The boys and I just sat in the treehouse thinking of ideas on how to get the ball back.
"Why don't we just go over and knock on the door and ask Mr. Mertle if he can get it for us?" I asked.
I had already asked this question earlier, but I figured it wouldn't be such a bad idea to bring it up again.
"Are you out of your mind?" Squints said, his eyes widening. "Mr. Mertle's the meanest old man that ever lived. He's the one who made The Beast eat that kid."
I still didn't believe his story for one second.
"It's not an option, Little Red," Squints said. "Forget about it!"
"Okay okay," I sighed. "Sorry."
Benny rubbed my back with his hand in an attempt to soothe me. It kinda worked.
"Let's just look out the window," Squints said, walking over to the window of the treehouse.
"Good idea," Scotty nodded, walking over to the window.
The boys and I all stared out the window, down at The Beast's paw and at Scotty and my stepdad's prized baseball only inches away from his paw.
"He's daring us," Squints said.
"We're on his territory now," Benny said. "Anybody got any bright ideas?"
After we'd all thought about it real hard, we had absolutely no idea what in the world we were gonna do.
So things started primitively...
"Go," Squints instructed from up in the treehouse. He was watching from the window, looking for any signs of The Beast. "Farther."
I was crouched next to Benny, behind Ham moving the wooden pole towards the ball.
Ham moved the long wooden pole farther out towards The Beast, like Squints instructed.
"Farther, okay," Ham said, nodding as he moved the board farther out.
"Just a little bit farther," Squints instructed from up in the tree house.
"Farther. Farther," Squints erged.
"Aah!" We all yelled as something on the other side of the fence suddenly stopped the pole from moving.
The Beast.
"Oh, no! Aah!" Squints shouted.
The boys and I pulled on Ham as we tried to pull the wooden pole back towards us, only to find half of it missing and chewed off.
We quickly exchanged worried looks as we stared back at the hole in the fence.
We had taken some of Scotty's robotics kit and made a long metal pole with a mesh pot on the end to try to get the ball.
"Farther," Squints instructed as Ham and the boys moved the metal invention further into the hole in the fence, towards the ball. "Go to the right a little bit. Put the back to the right."
"Farther?" Ham asked, looking up at Squints still in the treehouse.
"Guys, I see it," Squints smiled. "Turn, turn. Almost. You got it. Pull it back."
"I got it!" Ham cheered.
"Got it, guys," Squints said.
We heard The Beast snarl on the other side of the fence.
I looked up at Squints to see panic on his face.
"Pull it back! Aah!" Squints shouted.
We all started screaming as our metal invention was thrown over the fence in a crushed mess.
The Beast had just crushed metal with its bare teeth and paws.
I was in shock as we all surrounded the very bent and unusable invention.
"I think we've seriously underestimated The Beast," Ham sighed.
"Obviously," Squints said, pushing up his glasses. "We're dealing with a superior intelligence."
I hated to agree with him, but...boy was he right.
The Beast wasn't called The Beast for no reason.
I was starting to think that maybe Squints's little scary story might be true.
After a while, the boys and I had fully made a new invention to try to get the ball back.
It was a robot but powered by three vacuum cleaners.
Scotty and Bertram sat in the treehouse by the vacuums. Ham, Yeah-Yeah, Kenny, Timmy, Benny, and I stood at the top of the treehouse, holding the giant hose connected to a baseball glove and the vacuum cleaners. We slowly lowered this contraption into The Beast's territory.
"Power," Squints said.
"Okay, guys, almost ready," Bertram said. "We're connecting power now. Power connected."
"Okay, we're ready," Squints said. "Initiate retrieval suction."
"Initiate retrieval suction," Scotty said, pressing a button on all the vacuums.
The boys and I all grunted at the top of the treehouse as the pole we all held jerked in our grasp.
"Ha! You got it. Haul it up," Squints smiled.
"All right!" The boys and I cheered at the top.
"Pull it up," Squints commanded.
The boys and I shouted as we watched The Beast chomp on the metal pipe holding the ball, causing it to seal shut, dropping the ball.
The vacuums began to make alarming sounds, making all of the boys and I start giving worried looks.
"What's going on, Squints?" Scotty asked from inside the treehouse.
"The pipe-it's pinched shut," Squints said, holding up his fingers to show the pinched visual of the pipe.
Smoke began to fill the treehouse.
"Turn it off, man!" Squints commanded.
"I can't! They're shorting out!" Scotty shouted back.
"What the hell is that noise?" Ham asked, looking below us at the smoke filling the treehouse.
"The vacs are clogged," Bertram said, making his way down the treehouse ladder. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting outta here."
The boys and I immediately dropped the invention we were holding and made a run for it, sliding down the pole of the treehouse.
Squints and Tommy shouted as they quickly made their way to safety.
Scotty yelled as he slid down the firepole, Yeah-Yeah and Timmy following close behind.
Ham started down the ladder as Bertram yelled and jumped over him to the ground, doing a front flip in the process. Benny jumped after Bertram, following close behind.
I jumped over Ham, after Benny, yelling as I flew to the ground with a thud.
Ham yelled behind me as I lay on the ground, aching in pain from the impact.
Ham fell from the ladder with a thud, barely missing me.
Benny had fallen on his back too, which had probably hurt a lot, but he quickly ran up to me and offered me his hand.
"Let's get out of here!" Benny shouted, grabbing my hand in his as we both took off, running after the boys.
"They're gonna blow! Aah!" Yeah-Yeah shouted.
The vacuums blew up, causing a big puff of dust and smoke to cover us as we all ran and fell to the ground, far away from the treehouse.
I felt Benny's arm cover my head as he covered his own with his other arm.
We all sighed as we stared at each other in despair.
"We've been going about this all wrong," Squints sighed. "I blame myself. We need total surprise. An airborne attack. The Beast will never expect it."
"Yeah," The boys and I agreed, nodding.
I helped strap Yeah-Yeah into his harness while Kenny, Bertram, and Benny stood in a line with a rope in their hands, ready to pull Yeah-Yeah up into the air.
We were going to hoist him up and over into the backyard of The Beast.
"Are you sure about this?" I said as I tightened Yeah-Yeah's harness.
"Yeah, yeah," Yeah-Yeah nodded. "I'm sure."
I felt a little skeptical about this plan.
"It's clear," Squints called, giving Yeah-Yeah a thumbs up as I stepped back.
"Take me up," Yeah-Yeah commanded.
Ham nodded as he started grunting as he pedaled, hoisting Yeah-Yeah slowly up into the air.
Kenny, Bertram, and Benny grunted as they pulled the rope, raising him up and over the fence.
I walked up to Benny, turning to him and gave him a worried look.
"He'll be okay," Benny reassured with a grunt, pulling the rope.
I nodded as I stood in front of Benny and grabbed part of the rope, helping them suspend Yeah-Yeah in the air.
"Let me down slow," Yeah-Yeah said, waving his hand. "A little slower. Go slow. Go."
The boys and I all nodded as we tried our best to lower him down, using the rope.
"Yeah, let me down," Yeah-Yeah said. "Almost there."
"He's almost there," Squints said.
The boys and I, all holding the rope, grunted and nodded in response.
"Let me down right over it," Yeah-Yeah said.
"Let him down right over it," Squints repeated to the boys and I.
"Eww," Yeah-Yeah said, on the other side of the fence, no doubt picking up the now slobber covered baseball. "Okay, I got it. Get me outta here."
"Pull him up," Squints instructed.
I bit my bottom lip as I stared at the fence, pulling the rope, feeling nervous about Yeah-Yeah's safety.
I didn't want any of the boys to get hurt over the stupid baseball.
Even if it was signed by The Babe Ruth.
"I-I-I," Yeah-Yeah stammered.
"Hey, pull him up!" Squints shouted at the boys and I.
"Aah! Aah!" I heard Yeah-Yeah yell from the other side of the fence.
Ham started yelling as the pedal contraption broke.
We all ran to grab the rope where Ham was and immediately started pulling, hard and fast.
I looked up to see Yeah-Yeah didn't have the ball, but that was the least of my worries at the moment.
We all yelled and shouted as we lowered Yeah-Yeah back on the ground.
I quickly let Yeah-Yeah out of his harness and hugged him, thankful he was alive.
He hugged me back and the boys all circled the two of us, our hug quickly turning into a group hug.
I smiled, thankful that the poor boy wasn't hurt.
It was our last chance to get the ball back.
So we quit messing around and pulled out all the stops.
Scotty collected every piece of erector set he had, and it finally became...science against nature.
This time we had created a metal robot of some sort to go down a metal ramp, straight into The Beast's backyard.
Ham and Timmy stood at the top of the metal ramp, holding the robot in their arms, with army looking hats on their heads.
At the top of the treehouse stood Scotty, with a remote for the robot.
"Okay, go with me on the launch," Scotty shouted down to the bottom of the treehouse. "Come on, Squints."
"Prepare to launch," The boys shouted at each other."
Scotty flipped a switch at the top of the treehouse.
I stood at the bottom of the treehouse, Benny's arm wrapped around my waist as I rested my head on his shoulder.
I really hoped that this plan would really work.
I bit my lip between my teeth as Ham and Timmy sent the robot down the metal ramp into The Beast's backyard.
"Okay, you're on the ground," Squints informed, looking through his handmade telescope looking thing.
Scotty nodded as he began to move the robot forward with his remote.
"Moving forward," Scotty said.
The whirring of the robot was the only sound I could hear as I stood nervously at Benny's side.
"It'll be ok, Hermosa," Benny comforted, moving his arm to run his hand through my hair. "We'll get the ball back. One way or another."
"Thanks, Benny," I smiled, turning my face to give Benny a quick kiss on the cheek.
Benny smiled as he continued to comb his fingers through my hair.
I usually hated when people combed their fingers through my hair because it always hurt, but somehow when Benny did it...it didn't hurt at all.
It was actually really relaxing.
"You went too far," Squints shouted up the treehouse. "Go back."
"Reverse," Timmy passed on to Scotty. "It's too far."
"Reverse," Scotty repeated as he moved the remote for the robot.
"Stop," Squints commanded, looking back through his telescope thingy. "Drop catapult."
The boys and I standing behind Squints started silently cheering.
We're all silently praying that this plan works.
"The catapult is dropped," Scotty informed everyone.
"Open catapult," Squints instructed.
"We're gonna get it," Bertram muttered. "I know it."
"Opening," Scotty said, switching something on his remote.
I nervously took my head off Benny's shoulder and he began silently pounding his fist that was no longer in my hair into his baseball glove.
I stared at Squints, waiting for him to announce that we got the baseball.
"Forward," Squints instructed, looking through his telescope thingy. "Close catapult.
"Catapult's closed," Scotty nodded, pressing something on his remote.
"Come on, Scotty," I muttered.
"We're gonna get it," Benny muttered. "Come on."
Squints jumped up and suddenly shouted, "Aah! Fire, fire, fire!"
Benny started backing up as we all watched the baseball fly through the air.
He continued punching his baseball glove with his hand.
"I got it! I got it!" Benny shouted. "I got it!"
We all stared in shock as we watched The Beast jump into the air and close his mouth around the baseball.
The boys and I started yelling as the metal ramp started shaking, signaling that The Beast was chewing on it.
We all ran back far away from the fence while Scotty stayed at the top of the treehouse.
The boys and I watched out of breath as our robot invention flew through the air and then back down to the ground of The Beast's territory.
I shook my head as I looked at Benny to see him run his hand through his hair.