Chapter 3

Kit the Brat

It was now the forth week of the season. Kit still hadn't changed and she was still blaming Dottie for her problems. Jimmy still didn't do his job so Dottie was still doing it which made Kit even more mad. The Peaches were looking up to Dottie because she was doing Dugan's work. Kit wished she did that job too but she had never bothered to ask Dottie if she could help. Even when she did hit the ball and make it to first base, her team cheering her still wasn't good enough, same with her pitching. "Am I the only one who gets a headache from Kit?" Mae asked one day as she sat in the dugout as their team was at bat.

"I get one every now and then," said Doris.

"I get tired of her bitching and moaning," said Shirley.

"She sometimes gives me bad luck," said Alice.

Alice was a superstitious person. She didn't like black cats, she didn't like stepping on cracks, she didn't like walking under a ladder, and she also didn't like Friday the 13th and a full moon.

"Wish we could do something," said Marbleann.

"Maybe we can," said Betty. "Let's ask Dottie if she can start subbing her in whenever she gets this way and maybe it will get her to grow up."

"Or maybe we can start treating her like a baby," said Mae. "Literally."

"What? Hey, that's a good idea," said Doris sarcastically. "Just what would Lowenstein think or Walter Harvey if they found out how we've been treating one of our team members."

"There isn't nothing in the rules that says we can't treat one of our team members like a baby," Mae pointed out.

"Is that true?" Shirley asked; due to her never getting to read the rules because she couldn't read.

"Yeah, she's right," said Ellen Sue. "There is nothing in the rules that tell us we can't treat one of our team members like a baby."

"And we've been breaking them too," Mae pointed out.

"What are you girls talking about?" Dottie asked when she heard the last part of the conversation.

"Uh Mae's thinking about treating Kit like a baby, literally," Doris replied and everyone in the dugout laughed except for Dugan. He was sleeping. Even Miss Cuthbert laughed when she heard it. She didn't like Kit's behavior either.

Dottie laughed too. Luckily Kit wasn't nearby where she could hear them because she was on second base. Marla was at bat and she hit the ball and Kit was able to run to third, then home when one of the South Bend players threw the ball too hard to the second base person so she missed the ball so Marla ran to third then Kit got to run home. Marla stayed on third. Then Marbleann was at bat. Dottie gave her a signal to bunt. The ball was pitched to her and she bunted. Marla stayed on third while Marbleann ran to first. Marla knew she wouldn't make it home if she ran and Dottie and Beans had also told her to stay put and she did. Of course if she were Kit, she wouldn't have listened. Beans always stood next to third plate telling the runners when to run and when not to run. It was part of her position in the game. She also played shortstop too at times.

The Peaches couldn't talk and joke about Kit anymore since she was in the dugout with them but they still thought about it to themselves but they couldn't keep the giggling to themselves.

"What's so funny?" Kit asked.

"Nothing," they all said.

They still kept giggling until South Bend got all three out so they had to go out in the field.

The Peaches tossed the baseballs back and forth to each other for warm up. Kit pitched to Dottie. Dottie was the catcher.

After the warm up ended, one of the South Bend batters came up to home plate to bat.

"Right here Kit," said Dottie as she held out her mitt.

Kit took a deep breath and pitched the ball hard. It went above the batter's shoulders.

"Ball one," said the umpire.

"It is ball one," said the announcer. "One ball and no strikes."

Dottie threw the ball back to Kit.

"It's okay Kit," said Dottie. "Look at my mitt and aim for it."

Dottie held her mitt open and Kit pitched the ball again and this time the batter got a strike.

"Strike," said the umpire.

The Peaches cheered.

"Good pitch Kit," said Doris.

"Only two more," said Ellen Sue.

"Good pitch," said Dottie. "Keep aiming for my mitt," and she threw the ball back to Kit.

She took a deep breath and pitched again. The batter hit the ball this time but it was a fowl. Helen who played first base, got the ball and threw it to Kit.

"Only one more," said Doris.

Kit pitched the ball again and the batter hit the ball. The runner ran to first base and made it. "It's okay Kit," said Betty, "shake it off."

"Right here Kit," said Dottie as she held her mitt open. The next batter walked up to home plate and Kit pitched the ball to her. The batter hit the ball and it went out in the field. Doris picked it up and threw it to Ellen Sue. She stepped on second base and got the runner out and then she threw the ball to Helen and got another runner out who hit the ball. "You're out," said the umpire.

Kit jumped up. "Yeah," she shouted.

All the Peaches walked up to her and patted her. "Good ball," said Dottie.

The Peaches had won the game again. They went back to the dugout and to the locker room. Evelyn stayed to talk to Jimmy. She told him about her husband being too busy reading the wanted ads so she couldn't leave her son at home with him anymore so she asked him if she could take him with.

"Ball players," he said. Jimmy didn't care if she brought her kid along. He was too drunk to know what she was saying. He spat out the tobacco and walked away.

"He's a sweetest little boy, everyone will love him," Evelyn told him.