Free Parts & Labor by Mark Gimenez Page B

behind home plate, staring
at the outfield fence with a stunned expression.
    "How'd
he do that?"
    Boy,
I wished my dad could have seen that.

    Â 
    Â 
six
    After
my games, Dad would always carry Maddy on his shoulders over to the concession
stand, and we'd walk next to him. He was big and he was strong and he made us
all feel safe. The world didn't feel as safe without him. Someone slapped me
on the back hard enough to knock me off stride.
    "I
knew you could do it, Max."
    Coach
Slimes. Grinning down at me as he walked past, as if I'd forgotten his
"Don't swing, Max!" instructions and all was forgiven. I hadn't, and
it wasn't. So I just nodded back. We were walking to the concession stand.
When Coach was far enough away not to hear, Mom said, "What a jerk."
I liked Mom when she said stuff like that, when she didn't worry about being a
role model for us, when she was just a regular person who thought Coach Slimes was
a big fat jerk, too.
    "Excellent
home run, dude," Norbert said.
    "Man,
I was really in the zone."
    I
stuck my fist out to Norbert. He stared at it with an odd expression.
    "Are
you attempting to strike my body?"
    " What? No, dude, I'm giving you a fist-bump." Being home schooled, he obviously didn't
know how to properly execute a fist-bump, so I said, "Make a fist."
    He
did.
    "Stick
it out to me."
    He
did.
    "Now
we bump fists."
    We
did.
    "That's
a fist-bump."
    "And
what is the purpose of this act?"
    "It's
a male-bonding type of thing, like a chest-bump."
    "And
what is a chest-bump?"
    Man,
that's sad.
    "Congratulations,
Kate," a passing dad said. "You got a real hitter there."
    "Uh,
thanks." When the dad was gone, Mom turned to me and said, "Why is
he congratulating me? I didn't hit the home run. You did."
    "Oh,
that's daddy ball," I said.
    "Daddy ball?"
    "Yeah. The dads get to bask in the glow of their sons'
glory. With you, I guess it's mommy ball."
    "Max,"
Scarlett said, "that home run was the most amazing thing I've ever seen.
How'd you do it?"
    "I
told you. I have superpowers."
    She
didn't laugh this time.
    We
walked past Vic and his boys hanging out on a bench. I didn't tell Mom that they were the bullies who crushed my iPod because she might get in their faces and call
the cops—or at least their parents. They gave me a look all the way past, like
they didn't know what to think of me. Of course, I didn't know what to think
of me, either. Once we were past them, Vic called out, "Who's the dwarf,
Dugan?"
    I
ignored him, but I glanced at Norbert. He didn't seem to know Vic had meant
him.
    "Great
hit, Max," another player said as he jogged past.
    People
were pointing at me and saying stuff like, "Big hit there, Max," and
"Way to go, Max," and "You da man, Max." A little kid
stopped me and asked for my autograph. "You're gonna be famous one
day," he said.
    Mom dug a pen out of her purse, and I signed the kid's Hot Tamales box. He skipped off like I
had made his day.
    "That's
got to make you feel good," Mom said.
    It
did.
    A
boy whistled at Scarlett, but she ignored him. At the concession stand, more
parents and kids slapped me on the back. A girl Scarlett knew came up to her
and said, "Scarlett, your little brother's a real stud."
    " Max? "
    The
girl left, and Scarlett said, "Max, you made us famous. It's like a
reality TV show."
    For
the first time in my entire life, I felt special. Like maybe I wasn't the lame
second child after all. I stood there and basked in the glory of a grand slam while
Norbert gazed at Scarlett like she was an ice cream cone.
    "Her
beauty haunts my thoughts," Norbert said.
    Boy,
he had it bad.
    I
inhaled the aroma of concession stand food. I often heard the neighborhood
moms talking about all the great restaurants in Austin (after they talked about
Mrs. Cushing), but for my money there's nothing better than concession stand
food. Hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy—I loved cotton candy, but when I bought
a stick earlier in the season, I got teased brutally for carrying a big