Free Pee Wees on First by Judy Delton Page A

camping. Even a badge for catching a fish and spotting a groundhog.
    “Pretty soon our badges will cover our whole shirt!” said Mary Beth Kelly. She was Molly’s best friend.
    “They’ll go up our sleeves!” said Tracy Barnes.
    “And down our legs!” shouted Lisa Ronning.
    “They’ll be on top of our head,” said Tim Noon.
    “How could they be on our head, Noon?” said Kevin Moe. “That’s dumb.”
    “Is not,” said Tim.
    “Is too,” said Kevin Moe.
    Mrs. Peters held up her hand.
    “Mrs. Peters, what
do
we do when we run out of room to sew our badges?” asked Ashley Baker, frowning. Ashley was Patty and Kenny’s cousin from California. She belonged to the Saddle Scouts there. But when she visited her cousins, she was a temporary Pee Wee Scout.
    “We’ll worry about that when we come to it,” said their leader. “Right now we just want to think about how we’ll earn this new badge. The badge is for something that happens in the spring. Can you guess what that is?”
    The Pee Wees guessed.
    “School is out in spring,” said Lisa.
    “We don’t get a badge for that,” Tracy said, laughing.
    “We should,” grumbled Roger. “It’s the best thing that happens all year.”
    “In spring leaves come out on the trees,” said Tim.
    “We don’t get a badge for that either,” scoffed Mary Beth.
    “A tree should get a badge for that!” Kevin laughed.
    Molly thought about spring things. Gardens. Raking. Picnics. Ants.
    “Is it an insect badge?” she asked. “Lots of bugs come out in spring.”
    “Yuck,” said Rachel. “I definitely don’t want a bug badge.”
    The boys started making creepy-crawler motions across the floor and the table. They tried to make bug noises.
    “Spring does mean bugs,” laughed Mrs. Peters. “But it is not a bug badge we’re after. I’ll give you a clue. It’s a game. Where people eat hot dogs. And it starts with a
B
.”
    “Bingo!” shouted Sonny.
    Everyone laughed and Sonny looked hurt. “Bingo is a game that starts with a
B
and you eat hot dogs when you play. I’d like to get a Bingo badge.”

    “This game is played outdoors,” said Mrs. Peters. “In a park. And sometimes you watch it on TV.”
    “It’s baseball,” said Jody. “I’ll bet anything it is.”
    “Jody is right,” said Mrs. Peters. “The Pee Wees are going to play ball! It’s going to be ‘batter up!’ for Troop 23!”

CHAPTER 2

The VIP
    “I hate sports,” said Rachel. “My dad says there is too much interest in sports in this country.”
    “I don’t know how to play baseball,” whined Sonny.
    “Everybody knows how to play baseball, dummy,” said Roger. “It’s one of those things you know when you’re born.”
    “Sports are dangerous,” said Ashley. “Once our neighbor got hit on the head with a baseball. He had to have stitches and everything.”
    A few more of the Pee Wees were complaining, but most of them were cheering.
    “You won’t get hurt at our ball game,” said Mrs. Peters. “We will use a softer ball. Pee Wee baseball will be easier than real baseball. And it will be good exercise. It is something we can do outside and we can stretch our muscles and learn a skill at the same time. To earn the badge, you just have to have fun. You’ll play in the game, and you’ll hit the ball.”
    Mrs. Peters made it sound simple, thought Molly. Play a game, have fun, hit a ball. But if you couldn’t hit a ball, it wouldn’t be much fun!
    “I play baseball all the time,” said Roger. “I’m on a team with my cousins.”
    Now Molly began to worry. It sounded like most of the other Scouts knew more about baseball than she did. Roger sure did. And Kevin and Jody were smart at everything. But she was sure her bestfriend, Mary Beth, didn’t know any more than she did.
    “I’ve never played baseball,” Molly confessed to her.
    “My family plays on Saturdays when we have family picnics,” Mary Beth said.
    Rat’s knees! Even her best friend could play!