The next day, we were up at 6:00 am and went to Cracker Barrel before we headed to Savannah. We'll be spending the night in Atlanta.
"When do we plan to visit Iowa?" asked Kristy.
"Right after we leave Atlanta," said Mr. Thomas.
"I wonder how we'd fit in Mary Anne's grandmother's house," I said.
"I'm sure Richard can figure it out when we get there," said Mr. Thomas.
"Mary Anne will want to use her own room. I bet she'll want to see her friends," said Kristy.
"I think so," said Mr. Thomas. "We'll be going to the mall and will be able to our own thing."
"Especially she won't be seeing them much," said Stacey.
In Savannah, we were stopping at a this big mall.
"Wow! This is a big mall," said Mary Anne.
"It sure is," said Kristy.
"Richard said we can do our own thing, but he'll text us when it's time to leave," said Dawn.
"Dad was just telling us that," said Kristy.
"How far does he plan to let us know?" I asked.
"About 10 minutes before," said Mary Anne.
"Okay," said Stacey.
"We'll probably be here for about an hour or two," said Kayla.
"Which is not too bad," said April.
We were able to explore the whole mall. An hour later, Mary Anne's father texted her and he was ready to leave now.
"Dad said we can get lunch from the food court on the way," said Mary Anne.
"Okay," said Kristy.
That's what we did on our way out.
After we left, we went onto Atlanta.
"It's only two hours from here," said Mr. Thomas.
"That's not bad," said Stacey.
"We'll be staying at a campground," said Mr. Thomas. "They have cabins, but we want to use our RVs."
"I don't mind cabins every once in awhile," I said.
"Same," said Kristy.
We arrived there about a few hours later.
"We'll be going to see a baseball game tonight," said Mr. Thomas.
"Sweet," I said.
"We plan to eat there for dinner," said Mr. Thomas.
"Sounds good," said Stacey.
"Also, Richard said we'll have time to do some activities when we get there," said Mr. Thomas.
"Okay," said Kristy.
At the campground, they checked in and went to park in the RV area. We went to go hang out and did some of the activities.
"What time is the game?" asked Stacey.
"7:00pm. We plan to leave by 5:00pm and doors open at 6:00pm," said Mr. Thomas. "Plus, they got something planned for Carlos."
"Like what?" asked Kristy.
"It's a surprise," said Mr. Thomas.
That night, Mr. Thomas and Mr. Spier took our vans and left for the baseball games. He wants to play on any team for any baseball or basketball.
When we got there, someone was there to greet him.
"Hi. You must be Carlos. I heard you're quite a baseball player," said a manager.
"Yes," said Carlos.
"I have a big surprise for you. Do you want to be our little pitcher tonight?" asked the manager.
"To be honest, I'll have to turn it down," said Carlos.
"That is perfectly fine. That is your decision," said the manager. "You're still welcome to meet the players and watch them play if you'd like."
"Sure," said Carlos. "I'm fine with that."
We went inside.
"I've been trying to help," said Kristy.
"I know you are," said Mr. Thomas.
"Do you know anything about it, Mary Anne?" asked Kristy.
"No," said Mary Anne. "Like the manager says, that was his decision."
"She's right," said Mr. Thomas.
"At least he gets to greet the players and watch them play," said Mary Anne.
"But why Carlos didn't want to pitch?" asked Kristy.
"He must have had a good reason to decline that," said Mr. Thomas.
Mary Anne must have knew what was bothering him. She recalled how terrible he was at pitching. She texted us about that, but she was told not to share it with Kristy. Carlos did gave Mary Anne an okay to mentioned it to the rest of us.
After the game, we suspected that something was going on with Carlos after he found Kristy was the one who had that all planned because he was mad at her when he found us halfway.
"What did you do that for?" asked Carlos. "I came here for fun, not being part of it."
"I just thought doing it here would've been fun for you," said Kristy.
"Excuse me," said Carlos as he ran off.
"What's going on with him?" asked Mr. Spier.
"I have no clue," I said.
"That's weird," said Stacey.
"That is not like Carlos," said Kristy. "He could get lost in this stadium."
"I better go find him. I bet I know where he's going." That was when she took off to go find Carlos.
"We have to leave anyway," said Mr. Thomas.
Out there, Mary Anne found Carlos sitting on a bench near our RVs. She sat down with him.
"Are you alright?" asked Mary Anne.
"Sorry I had to run off," said Carlos.
"Don't worry about it," said Mary Anne. "I knew what was bothering you, which is why I came to you before the rest showed up."
"Can we talk before the others get here?" asked Carlos.
"I did recall how you weren't good at pitching," said Mary Anne.
"I admit I'm glad I did try something, but that's why I declined the offer to pitch tonight's game," said Carlos. "I'm used to be the catcher. Kristy offered to help me practice. That didn't help. Thank god it happened at try-outs."
"She asked me if I knew about it, but I just said no," said Mary Anne.
"I'm glad you told her that. I just didn't want her to think that I'm not being grateful," said Carlos.
"I had a feeling that was the reason," said Mary Anne. "I think she would've been glad if you told her about what's going on."
"I suppose you're right," said Carlos. "Thanks, Mary Anne."
"No problem," said Mary Anne as they hugged.
He can count on Mary Anne when he needs someone to talk to because she knows what to do. When we got to our RV, Carlos went to Kristy as he explained everything to her.
"I didn't want to hurt your feelings," said Carlos.
"I would've been okay if you were being honest," said Kristy. "I just didn't know what was bothering you."
"And, I'm sorry I got mad at you. I know you were just trying to help," said Carlos.
"If you change your mind anytime, I'll be happy to help you," said Kristy.
"Okay. It's a deal," said Carlos. "Only if I decided to try pitching again. My coach still kept me as the catcher."