The next morning, Sharon woke up. Callie wasn't in the room.
She came into the kitchen where Dana and Stuart were sitting. "Have you seen Callie?"
"Look." Dana pointed at Callie watching The Flintstones.
"You are definitely Stefanie's kid," Sharon said to herself.
After breakfast, Callie noticed Jesus and Jude were outside.
"W-what are you doing?"
"We're playing basketball."
"W-whats basketball?"
"A game where you have to throw the ball into this basket," Jesus said.
"C-cool."
"You want to try?"
"O-okay."
Callie stood at the other end of the driveway and threw the ball. It went into the hoop
"Well, what do you know? We have another Michael Jordan in the family.
"W-who's he?"
"A famous basketball player."
"I'm-I'm like a f-famous player?"
"Yes, you are."
Jesus was thinking. He stuck his head inside.
"Gram, Jude and I are going to walk to the video store and rent a movie to watch this evening."
"Alright, be careful," Dana called back.
Jesus and Jude walked over to the close-by video store and rented Space Jam.
"W-what's this movie?" Callie asked.
"It's called Space Jam. It's about Michael Jordan, who helps the Looney Tunes play in a
basketball game against a group of aliens who want to make the Looney Tunes into slaves."
The kids watched the movie.
"I want to play b-basketball," Callie declared.
Jesus smiled. "That sounds like a good idea."
…
Jesus and Callie came in.
"How's my basketball players?" Dana asked.
Stuart was reading the newspaper. "Hey. LA Lakers vs Chicago Bulls in LA tomorrow evening."
Jesus got an idea and called the LA ticket office.
"You want to take Callie to a basketball game?" Stuart asked.
"Yeah," Jesus replied. "What do you think?"
"I think that's an awesome idea," Sharon said.
"So it's decided," Jesus said. "LA, here we come!"
"Okay, come on, everyone, let's go!" said Sharon the next afternoon.
"W-where are we g-going?" Callie asked.
"We're going to Los Angeles. It's a city in California like San Diego. A lot of people make movies
there," Mariana explained.
"O-Okay."
"Come on, it'll be fun."
Sharon, Stuart, Dana, Callie, Mariana, Jesus, Jude, and Brandon arrived at the Staples Center.
"W-what's t-this?" Callie asked, looking at her ticket.
"It's a ticket. You buy one to go into the game like we did with the baseball game," Brandon
explained.
It was the end of the 2nd period of the ball game.
"Would the ticket holder of Seat 12, row 7, area 3 come to the court?"
Callie that's you Jude said
"W-what do I do?"
"Go down to the court."
Callie and Mariana made their way down to the court.
"Here, miss. You can throw the ball in the basket and win $100.00."
"O-okay."
Meanwhile, at the hotel Stef and Lena were staying at in San Francisco, Stef was checking out
the game, already dressed for the evening.
"Oh, my God. LENA!"
"What?" Lena looked over from where she was getting out of the shower. They were getting
ready for a candlelight dinner at a restaurant overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge.
"Callie and Mariana are on TV!"
"They're WHAT?!"
"Yeah! Right there!"
"Wow, how did they get tickets? Frank?"
"No way, my dad is a baseball and football guy only."
Stef and Lena looked at each other.
"Jesus," They said at the same time.
Meanwhile, Callie was dribbling the Ball like Jesus taught her. She shot the ball. The ball made
the basket.
The crowd went nuts.
"W-why is everyone…making noise?" Callie asked. She still had trouble finding words
sometimes.
"Because it went in!" Mariana exclaimed.
"R-Really?"
"Yeah!"
The contest announcer gave Mariana the check for $100.00.
Later that evening, everyone got home. The phone rang as everyone was getting settled for the
night.
Stuart answered the phone. "Hello?"
"Hi Stuart, it's me, Stef. Can I talk to Callie?"
"Callie, it's for you."
"H-Hello?"
"Hi, love."
"M-mom?"
"We saw you on TV."
"Y-you did?"
"Mama and I saw your basket."
"How?"
"We were watching the game."
"Y-you did?"
"Yeah!"
"I-I w-want the m-money t-to g-go to you guys. For t-taking c-care of J-Jude."
"What? Callie, you don't have to do that. It's your money, love."
"I-I want to."
"Well…okay. We'll talk to you soon."
…
The following week, Stef and Lena came home.
"We're home!" Lena called. "Where is everyone?"
"SURPRISE!" Everyone jumped surprising the moms
"Wow, what's all this?" Stef asked, surprised.
"I-it's a party t-to s-surprise you," said Callie.
"And let's not throw any cake this time," Mariana said. Everyone laughed.
"It's so good to be back with our family, especially our basketball star!" Stef hugged Callie. "So
where did you learn those basketball moves?"
"J-Jesus."
"But who taught Jesus?" joked Jude.
"Very funny." Jesus playfully chased Jude through the house.
"Kids, be careful," Lena warned.
"Yes, Mama," Jesus said.
…
The next morning, Stef was walking through the police station and she bumped into Mike.
"How's the newlyweds?"
"We're fine."
"Hey, I saw Callie on TV the other night during the Lakers-Bulls game, making a free throw."
"Yeah, Lena and I saw it too."
"I think she'd like this." Mike pointed to a sign that read, "Recreation Youth Basketball coached
by Mike Foster".
"Wait, what?"
"Yeah. I decided to start a youth basketball team for all ages."
"Don't get used to me saying this, but Mike, you're a genius."
"Well, naturally. Where do you think B gets his great ideas from?"
Stef was talking to Lena that evening.
"Wow, Stef. Callie on a basketball team? She just started to walk on her own."
"Maybe this'll help her get stronger."
"Maybe so."
"Come on, love. Give it a chance."
Callie came in.
"Hey Cal, would you like to play on a basketball team?"
"Ye-yes," Callie replied in surprised excitement.
"See?" She told Lena.
"Well….alright."
Mariana walked into the room.
Hey, Miss Thang," Stef greeted. "I think I got you a job. How would you feel about designing
jerseys for a community basketball team?"
"What basketball team?" Mariana asked.
"Someone starting a basketball team?" Brandon asked as he and Jesus came in.
"Yes. Your dad."
"Wow," Brandon said.
"I'm impressed," Lena said.
"How long until dinner?" Jesus asked, pulling out his skateboard.
"30 minutes."
"I'll be back soon. I'm going to talk to Mike about a proposition."
"H-hey, M-Mariana? Would you want to play with me?" Callie asked.
Brandon laughed. "Callie, you'd get better luck getting a pig to fly."
"Oh, yeah? I'll show you. I'm in," Mariana replied.
"Can I play?" Jude asked.
"Sure, sweetie," Stef said.
The next day at the police station gym, Mike and Jesus gathered their team.
"Kids, this is Callie, Mariana, and Jude. Callie, Mariana, Jude, these are your teammates,
Daphne, Kiara, Carmen, Rebecca, and Cole."
Everyone met and shook hands. If anybody noticed Callie's halting speech or slight limp, no one
commented on it. Soon, the team was doing drills.
Stef and Lena walked over.
"Wow, Coach, you have quite the turnout," Stef said.
"Yeah, they're from the Girls United Group Home."
"And it was nice of you to appoint Jesus as assistant coach."
"I'm glad he volunteered."
Callie threw a basketball.
"It missed," Jude laughed.
"W-what are you d-doing?"
"Just being a typical little brother annoying his sister."
"I-I'll get you!"
"Gotta catch me first."
Callie chased Jude all over the gym.
Lena looked over.
"Stef, Callie is actually running."
Stef gasped. "Oh my goodness, she is!"
"Look at her," Lena marveled. "What do those doctors know?"
…
The next day, Callie and Stef were working on her speech.
"Can you say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?" Stef said, only half-jokingly.
"S-super-super-super-"
Stef chuckled. "It's okay, love. I've never been able to say it either."
"What does it mean?"
"It's a word Mary Poppins says."
"Who's Mary Poppins?"
"It's an old Disney movie."
"I don't think I've ever seen that one either," Jude said.
Stef looked shocked. "Lena, we have a problem."
"We're watching it tonight. All of us," Lena decided.
"It'll be fun!" Jude said.
Stef looked at their collection of DVDs. "Huh. We don't own it."
"Now what do we do?" Jude asked.
Stef got an idea. "Callie and I will be back."
They went to the local movie store.
"Callie, why don't you ask for the movie, okay?"
"O-Okay."
Callie went to the clerk. "Do you h-have a c-copy of Mary Poppins?"
The clerk smiled. "As a matter of fact, we do."
He walked away, and Stef squeezed her arm.
"That was almost perfect, Cal."
"T-thank you."
The two went home.
The whole family gathered and watched the movie.
"What did you think, Jude?" Stef asked.
"I loved it."
"M-me too," Callie said. "M-my favorite scene is the guy dancing with the p-penguins."
"I love that too," Lena said. "He's very talented."
"That he is," Brandon said.
Brandon went over to the piano and began to play "A Spoonful of Sugar".
The family spent the night singing songs from Mary Poppins.
…
On Thursday morning, Callie was anxious.
"M-Mom, is it time for the game yet?"
"Not yet," Stef replied.
"This is going to take forever," Callie groaned.
"Why don't you help me with breakfast? Get your mind off it."
"Okay."
They had blueberry pancakes, Callie's favorite.
Jesus walked in. "Hey, my star player needs to take it easy."
Stef just shook her head. "Come on, Jesus. Callie needs her energy."
"Mom, is it t-time n-now?" Callie asked after breakfast.
"Sorry, Cal, you have two more hours."
Callie sighed. "W-what am I going to do for two hours?"
Jesus blew his whistle. "Around the block three times, slacker."
Good job," Stef told her son. "That'll keep her occupied for a while."
Lena came in from running a few errands.
"Stef, would you mind explaining why I saw Callie run down the street?"
"To keep her occupied."
"Ah."
"She's so excited for the game."
"Me too."
Mariana walked in.
"Hey Miss Thang, I just dropped off the jerseys with Mike."
"Thank you. It took me all night to make them."
"I can't believe you're actually going to play in the game," Brandon said, getting a glass of
orange juice.
"Only because Callie asked me to and prove to you I can do it."
"Mariana, I'll make you a deal. You get one, just one, basket. In today's game, I'll do your chores
for one month."
"One month per basket."
Brandon groaned. "Deal."
…
That afternoon, Brandon, Stef, and Lena were sitting in the stands. Brandon was using Jude's
video camera to record the game.
The game started. Callie stole the ball from the Knights and made the first basket.
"Way to go, Callie!" Jude gave his sister a high-five.
"Thanks, Jude."
She sat down.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just tired."
Daphne took the ball and shot the ball into the hoop with assistance from Mariana. They
high-fived each other in the stands. Stef and Lena were watching.
"Callie looks tired," Lena said worriedly.
Don't worry, Mama, she's fine," Brandon reassured her. "Whoa!"
"What? What is it?"
"Mariana just made a basket," Brandon said, surprised.
Well B That's One month of you doing
her Chores don't remind Me Stef Chuckled
"Go Mariana!" Jesus yelled.
Rita came into the gym. "Sorry I'm late, the traffic was nuts. Did I miss anything?"
"Callie made the first basket of the game," Brandon told her.
"The East Side Wildcats are going to win this," Stef smiled.
"I hope you're right, Mom," Brandon replied.
It was the start of the 2nd period.
"Okay, we're down 20-10 but we have a long time to turn it around," Mike said.
"What team?" Jesus said at the top of his voice.
"Wildcats, get your head in the game!" The team responded.
Jude took the ball. Callie and Kiara were blocking for him. Jude slipped past the defensive
player and made a basket.
"Way to go, Jude!" Lena cheered.
"Nice shot, Judicorn."
"Thanks, Mariana."
Callie got the ball but tripped and fell.
"Oh, no. I hope she's okay," Stef said, standing to get a better look.
Callie shakily stood up. Mariana ran over and helped her up.
"Th-Thanks."
"You're welcome. Now go get 'em."
"You got it, Callie? Are you sure you want to continue?" Mike asked.
"Y-yes."
"What now?" Mariana asked.
"We have a minute left in the 2nd Quarter."
"I-I have an i-idea," Callie said, whispering to her teammates.
Mariana started to dribble.
"Hey, look over there!"
The defensive player looked over. Looking back, they noticed Daphne was on the other side of
the court. and made a basket
20 minutes later, the game was in the 4th quarter.
Callie threw the ball to Jude, who threw it to Mariana, who passed it to Daphne, who threw it
back to Mariana, who threw it to the net but the ball bounced back. Callie caught it, making the
game-winning shot.
"Alright, Callie!" The family cheered.
They ran up to her and hugged her.
"Cake and ice cream on me," Jesus said.
A half-hour later, the whole team and the family gathered in the Adams Fosters' kitchen.
"That was amazing!" Stef said.
Did you record the game?" Jude asked Brandon.
"Yup, the whole game, even all the baskets Mariana made. Let's see, that's ten baskets. That's
10 months of me doing Mariana's chores," Brandon grumbled.
"A deal is a deal," Mariana said.
"Fine, you win."
"By the way, guys, I have an announcement. I'm joining the girls' basketball team at Anchor
Beach."
"Wow, I'm impressed," said Stef.
"Yeah, a certain big sister inspired me," Mariana wrapped her arm around Callie.