Free A Pinstriped Finger's My Only Friend by Robert T. Jeschonek Page A

babe.)
    "I'm starting to think this might turn out to be the best day ever ." That's what he says.
    So much for being bored!
     
    *****
     
    Chapter 11
     
    FIVE MINUTES LATER:
     
    The second Judd walks into the vast gymnasium...
    (And by gymnasium, I mean it's more like an airplane hanga r or major coliseum! )
    ...he's grinning the biggest grin I've seen on his face since this whole quick-change mess started. Can you blame him? He's a first-class, dyed-in-the-wool, sweat socks-for-breakfast jock , right? Pretty much eats, breathes, and sleeps sports, more sports, and nothing but sports.
    (Other than chicks .)
    For someone like him, this is like walking into paradise. Beyond paradise. Hyper-Heaven . Mega-Nirvana .
    He loves it. I start to worry he might stroke out on me, he loves it so much.
    "Judd?" Eva's looking at him with those glowing golden eyes of hers. "Are you all right?"
    "All right?" Dude's in a freakin' daze , I mean seriously . " Better than all right."
    Eva lowers her voice. "Are you stoned? You're kind of acting funny ."
    Judd just keeps staring up at the incredible scene, shading his eyes with his left hand...
    (Must be nice being the right pinky, who never has to do squat .)
    ...and shaking his head slowly. "Not stoned, Eva. Just taking it all in."
    Eva looks up and shrugs. "Same as every other day of the year, but okay." Just then, a bunch of whistles blow at the same time...
    (Izzat ten? Twelve? Twenty ?)
    ...and she pops over and kisses him on the cheek. "Gotta go, sweetie! Wish me luck! I hear the Bruisers are out for blood today! They want revenge for last Wednesday!"
    "Good luck." Judd spares her a brief glance and goes back to gazing up at what's going on above us. I think he barely registers her presence at this point.
    But that's about to change. Because as soon as Eva pecks him on the cheek, she leaps up into the high-flying spectacle we've been gaping at.
    Then, there's another blast of whistles, and the scene explodes into furious action.
    Which leaves me speechless. I've never seen anything like it, not even close--but there it is. One hundred percent mind-blowingly real .
    The ultimate game of basketball.
    There are five levels happening at once, stacked from floor to ceiling in the enormous coliseum-style gym. The players include boys and girls both-- hundreds of them, all juniors and seniors from what I can see, all dressed in purple or orange uniforms.
    Each level consists of six full-courts ringed by twelve floating hoops and backboards. I see no visible floors, just hovering strips of paint marking off the keys and bounds...but players still run back and forth, dribbling balls on what appears to be thin air.
    Where the courts intersect, the games shuffle and mix. Players from one court suddenly bolt over to another one, where they score points while other players take their place on the courts they left behind. The changes happen between levels, too, as players fly back and forth from game to game to game at different altitudes.
    Through it all, the place roars with cheers from the vast crowd jamming the towering stands. The fans stomp so hard that the risers shudder and the floor trembles underfoot. Some of them take flight and become part of the games, replacing players or refs.
    It's amazing. It looks like total chaos, but it's somehow organized and under control. Numbers tick on a scoreboard, but there's only one score I can see: Pummelers 107, Bruisers 98. How they come up with that score out of the willy-nilly madness going on in the gym is beyond me.
    Balls and players are flying everywhere. Kids shoot laser beams out of their eyes and ears and navels, disintegrating balls in midair. Impossible athletic feats are accomplished every few seconds.
    (Welcome to Basketball of the Gods !)
    One guy slam-dunks on the top level with such force that he shatters the backboard and keeps going, smashing backboards on every level below. He ends up landing on the ground level, catching the ball in