The Alien Next Door 5: Baseball Blues Read online

“Watch him now,” Roxy said to Zeke.

  “He’s going to try to steal second.”

  The next batter stepped up to the

  plate. Dylan took a few steps off of

  first. The moment the pitcher started

  to throw the pitch, Dylan took off for

  second base.

  “There he goes!” Harris shouted.

  The catcher threw the ball to the

  second baseman. Dylan slid into the

  base.

  “Safe!” the umpire shouted.

  The crowd roared.

  “He did it!” Roxy cried. “He really

  is the best!”

  “I read that Dylan practices stealing

  more than a hundred times a day,

  every day,” Harris’s dad said.

  The next player singled and Dylan

  scored from second base.

  Zeke smiled and looked around at

  the cheering crowd. “This is really

  fun,” he said.

  The Knights won the game and

  Dylan had an all-around great day:

  hitting, fielding, and stealing bases.

  “I have a surprise for you guys,”

  Harris’s dad said. “How would you

  kids like to meet Dylan Williams?”

  “Really?!” Roxy asked excitedly.

  “Really,” said Harris’s dad. “One

  of my business associates is friendly

  with the owner of the Knights. He set

  it up so we can meet Dylan. Come on!”

  “I can’t believe I’m going to meet

  Dylan Williams!” Roxy said as the

  group made their way down to the

  team office.

  “Not bad for your first game, huh,

  Zeke?” Harris said.

  Zeke smiled and nodded.

  They arrived at the team office

  where Dylan Williams was waiting. He

  was still wearing his dirty uniform.

  “Nice to meet you kids,” Dylan said,

  shaking each of their hands.

  “We all play together on our local

  youth league team, the Chargers,”

  Harris said.

  “That’s great, what positions do you

  play?” Dylan asked.

  “I’m a catcher,” Harris said. “Zeke

  is our pitcher.”

  “And I’m the shortstop, like you!”

  Roxy said nervously.

  Dylan gave a friendly laugh.

  “You certainly carry yourself like

  a shortstop!”

  Roxy smiled

  and blushed.

  “So, how’s

  your team

  doing?” Dylan

  asked.

  “We’re having a pretty good season,”

  Harris said. “We have a big game

  coming up against our rivals, the

  Ramblers, next week.”

  “Do you have any advice for young

  players?” Roxy asked. Harris expected

  Dylan to give her a few fielding or

  hitting or maybe baserunning tips.

  “The best advice I can give you is

  to stay true to the sport. Never take

  shortcuts to win. Practice your skills

  and do the best you can and you’ll be

  a winner no matter what the score is.”

  Harris and Zeke looked at each

  other in surprise.

  “Thanks so much, Dylan,” said

  Roxy, beaming.

  Dylan held up his hand and gave

  each of them a high five and an

  autographed baseball.

  On the way to the car, Zeke pulled

  Harris aside.

  “I’m sorry,” Zeke said. “I’ve been

  thinking about what Dylan said. I realize

  that even though using my powers

  is natural to me, it does give me an

  unfair advantage. I can see why it was

  cheating. And you’re right, I need to be

  more careful with using my powers.”

  “You’re going to be a good

  ballplayer . . . just by working hard,”

  Harris said.

  “I will work on my skills,” Zeke

  said. “But I’m nervous about our big

  game.”

  “Only one

  thing to do,”

  Harris said.

  “Let’s go

  practice!”

  FOR EACH OF THE NEXT FEW DAYS,

  Harris and Zeke practiced for hours.

  Zeke was now throwing more strikes.

  And when hitting, Zeke learned to be

  patient and time his swings.

  Harris threw a pitch, and Zeke

  swung and missed. On the very next

  pitch however, he hit the ball hard. It

  flew over Harris’s head.

  “You’re getting better!” Harris said.

  “Practice, practice, practice!” Zeke

  said, smiling.

  The day of the big game against the

  Ramblers finally came. Zeke pitched

  well. But without using his powers,

  he gave up three runs. At the plate,

  he struck out his first time up, but he

  did manage to hit a few hard foul balls

  that just missed landing in the field.

  In the bottom of the final inning,

  the Chargers started to rally back.

  With two outs and a runner on second,

  Roxy came to bat. She smacked the

  ball to right field, which scored the

  Chargers’ first run.

  “Nice hit, Roxy!” Zeke shouted from

  the bench.

  Harris came up next. He also put

  the ball in play, scoring Roxy. The

  Chargers were now trailing 3–2. With

  Harris on second, they were just one

  hit away from tying the game.

  Zeke came up to bat.

  “Come on, Zeke! You got this!” Roxy

  shouted from the bench.

  “Remember what we practiced!”

  Harris yelled from second base.

  Zeke nodded, then stepped in to

  face the pitcher.

  Zeke swung and missed at the

  first pitch. When the next one came,

  he drew back the bat, but swung and

  missed again.

  The Chargers were now one strike

  away from losing.

  Zeke looked out at Harris, who gave

  him a thumbs-up sign. Then he turned

  to face the pitcher.

  Zeke swung at the next pitch.

  BOOM!

  He hit the ball hard and Harris

  started running as fast as he could.

  But the centerfielder tracked down

  the ball and caught it, so Zeke was

  out. The ball game was over and the

  Chargers had lost.

  Everyone on the team was

  disappointed—everyone except Zeke,

  who trotted back to the bench with a

  huge smile on his face.

  “What are you so happy about?”

  asked one dejected teammate.

  “I hit the ball in play!” Zeke said.

  “And I did it all on my own!”

  The teammate looked at him

  strangely, then walked away.

  Harris patted Zeke on the back. He

  was happy, too.

  “Good job,” said the coach. “Now,

  who’s ready for a pizza party!”

  “When can we practice next?”

  Zeke asked Harris, who was thrilled

  that Zeke wanted to keep improving

  his baseball skills and that they were

  good friends again.

  Harris laughed. “Right afte
r we get

  some pizza!”

  Read on for a sneak peek at the sixth

  book in the Alien Next Door series!

  ZEKE WALKED INTO JEFFERSON

  Elementary School. Since his arrival

  on Earth from the planet Tragas a

  few months ago, he had started to

  feel more and more comfortable with

  Earth customs with each new day. At

  first, everything on this new planet

  seemed strange to him. Now, even

  something that was scary at first, like

  walking into school, was no big deal.

  Except for today.

  When Zeke entered the building this

  February morning, he was shocked by

  what he saw. The walls were covered

  with bright red and shiny paper hearts.

  Curly pink ribbons dangled from the

  ceiling.

  Zeke saw pictures of babies with

  wings soaring through the sky

  shooting arrows.

  I haven’t met any human babies

  yet, Zeke thought. Do they really have

  wings?

  Signs hung everywhere saying: “Be

  My Valentine!”, “I ♥ you!”, “It’s heart

  not to love you!”, “Be my pal-intine!”

  Zeke was confused. Normally,

  the school hallways were filled

  with posters and signs about school

  plays, sports competitions against

  other schools, or class projects. But

  this? This seemed unusual, even for

  humans.

  Zeke stopped a boy who was

  hurrying to his first class.

  “Um, excuse me, but why is all this

  stuff up on the walls?” he asked.

  The boy shook his head, rolled his

  eyes, and kept walking. Looking back

  over his shoulder he said, “What

  planet are you from, man?”

  “Trag—” Zeke started to answer

  automatically, but caught himself in time.

  No one but his best friend Harris Walker

  knew that Zeke was really an alien.

  Then the boy stopped and added,

  “Valentine’s Day is next week. What

  else would it be?”

  “I . . . don’t . . . know?” Zeke replied

  as the boy disappeared down the hall.

  “And what’s Valentine’s Day?”

  At lunchtime, Zeke sat with Harris

  as he usually did. He was eager to

  figure out what all these strange

  decorations were about.

  “I have a question,” Zeke said.

  “What is Valentine’s Day?”

  “Ah, I guess you don’t have this

  holiday on Tragas,” Harris said, being

  sure to keep his voice low to protect

  his friend’s secret.

  “No, we don’t,” Zeke admitted.

  “Valentine’s Day is a holiday when

  you let the people that you like know

  that you care about them,” Harris

  explained. “You can give them a card,

  or candy, a gift, or something shaped

  like a heart.”

  “Now I’m even more confused,”

  said Zeke. “What does the organ that

  pumps blood through the body have

  to do with liking someone?”

  Harris smiled. “It’s just a symbol.

  On Earth, the heart is the place where

  you feel an emotion, like love. Don’t

  you have any similar holiday like that

  on Tragas?”

  “Well, we have Hole-tania Day,”

  said Zeke. “That’s when each being

  on Tragas digs a hole and fills it with

  pieces of furniture they no longer

  want. Then they invite everyone they

  love over to see it.”

  “Um...okay,” said Harris, a little

  confused now himself. “Don’t worry,

  Zeke. It’s one of those things that

  might be easier to just experience

  than to explain. You’ll get the hang of

  Valentine’s Day!”

  Journey to some magical places, rock out, and

  find your inner superhero with these other

  chapter book series from Little Bee Books!

  A. I. NEWTON always wanted to travel into space,

  visit another planet, and meet an alien. When that didn’t

  work out, he decided to do the next best thing—write stories

  about aliens! The Alien Next Door series gives him a chance to

  imagine what it’s like to hang out with an alien. And you can

  do the same—unless you’re lucky enough to live next door to

  a real-life alien!

  ANJAN SARKAR graduated from Manchester

  Metropolitan University with a degree in illustration. He

  worked as an illustrator and graphic designer before becoming

  a freelancer, where he now gets to work on all sorts of different

  illustration projects! He lives in Sheffield, England.

  anjansarkar.co.uk

  LOOK FOR

  MORE BOOKS

  IN THE ALIEN

  NEXT DOOR

  SERIES!

  littlebeebooks.com

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