Building a Team: A Baseball Buddies Story

Building a Team: A Baseball Buddies Story — page 3 — friend Luis's friend shrugged his shoulders as if to say whatever Most of the players on Luis's new team were nice to him Especially Gary I like this part Gary whispered to Aliyah But not Jimmie Luis and Jimmie could not have been more different Luis was skinny but fast Jimmie was strong but slow Luis was shy and quiet Jimmie was loud and obnoxious Loud and obnoxious laughed Luis's friend Well you are said Luis Jimmie loved to hear Luis tell this story Which was kind of weird because it was a story about him And it was about Luis too And Gary And Aliyah and Roberto And all their other teammates At the other end of the dugout a handful of players started collecting their gear The ones who took care to keep their stuff organized batting gloves fielding mitts and the most important 2

Building a Team: A Baseball Buddies Story — page 4 — ees M M piece of gear of them all bubble gum were ready in no time The rest were going to need just a few more minutes They were the McIntyre Manatees named after one of the most unusual animals in the world McIntyre was the name of the neighborhood where they all lived Manatees are aquatic animals that are kind of weird and funny looking but also smart and capable of learning from their mistakes Seriously It was the perfect mascot for this team M M Manatees 3

Building a Team: A Baseball Buddies Story — page 5 — 4 The time to go out to the field hadn't yet arrived but it was getting close Do you guys remember when Jimmie tried to teach Luis how to hit a home run said Gary And Jimmie was totally like HEY Jimmie yelled Everyone went quiet Let Luis tell the story He tells it best No one dared speak Even the players at the other end of the dugout stopped what they were doing Everyone looked at Jimmie Uhm Jimmie Luis said softly We've talked about this Jimmie nodded his head Right he said Sorry Sorry Gary Sorry everybody Jimmie leaned forward and apologized to the teammates on his left Then he did the same to his teammates on the right Luis nodded Jimmie looked at Luis and took a deep breath and when he spoke again he was like a completely different kid

Building a Team: A Baseball Buddies Story — page 6 — Hey guys he said softly Do you think maybe we could let Luis tell the story I just think he tells it best Luis looked at Gary who could barely contain his laughter Aliyah didn't bother trying not to laugh She just laughed out loud it Sure Jimmie Gary said Let's let Luis tell Thank you said Jimmie politely You're welcome said Gary just as politely Everyone relaxed Some of the players began peeking their heads outside the dugout to get a good look at the sky The rain was definitely starting to let up now The worst of the storm clouds were moving away from them Some specks of blue sky were already creeping through the few clouds that remained Some of Luis's teammates were now standing at the dugout's exit waiting to be cleared to run onto the field Others were still scrambling to find their missing batting gloves or more likely that one last piece of bubble gum 5

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