Jim & Me Read Free

your little secret,” Bobby said in a low voice.
    I rolled my eyes. Here we go. I knew this day would come. It was only a matter of time before Bobby would try to blackmail me.
    There are only a small number of people who know my secret. Bobby happens to be one of them. And now you are too.
    My secret is that I can travel through time.
    Oh, I know. You’ve seen it all before. You probably saw Back to the Future or read The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. People are always traveling through time in stories. But I can really do it—with baseball cards.
    It all started when I was little. I would pick up one of my dad’s old baseball cards and feel this strange tingling sensation in my fingertips. It was like they were vibrating or something.
    I didn’t think much about it, until one day I found an old card while I was cleaning out the attic for this lady named Amanda Young. I held the card in my hand and closed my eyes. The next thing I knew, I was back in 1909. Baseball cards sort of act like a plane ticket for me, and they take me to the year on the card.
    Scientists say time travel is impossible. But whatdo they know? I’ve done it. For me, time is like a video. You can rewind it or fast-forward it. I swear I’m not making this stuff up. I’m not some crackpot who hallucinates that I’ve been abducted by aliens.
    But if word got around that I could travel through time, people might think I was a little strange. So I haven’t exactly advertised the fact that I have this “special” power. A few people know: You. My parents. My coach, Flip. My Uncle Wilbur. My cousin Samantha. That’s how Bobby Fuller found out. Samantha can’t keep her big mouth shut, and she happens to be in the same class as Bobby’s little sister.
    But you know what? I don’t care anymore. I’m tired of keeping my secret. So I can travel through time. Big deal. It’s not like I’m a criminal or anything. I’m just a little different from other kids. It’s sort of like having red hair or being left-handed. Nothing to be ashamed of.
    â€œGo ahead. Tell anybody you want,” I told Bobby. “Knock yourself out.”
    Maybe that would make him go away. If I didn’t keep it a secret, then he couldn’t use it against me. I turned around to go back inside the house.
    But Bobby didn’t go away. He grabbed my sleeve and looked me in the eye.
    â€œStoshack,” he said. “I didn’t come over here to blackmail you.”
    â€œThen why did you come over?” I asked.
    â€œI need you to take me back in time.”
    I just stared at him.
    â€œAre you crazy?” I finally said.
    No way was I going to take that lunatic back in time with me. I almost got killed a few times doing it myself. With Bobby Fuller along for the ride, there was no telling what might happen, what could go wrong.
    â€œStoshack,” Bobby said, “I need to meet Jim Thorpe.”
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    JIM THORPE?
    Who’s Jim Thorpe? I searched my memory for the name. Jim Thorpe wasn’t a baseball player, that I knew of anyway. And I know a lot about baseball history. I have a collection of baseball books, and I’ve read them all. I know the name of just about every player in The Baseball Encyclopedia .
    But that name was familiar. Jim Thorpe may have been a pro football player, it seemed to me. And I thought he had something to do with the Olympics a long time ago. One of the kids in my class did a report on him a while back. I didn’t remember any details.
    â€œWho’s Jim Thorpe?” I finally asked.
    â€œOnly the greatest athlete of the twentieth century,” Bobby told me.
    â€œAnd he played baseball ?”
    â€œSure, he played baseball!” Bobby insisted.
    â€œHow do you know?” I asked.
    Bobby is probably the dumbest kid in our wholeschool. I heard he flunked gym last year, and I have no idea what you have to do to flunk gym.
    â€œI read a