The Spy on Third Base Read Free Page A

run, then bolted back to tag up. Ted Jackson, the
     Stockades’ first baseman, beat him to it. Three outs.
    “Okay, T.V.!” yelled that same voice again as the teams exchanged sides. “Now’s your chance to see what you can do!”
    T.V. tried to ignore the heckler, but it was hard to ignore a voice like that. It sounded as if it were coming out of a bull
     horn.
    T.V. watched leadoff man Jim Hance tapthe end of his bat against the plate, then stand with it about six inches off his shoulder. After two sharp swings, T.V. had
     a good idea where Jim might hit the ball — if Jim hit it at all — but he kept his prediction to himself. He wasn’t going to
     get involved with that sort of stuff again.
    Sparrow Fisher, on the mound for the Mudders, threw the next two pitches outside. Then Jim popped out to short left field,
     exactly where T.V. had thought he would. And Phil Klines grounded out to the shortstop.
    Then Ted Jackson singled, and cleanup hitter Adzie Healy stepped up to the plate. After Sparrow’s second pitch and Adzie’s
     first swing, T.V. had a strong hunch that Adzie was going to hit the ball to right center field.
    Sparrow blazed in the next pitch and, as T.V. had predicted, Adzie slammed it directly to right center field for a triple,
     scoring Ted.
    But that was it. Catcher Chet Barker — thekid T.V. and Chuck had seen at the pool — flied out to left.
    The Mudders couldn’t do anything until the top of the fourth inning, when Chuck doubled to left center field and scored on
     Turtleneck’s single. Then Rudy knocked Turtleneck in with a big triple to deep right field but died on third base when nobody
     could hit to score him.
    The Bulls had scored three times in the bottom of the second inning. And now, in the bottom of the fourth, they were going
     great guns again. Ralph Healy, Adzie’s brother, had started it off with a ground double to right field. And Adzie ended it
     with a home run over the left field fence.
    Mudders 2, Stockades 8.
    T.V. had predicted another long ball rocketing off Adzie’s bat because of Adzie’s strong swing. But, in spite of the wise
     remarks from some of the fans, he preferred to keep his callsto himself. Maybe they’d forget about him and keep their mouths shut.
    “You haven’t said a word to any of us the whole time,” Alfie said as he trotted off the field with T.V. “You’re not keeping
     mum because of what Chuck and I said to you after that first game, are you? We said we were sorry.”
    “No,” said T.V. “It’s not that. I’ve just changed my mind, that’s all.”
    Alfie gave him a long look and didn’t say any more.
    The game ended with the Stockade Bulls winning 10 to 2.
    That night T.V. received a phone call — a very short call — from a familiar voice: “Thanks, pal.”

7

    T.V.’s hand shook as he put down the receiver. He still didn’t know who it was, but it didn’t make much difference. He had
     never felt more humiliated in his life.
    Suddenly, he began to feel mixed emotions. Was he right or wrong to let the fans and the Stockade Bulls needle him into keeping
     quiet about his predictions?
    Maybe, if he had spied on the Stockade batters and told his teammates how to playthem, the score might have been a lot different, 4 to 2, or 3 to 2, say.
    He felt guilty. He had let his teammates down. Darn! he thought. I can’t win! No matter what I do!
    It was only eight-thirty when he said goodnight to his parents and went to bed. He didn’t want to stay up and think about
     that call and the game any longer.
    But sleep didn’t come easily. Now his mind churned with questions about his having special “powers.” Those two guys in the
     stands and that newspaper article had sure started something.
    The thoughts were even stronger in his mind the next day. He was sitting on the front porch, facing the street, when he said
     to himself, “Maybe I really
am
psychic. Everybody seems to think so, even that reporter. Maybe I’m