Free Boxcar Children 68 - Basketball Mystery by Charles Tang, Gertrude Chandler Warner Page A

speak. They did believe Mr. Fowler made things hard for Buzz on purpose.
    “Everybody’s wrong thinking I’m out to get Buzz. I had the record for ten years before he broke it. I knew somebody was going to break my record someday.”
    By this time Courtney had come out to see what the commotion was all about. She overheard Frank getting upset. “You know what’s hard?” she asked, looking at the Aldens. “That everything Frank and I did was pushed aside just because the Nettleton twins came back. Frank and I worked with the neighborhood teams for months. Then the twins showed up. Pretty soon all we were good for was making up schedules and such.”
    “The twins are leaving in a couple of days,” Mr. Fowler said. “But we’ll still be here. Only there aren’t any newspapers and television people looking to talk to us.”
    The Aldens felt awful. Frank Fowler and Courtney Post had worked hard with the teams.
    “What about our game?” Henry asked. “It seemed like you wanted the Blazers to lose just because Buzz was coaching us.”
    Mr. Fowler was quiet now. “I’ll admit I made a lot of bad calls during the game. I should have let Tom referee the game, but he can get so distracted. He even forgot to give Buzz this schedule change. Not to mention the mix-up with the television people I found out about. Tom took the message from them but forgot to tell the twins about it. So the crew showed up at the sports center and no one was there.”
    Henry still wanted to know what happened at the Blazers game. “Were you upset with our team?”
    “In a way I was,” Mr. Fowler said. “I let my own jealousy get me in a bad mood. I guess I took it out on your team. For sure, I wasn’t thinking straight during that game. I’m sorry about that. But, hey, guess what?”
    “The Blazers won the trophy anyway!” Henry said proudly. “Speaking of trophies . . .”
    Courtney shrugged her shoulders. “Hey don’t look at me. I’m sorry about what happened at our first practice. I found Tipper’s keys and kept them. I . . . well . . . I was afraid the team would like her better than they liked me. I tried to make her look disorganized in front of the girls. But I didn’t have anything to do with that missing trophy. I still have one more year of college. I’d rather win my own trophy than take it from Tipper. She’s taught me a lot about how to be a good team player. Maybe next year I’ll be the Most Valuable Player!”
    The next day the Aldens dressed up in their basketball uniforms. Mr. Alden whistled while he put on his most colorful bow tie.
    “Why such long faces?” he asked when he noticed no one else seemed very excited about Opening Day. “I know you’re wondering about that trophy. But we must trust the writer of that letter and hope for the best. Now let’s head out. We don’t want to be late!”
    The parking lot was packed when Mr. Alden drove up to the sports center. People were streaming into the brand-new building. There were balloons inside the lobby. The Aldens could hear the Greenfield High School band playing inside the gym.
    “Your decorations look very fine,” Mr. Alden told his grandchildren. “I see Nora Nettleton going in. The twins must be here already. I’ll meet you all in the front row of the gym. I’ll be with the twins and some of their Greenfield relatives and friends.”
    Soo Lee tugged Jessie’s sleeve. “I forgot to brush my hair.”
    “Me, too.” Benny tried to flatten a curl of hair that just wouldn’t stay down.
    Jessie took the younger children by the hand. “I’ll bring you both to the locker room so you can get nice and spiffy. But first, Benny, take this envelope to the referee. Patsy wrote up the team’s names, numbers, and records for the game.”
    Benny took the envelope from Jessie. He tried to read the words. “Fast Breakers Statis . . . What’s this hard word?” Before Jessie could answer, Benny noticed something else. “Hey! Look at the letters on this