphabetical order. With a B for Brewer, I was one of the first.

  “Keep your eye on the ball, Karen,” said Kristy.

  “I will,” I replied.

  I kept my eye on the ball. I watched it go right by me. I watched the second ball sail by, too.

  “All you have to do is concentrate,” said Kristy.

  No, all I have to do is hit it, I thought. You know what? I did! I hit the ball! I ran like the wind and made it to first base. The kids cheered for me and I took a bow.

  A kid named Marty Benson was next. He is a second-grader at Stoneybrook Elementary School.

  “Atta boy, Marty!” called a man wearing dark glasses.

  “Who is that?” I asked Julie Rich, the Bashers’ first base player.

  “He’s Marty’s dad,” replied Julie. “He wants Marty to hit a home run every time he gets up to bat.”

  “That is hard to do,” I said.

  Marty swung at the first pitch and missed. He swung and hit the second pitch. But it was a foul.

  “It’s now or never, Marty!” called Mr. Benson.

  Marty swung at the third pitch and missed again. He looked very disappointed.

  “That bat must be no good,” shouted Mr. Benson, running to Kristy.

  “We use perfectly good bats, Mr. Benson,” Kristy replied. “Sometimes kids miss. And that’s okay.”

  “I think you need to be a little tougher on these kids,” said a guy who looked about as old as Sam and Charlie.