Free the Shortstop (1992) by Zane Grey Page B

boy. "Well, you haven't been out to the grounds lately. Why?"
    " Aw ! nuthin'," replied Mittie, savagely.
    "See here, you can't string me," said Chase, earnestly. "Things aren' t right with you, Mittie, and you can't bluff it out on me. So I've bee n hunting you. We're going to be pards, you know."
    "Are we? "
    Chase then saw Mittie's eyes for the first time, and learned they wer e bright, soft, and beautiful, giving his face an entirely different look.
    "Sure. And that's why I wanted to find you - where you lived - and if yo u were sick again."
    " It's my back, Chase," replied Mittie, reluctantly. "Sometimes it -hurt s worse."
    " Then it pains you all the time? " a sked Chase, voicing a suspicion that had come to him from watching the boy.
    " Yes. But it ain't bad today. Sometimes - hol' on! I got a bite. See! It's a whopper - Thunder! I missed him!"
    Mittie-Maru rebaited his hook and cast it into the stream. " Fishin' fer mine, when I can't git to the ball-grounds. Do you like fishin', Chase? "
    " Love it. You must let me come out and fish with you."
    " Sure. There 's good fishin' fer catfish an' suckers, an' once in a while a bass. I never fished any before I came here, an' I missed a lot. You see, movin' round ain't easy fer me. Gee! I can walk, but I mean playin' ball or any games the kids play ain't fer me. So I take mine out in fishin'. I 've got so I like sittin' in the sun with it all lonely aroun', 'cept the birds an' ripples. I used to be sore - about - about my back an' things, but fishin' has showed me I could be worse off. I can see an' hear as well as anybody. There ! I got bite again ! "
    Mittie-maru pulled out a sunfish that wriggled and shone like gold in the sunlight. " Thet's enough fer today. I ain't no fish-hog. Chase, if I show you where I live you won't squeal? Of course you won't."
    Chase assured him he would observe absolute secrecy; and together they mounted the bank and walked up stream. The meadows were bright with early June daisies and buttercups; the dew had not yet dried from the clover; blackbirds alighted in the willows and larks fluttered up from the grass. They came presently to an abandoned brickyard, where piles of broken brick lay scattered round, and two mound-like kilns stood amid the ruins of some frame structures.
    " Here we are," said Mittie-Maru, marching up to one of the kilns and throwing open a rudely contrived door. A. dark aperture revealed the entrance to this singular abode.
    " You don't mean you live in this oven?" ejaculated Chase.
    " Sure. An' I've lived in worse places. Come in, an' make yourself to home."
    Mittie-maru crawled into the hole, and Chase followed him. It was roomy inside. Light came in from the chimney hole in the roof, and also on one side where there was a crack in the bricks. The floor was clean and of smooth sand. A pile of straw and some blankets made MittieMaru's bed. A fireplace of bricks, a few cooking utensils, and a box cupboard told that he was his own housekeeper.
    " This 's not bad. How long have you lived in here?"
    " Aw, I fooled round town fer a while last Summer, spendin' my money fer swell lodgin's, an' then I found this place. Makes a hit with me."
    "But when you're sick, Mittie, what do you - how do you manage? " " Out of sight, an' I ain't no bother to no one."
    And that was all Mittie-Maru would vouchsafe concerning himself. They came out after a while and Chase wanted to walk farther on up the river. Rolling meadows stretched away to the hills; there was a grove of maples not far off.
    "It's so pretty up that way. Can't we go farther on and strike another road into town? "
    " Sure. But them meadows an' groves is private property," said Mittie, dubiously. " I used to fish up thet way, till I threw Miss Marjory down, then I quit. She lives in one of them grove houses. We ain't likely to meet no one, though, so come on."
    They crossed several fields to enter the grove. The river was narrow there and shaded by big trees. Violets peeped