Mexican WhiteBoy Read Free

act like you been there before,
cabrón
.” He takes a short walk to his bag, pulls out a towel and wipes a glaze of sweat off his brown face.
    “The derby ain’t just about winnin’, Chee,” Uno says, stopping abruptly. “You know that. It’s about winnin’ with style. Puttin’ on a little show for the peoples.” He waves a hand toward all the groups of kids scattered throughout the cul-de-sac. “You just pissed ’cause your boy’s always the main attraction.”
    Chico makes his way back into pitching position, impatiently watches as Uno leads his little bro through an elaborate home run handshake.
    Only thing that gets Uno to stop dancing is when he spots Sofia watching, some light-skinned Mexican skater-looking kid standing by her side. What’s up with
this
pretty boy? he says in his head. Sofe gots a man now?
    For some reason, this thought stops Uno’s dancing mid-step. It irritates him, though he couldn’t tell you why.
    He picks up the bat and steps to the trash can lid again. Waves through the strike zone a couple times and waits on Chico’s delivery.

The Shot Heard Round the Cul-de-Sac
    1
    When the black kid finally makes another out, Danny and Sofia watch everybody switch around. Then Sofia shoots Danny a quick smile, marches right in front of the makeshift home plate and calls out to all the guys: “Yo, who’s winnin’ this bullshit?”
    Uno, back on the lawn now, punches the inside of his mitt and cocks his head to the side. “Who you
think,
Sofe? You saw that last one I put in the upper deck, right? I was sendin’ you an SOS, girl.”
    “Hmmm, missed it,” Sofia says, winking at Raul as he steps into the batter’s box with the duct-taped bat. “Funny, isn’t it, Raul? How I never actually
seen
all these home runs Uno supposedly hits?”
    “Makes you wonder, right?” Big Raul says, nodding. “It’s like, do a tree falling in the forest really make a sound if there ain’t nobody there to see it?”
    “Exactly!”
Sofia says, turning back to Uno. “What Raul said.”
    “What’s that shit supposed to mean?” Uno says.
    “Raul’s mad deep,” Chico says. “He writes poetry.”
    “I write
rhymes,
” Raul says, lowering his bat. “And y’all just too simple-minded to catch my flow.”
    “Anyway,” Sofia says, “this is my cousin Danny. He’s staying with me for the summer. Oh, and by the way, he’s better than all you fools at baseball.”
    Danny watches all the guys on the field turn to check him out. He lowers his eyes, kicks at a small piece of glass lying in the street.
    “You talkin’ crazy,” Chico says, approaching Sofia from the house.
    “Sofe don’t know nothin’ ’bout no baseball,” Skinny Pedro says.
    “I know you
suck
!” Sofia shoots back.
    Everybody cringes and puts a fist to their mouth. “Oh, damn!” they all say, pointing at Pedro, laughing.
    A few of the guys hug Sofia and shake Danny’s hand, introduce themselves. Raul and Lolo try to run him through a neighborhood handshake and laugh when he fumbles it three straight times.
    “Your cuz, huh?” Uno says, flipping Danny a tennis ball.
    Danny snatches it out of the air, feels his right arm come to life, the pace of the blood in his veins quicken.
    Uno smiles. “You want in, homey? Gotta put down some paper.”
    “Four bones for virgins, right?” Chico says.
    “Nah, it’s a fiver this summer,” Uno says.
    “Here,” Sofia says, pulling two crumpled ones out of her pocket. “Ain’t nobody hustlin’
mi familia
. It’s two!”
    Chico takes the cash, walks it to the bird feeder.
    Uno looks Danny up and down, says: “Matter of fact, GQ, you up next. Right after Heavy D here.”
    Danny shrugs.
    “Watch, he’s about to do you guys,” Sofia says to Uno.
    “Yeah, okay.” Uno holds his glove out for the tennis ball.
    Danny tosses it back, watches everybody move into position on the lawn as Raul steps up to the trash can lid and takes a practice swing. He watches Uno snap the tennis