Justin did a slide-step. Instead of doing his full leg lift, he lifted just enough to get his cleats out of the dirt and then threw. That small change got him to the plate faster by just enough to give Johan a decent chance to gun me down. Justin complained that he couldn’t get as much power on his pitch, but was willing to trade that off to hold me at first. The lesson was I couldn’t just go and then focus on running to second. I had to watch the pitcher to make sure he didn’t use a slide-step. If he did, I would stop, because there was a good chance I’d get thrown out.
I got good at picking up if it was a slide-step or regular pitch. Alan had recorded me, so when we were done, Coach Haskins and I looked at the video. What I observed was that I popped up a little on taking off. Standing up straight was not ideal because it slowed me down. It was an easy fix.
When we were done, Coach told me that tomorrow I would practice against a left-handed pitcher, and then we would practice stealing third and home the following day.
◊◊◊
Coach Hope had agreed to drive Brook and Cassidy to the dojo until this silliness with the press died down. Neither one of them wanted to deal with it. Moose had somehow scared the reporters away from baseball practice. He did allow them to film me to get some B-roll footage.
Dad had called me while I was changing out of my baseball gear. There had been three more people try to break into the barn, one high school girl and two reporters. My grandmother wasn’t happy with our antics and strongly suggested that I make it clear that she didn’t have a spaceship on the property.
Frank had been in touch with Disney and Lucasfilm, and they loved the viral media response. The press was taking it tongue firmly in cheek, and they had started to play it as a filler piece towards the end of their broadcasts. My social media followers had exploded. Frank said I’d added nearly three hundred thousand in a day.
Frank gave me four talking points.
1) The Millennium Falcon had been moved.
2) I was a finalist for the young Han Solo role, and that was why I was in the UK over the weekend.
3) Washington was holding their booster club fundraiser on Saturday, and I would be there.
4) I asked that everyone bring something for the homeless. Our goal was to fill up a bus.
Fritz and Paul were both picking me up. Fritz drove, and I was told to wait in the school until Paul came and got me. We planned to allow the press to ‘catch’ me in front of the school. Word had been sent out that I would make a statement at that time, so we had a crowd of reporters and paparazzi.
I think most of the local police force was there to keep order, as word had leaked and several hundred Star Wars fans had formed a small crowd. I smiled to see the school had put up a podium for me to speak from. It felt like I was in the Rose Garden of the White House.
The press conference went fine. The reporters played it straight, and we all had fun. It reminded me of when they’d track Santa on radar at Christmastime. I thought I was home free until a fanboy shouted a question.
“How did you move the Millennium Falcon?”
“You saw the video. I moved it with the tractor,” I said.
“That’s impossible. There are no wheels on Millennium Falcon’s landing gear.”
All I heard was cameras clicking as my brain locked. Leave it to a geek to punch a hole in our little piece of fiction. Paul stepped up to the mic.
“There’s an undercarriage storage area that has attachments for the landing gear. They hook onto the outside of the feet, and that allows you to move the ship. Otherwise, you’d have to fire up the thrusters every time you needed to move it.”
I cocked my head and thought; it made sense, so I just smiled. Crisis averted.
◊◊◊
At the dojo, Coach Hope had brought boxing gloves and headgear. He and Fritz planned to teach me to box in case I got in a tight spot and didn’t have room to use all my martial-arts skills.
That left Paul to work out with Cassidy. He took one look at her and began to complain.
“What am I supposed to do with the little girl?”
I winked at Cassidy.
“We’re teaching her how to defend herself. Here, let me show you,” I said.
I did my drunken bear imitation and wrapped her up. I almost blew it when I gave her a raspberry on her neck.
“Let me go, you jerk,” she squealed.
“Do me a favor and teach her some things,” I suggested.
I walked back over to Coach Hope and Fritz.
“That was mean,” Fritz said.
We all giggled when Paul tried to attack Cassidy. He even got Shiggy’s attention when he squealed like a little girl.
“I need him for work tomorrow,” Fritz called out, and Cassidy nodded and let the big baby go.
Boxing was fun. It appealed to the rowdy side of me that loves football and offered an excuse to get physical without going to jail. I think Coach Hope enjoyed punching me as much as I enjoyed hitting him. Fritz gave up trying to teach me to slip punches when Coach and I went toe-to-toe. For an old man, he could hit. If we hadn’t had protective gear, he would have knocked me out. I did get in some good licks, though. We both grinned and were breathing hard when we finished.
It was then my turn to work out with Cassidy. Paul had given up attacking her. I’d taught her what I learned training for Star Academy; most of it was throws that looked spectacular. Paul watched in horror as she tossed me around as if I were a rag doll. In many ways, it was like pro wrestling. The throws were designed not to hurt the other person, but to put on a show. They were based on actual throws that if modified, could do some damage. A good example was what I’d done to her dad. Instead of tossing him, I’d redirected him straight to the mat.
◊◊◊
Chapter 19 – Star Wars Effect Friday March 11
We were enjoying dinner when the front gate buzzed. We’d had problems with reporters and fans for the last couple of days. On Tuesday, we had to let the press onto the farm to show that the Millennium Falcon was not in the barn. They knew it was all just in fun, but some people must not have been in touch with reality because we’d had more instances of attempted break-ins. The good news was that Fritz had done an excellent job with security. Each time they were caught before they could do any damage.
I turned on the TV to check the video link to see who was there, and I froze. It was Bev Mass. I let her in and led her into the kitchen. Mom and Peggy looked at her curiously, but Dad and I had worried expressions on our faces, which Mom noticed.
“What have you two done?” she demanded.
“In fact, your son has been a big help. I wanted to deliver some news in person.”
“What’s going on?” Mom asked.
“I suspect Brandon Rigby may have taken advantage of Tami,” I said.
“What do you mean?” Mom said, suddenly getting worried.
I told her the whole story. I could tell she was royally pissed I hadn’t told her any of it until now. When I was done, Bev took over.
“Detective Kitchens executed both a search and arrest warrant for Brandon today. He’s fighting extradition, but that won’t buy him much time. They’ve taken DNA samples, and I’m confident his DNA will match several open cases,” she said, and then smiled for the first time.
“He was dumb enough to keep a journal. I should say ‘journals,’ because we found twenty of them. It’ll take quite a while for us to track down everything he describes in them. I had them check, and in the books, he confirms what we suspected happened with your two friends,” Bev said.
I looked at my mom. She was too much like me. I could see the wheels turning: she was thinking how she could get him alone in a dark alley.
“Mom, we have to focus on Alan and Tami right now. I need your help in figuring out how we should tell them,” I said to get her off thoughts of revenge right now.