The Boy from Left Field Read Free Page B

Hawk. It was delicious — thin crust, great tomato sauce, three cheeses, black olives, shrimp bigger than a wrestler’s thumb, and small chunks of pineapple. Mr. Rizzuto drank red wine and passed a large glass of lemonade over to Hawk.
    “Listen, kid, this is crazy. You showing up here and me making the biggest discovery of my life. What are you doing in these parts in the rain anyway? We can’t play stickball. Don’t tell me they junked your taxi?”
    Hawk swallowed a large mouthful of pizza and explained. “No, not that. It’s that my mum’s on the warpath. She’s off to see my dad. She wants to get him to go to the School Board with her so they can get me into another class. My teacher’s an old witch.”
    “Oh, oh, you talk like that about your teacher? Wow! Times have changed. So your mum wants you to transfer to another class, I get it. Probably a good idea…. By the way, did you ever hear anything more on that stuff the Rippers stole from you? I’ve been meaning to look into that. Only trouble is, I don’t like to go to the police. Not that I ever have any trouble with them. It’s just that some of my family wouldn’t appreciate it if I run to the police with every little problem. We like to take care of our own business.”
    “That’s okay, Mr. Rizzuto. I just met a girl from my school on the street out there. A Chinese girl. She knows this neighbourhood and she’s going to help me find the gang and turn them over to the police. I don’t think it will happen, though.”
    “You never know, kid, you never know. I hope that girl isn’t heading for trouble. I’m going to do some checking myself. I have some connections, and not only in the neighbourhood. But what’s this about your mum and dad — don’t tell me they’re getting together again.”
    Hawk shook his head sadly. “No, I don’t think so. It’s just this once, to help me.”
    “Okay. But if you don’t mind me asking, whatever happened between them? I know you gave me a rundown once before, but now that you and I are going to be partners…. If I remember correctly, you’re still on good terms with your dad, right?”
    Hawk picked up on the surprising sentence at once. “You and I are going to be partners?” he said, and stared wide-eyed at Mr. Rizzuto.
    “I hope so, but first tell me about your mum and dad. Is she finally going to accept some help from him?”
    “Only so I can change classes. My dad’s still fed up with my mum. As you know, he’s a full-blooded Ojibway-Cree and he works for the Native Centre, and my mum pretends that she’s a Native, too. She’s always trying to outdo him, and telling him how he should act. She thinks he doesn’t like her because her parents came from Scotland and she’s not a Native at all. So she tries to be more of a Native than he is and that drives my dad crazy.”
    Mr. Rizzuto nodded sagely. “Sure, I understand. She wants to be more Catholic than the Pope.”
    Hawk shrugged his shoulders and looked baffled. He took a slug of the lemonade.
    “My mum takes care of me. She tries pretty hard, but things don’t always come out right. It’s not really her fault — at least sometimes it’s not. We don’t have much money and she can’t afford an apartment. The taxi’s okay. But the people from Welfare don’t like it.”
    “I sure hope not. Maybe they’ll find you some-thing, huh? Maybe I’ll find you something better.”
    Hawk swallowed hard and posed the question. “Did you say something about us being partners, Mr. Rizzuto?”
    “I sure hope so. But I have to explain. You know, because I got some money saved up, some property and things, people think I can do what I want. Yeah sure, I’m comfortable. I can buy this little thing or that, up to a point, but some things you can’t buy, you have to go out and find them, or earn them somehow. Some of the best things are like that. You know what I mean?”
    Hawk frowned. “You mean like me being a baseball player, or you