The Sandlot

Chapter 1

It all started when my dad, George Herman Ruth, died. I had never knew my mom. So it was no surprise that she didn't show up to get me after my dad died. So I had to move to the valley to live with an old friend of his. Of course I had met this person plenty of times. He was like an uncle to me. But what surprised me about him, was that he never left his house.

I just finished bringing my stuff upstairs to my room. I had started to unpack when I heard yelling from my window. I looked out the window to see some kind of old baseball field on the other side of the fence. There was a bunch of guys over there playing baseball. I miss baseball. But I swore if off when my dad died. I went back to unpacking my stuff.

"Ariel. How are you settling in?" Mr. Mertle asked.

"Well it sure is different not having my daddy around." I said.

"I know it's hard on you. And I heard you swore off baseball. You did it on live television. Why would you do that? You know that's not what your dad would want." Mr. Mertle said. I heard a bark.

"You have a dog?" I asked.

"Yeah. Hercules. He's in the back yard. You should go visit him. He's awfully lonely out there." Mr. Mertle said.

"Okay." I said.

I ran downstairs and out the back door. I saw a big dog house and slowly walked towards it. A big dog came out and barked at me.

"It's okay, Hercules. I'm Ariel. Maybe you heard of my daddy. His name was George Ruth. Or maybe you know him by Babe Ruth. He died not too long ago. That's why I'm here. My momma didn't want me." I said.

I sat on the ground and Hercules walked over to me. He sat down and looked at me.

"He taught me how to play baseball. He always told me boys wouldn't like a girl that played baseball. But I didn't care. What can I say? I was a daddys girl. I miss him so much, Hercules. What am I going to do?" I said.

I got up and went inside. I went to my room and lay down on my bed. After a while, I fell asleep.