Babe & Me Read Free Page B

plastic holder.
    â€œHow do we do this?” Dad asked. “Do I hold the card, too?”
    â€œThe power isn’t in the card,” I told him. “It’s in me . To take you along, there has to be a connection between you and me.”
    I hadn’t held hands with my dad in years, but there was no other way. I put out my hand and he took it. His palm was sweaty. So was mine. I held the Ruth card in my other hand.
    â€œClose your eyes,” I instructed. I closed mine, too. Almost immediately, I felt the tingling.
    â€œDo you feel anything?” I asked.
    â€œYeah, a weird sensation,” Dad replied, “like my foot’s asleep, but it’s my hand.”
    â€œWait!” I said suddenly, dropping the card.
    â€œWhat’s the matter?”
    â€œI forgot something.”
    I ran up to my room and grabbed a new pack of baseball cards from my desk drawer.
    â€œThey have bathrooms in 1932, y’know,” Dad joked when I got back.
    â€œI didn’t go to the bathroom,” I explained. “A baseball card is like a plane ticket for me. The Ruth card will send us to 1932. But it won’t get us back home . We need to bring a new card with us for that. If I didn’t have one with me, we would have been stuck in 1932 forever.”
    I slipped the new pack of cards into my pocket and sat on the couch again.
    â€œIs there anything else you forgot?” Dad asked, a little annoyed.
    â€œNo, let’s do it.”
    I picked up the Ruth card again and grabbed Dad’s hand. We closed our eyes. The tingling sensation started right up again. I visualized Babe Ruth and the 1932 World Series. If only I could go there , I thought.
    â€œFeel it?” I asked Dad.
    â€œI feel it,” he replied. “It’s working….”
    And then everything faded away.

4
Blown Off Course
    WHEN I OPENED MY EYES, WE WERE NO LONGER SITTING on the living room couch. We were sitting outdoors on a hard bench. A big car whizzed by, spraying a cloud of exhaust over us. It was a big, boxy old car, with the spare tire mounted right outside the passenger side. The tire had a bunch of spokes in it, like a bicycle tire.
    â€œIt worked!” marveled Dad. “It really worked!”
    I looked up. The building across the street stretched up and down the block. More boxy old cars streamed down the street. It felt chilly out, much colder than it had been back in Louisville.
    â€œWe must be in Chicago, Joe,” Dad said excitedly. “Chicago in 1932. Look at the cars! There’s a 1931 Bentley Tourer. And a 1929 Pierce-Arrow.”
    We got up and started walking, staring at the buildings and the cars rushing past. Louisville wasa big city, but it was nothing like this . I had never been to Chicago.
    On the corner was a boy about my age. He was holding up a newspaper.
    â€œYanks beat Cubs in Game Two!” he shouted. “Read all about the World Series!”
    Dad picked up a paper from the pile on the newsboy’s wooden box.
    ----

    ROOSEVELT LEADING IN MAGAZINE’S POLL
    ______________
    Eleven Republican States Give Him Slightly Bigger Total
    ______________
    MAINE SWINGS TO HOOVER
    ______________
    California, President’s Home State, Favoring Rival, as Latter Holds Early Gains in Pennsylvania
    ______________

    Eleven States, normally Republican in a Presidential year, give Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt a slight lead over President Hoover, his Republican opponent.
    The total of votes in the eleven States gives Mr. Hoover 100,323, or 45.18 per cent of the total, and Mr. Roosevelt 102,185, or 46.03 per cent. The remaining 8.79 of the total vote is divided among minor candidates.
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    â€œHey, why are you selling the New York Journal? ” he asked the boy.
    The kid looked at Dad suspiciously. “Faw da fun of it, Mac. I’m really a millionaire. Ya wanna paper or not?”
    â€œAre we in New York City or Chicago?” I asked the newsboy.
    He gave me