Benny Rodriguez; 1962

Camp out!

May 5th, 1962

"You call that pitching? This is baseball, not tennis."

"Give him a tennis racket."

"Give me something."

"All right, Ham. This is my heater. I dare you to hit it."

"You'll be sorry."

"You want the heater, I'll give it to you."

"Give him a basketball. Maybe then he'll hit it."

He hits the ball and it goes over the fence.

"Oh man!"

"Ham, you idiot. Now we can't play no more."

He just keeps striding to each base with everyone hitting him with their gloves.

"Hey guys, I'll get it!" Scotty runs to the fence and starts climbing up it

"Smalls! - Smalls!"

"What are you doing?"

"Smalls, wait!"

"Guys, what are you-"

"Smalls!" Everyone screams and grabs the back of his shirt.

"Get off! Guys, I gotta get the ball!"

"No, wait!"

"Get off of me! Now!"

"You're gonna get yourself killed!"

"Killed, man, jeez!"

"Holy crap, you could've been killed."

"Yeah, yeah, truly. What are you doing?"

"You guys were leaving, so I just thought I'd hop the fence-."

"If you were thinking, you wouldn't have thought that." Squints points out and I laugh but hit him in the back of his head with my glove

"Then how do we get the ball back?"

"We don't."

"It's history."

"It's history, kiss it goodbye."

"Kiss it goodbye." Tommy repeats Timmy.

"Shut up Tommy."

"Why not?" We both ask and the boys look at us like we're crazy.

"The Beast."

"What is that?"

"Listen to me. Go to that fence..real slow, and be quiet."

"But... I-I think."

"No, no, no. No, no. Just go and peek through that hole."

"But I- But I saw something. What's back there?"

"It's okay. Just go."

We both walk back there and there is a huge paw that grabs our ball and it growls. We both back away and gasp.

"Something got the ball." I whisper.

"What was that thing?"

"Camp out" all the boys say.

~~~~~~

"Hey mom, I have a question."

"What is it sweetie?"

"Can me and Scotty have a sleepover with some of our friends from the sandlot?"

"Will there be an adult?"