Free Supercharged Infield by Matt Christopher

the room. A moment later Jonny came in, holding onto Karen’s hand. At the sight of
     Penny, Karen’s eyes widened, and she stopped.
    “Please, Karen,” Jonny said, his velvety voice never as tender as it was now. “Please. Penny’s here to help me. To help you.
     I told you that. Now, sit on that chair and I’ll put the electrodes back on your wrists like I did before. Only this time
     you’ll become normal again. Do you understand? Normal.”
    Karen didn’t budge, as if she were mulling Jonny’s words over and over again in her mind.
“Please,
” Jonny whispered again, so softly that Penny could barely hear him.
    Then Karen moved, going to the chair at the side of the computer, sitting down on it, and resting her arms on the chair’s
     armrests. Calmly, Jonny picked up the cups of the electrodes and put them on her wrists. Then he sat down in front of the
     keyboard and monitor and once again began punching the keys, starting by putting in the date and time, followed by the code
     words: “MU-CH-PH.” He looked at them for a moment, then added the Roman numeral “V.” Then “RESPOND, PLEASE.”
    Instantly, underneath the line he had written, a sentence appeared: “INFORMATION RECEIVED. NEXT, PLEASE.”
    “Hold your breath,” Jonny whispered, as he typed the line “DELETE MU-CH-PH V.” A second . . . two seconds passed, as Penny
     held her breath, waiting to see what the computer was going to say.
    The reply came: “OKAY.”
    “All
right!
” Penny cried spontaneously, throwing her fists into the air. Jonny looked so pleased that Penny thought he was going to let
     out a happy cry, too. But he restrained himself, glancing across at his sister instead. Penny looked at Karen. The girl’s
     eyes were closed, but Penny noticed a slight movement of her arms and the rest of her body, a reaction to the pulsing sensation
     she felt coming from the computer through the tubes and into her body.
    Twenty seconds later Jonny typed another line: “DELETE MU-CH-PH IV.”
    “OKAY,” responded the computer again on the next line. Once again Penny saw Karen’s reaction as the computer reduced the muscular
     strength in her body and restored her emotional reactions — her
feelings
— closer to normal.
    It’s working
, Penny thought, breathless.
It’s really working
.
    Twenty seconds later, Jonny pressed the buttons to delete Phase III. Then Phase II. And, finally, Phase I. 0 popped up on
     the screen.
    Silent, tense, Penny watched Karen’s face as Jonny shut off the computer and removed the electrodes from his sister’s wrists.
     Karen sat still a moment, staring straight ahead, unmoving — and Penny was seized by the fear that the reversal hadn’t fully
     worked on Karen. Then, suddenly, a broad, bright smile came over Karen’s face, and she threw her arms around her brother,
     hugging him fiercely as tears filled her eyes. Then, still wordless, she turned to Penny and flung her arms around her.
    “Penny! Oh, Penny!” she finally cried. “I feel so much better! So much better! Thanks! Thanks trillions!”
    Penny felt a lump form in her throat as she returned Karen’s squeeze. “I do, too, Karen,” she whispered huskily, blinking
     away the tears that filled her own eyes. “I never felt better in my life.”
    She closed her eyes tightly to clear themof tears, then pulled back from Karen and looked at Jonny.
    “Now we’ve got to get the other girls here,” she said, relieved, “and get them back to normal.”
    “Right,” replied Jonny, looking fresh and relieved, too, as if a tremendous weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “I’ll
     start calling them right now. The ones we can’t get today we’ll get tomorrow.”
    He was already dialing the telephone before the last few words were out of his mouth.

FOURTEEN
    T HE DAY WAS BLEAK AND DREARY when the Hawks played the Comets on Tuesday afternoon, but there was a sparkle in Penny’s eyes as if the sun were really
     shining. Coach Parker