Johnny Long Legs (2 page)

The White Cats fell further behind in the third quarter. Then Cotton Cornish got hot in the fourth and sank three in a row,
plus a foul shot. Rick laid in a couple and Toby sank two long ones to put the White Cats back in the lead.

When the final whistle blew the Cats won by two points, 61 to 59.

“Told you we have a good fighting club,” said Toby, dressing in the locker room after a quick shower. “When Thursday comes
we'll be even better.”

Johnny would be on the team then. He felt tense and worried, though. Toby believed that he was a darn good basketball player
just because he was tall. But he wasn't. Toby and the whole White Cats team were going to be in for a real disappointment.

He practiced with the White Cats the next evening. In a scrimmage game Coach Dates played him at center and he just barely
out-jumped his opponent, a kid much shorter than he. He wondered whether the coach would put him in at all in the White Cats'
next game.

The coach gave him a uniform before the Astro Jets game which meant, at least, that he was on the White Cats' team. Number
4 was on the back of the jersey.

“Biggest size I have,” the coach said, smiling.

Johnny stood in line with the other players before the game started and shot baskets
with them. He felt everyone's eyes on him, watching to see how well he performed. He was the tallest boy on the team, topping
Rick by an inch.

The game started. Both teams seemed evenly matched. The first quarter was half over when Coach Dates nudged Johnny. “Go in
for Rick, Johnny. Report to the scorekeeper.”

Johnny shook his opponent's hand as he had seen the players do, then hopped around the center of the court, waiting for Toby
to throw the ball in from out of bounds.

Toby passed it to him. He caught it, dribbled across the center line, and then stopped as an Astro Jet tried to pounce on
the ball. Johnny lifted it high out of the way, then pivoted.

The whistle shrilled.

“Traveling!” cried the ref, twirling his hands to show the infraction.

Johnny stared at him. Traveling? He had barely moved his foot!

The Astro Jets took out the ball. Huck intercepted the pass-in, dribbled a few steps, then passed to Johnny. Johnny drove
in for a layup, but a hand rose in front of him and tapped the ball away.

An enthusiastic yell came from the Astro Jet fans. Bewildered, Johnny looked at the player who had stopped him from making
a basket. A boy at least a foot shorter than he!

“Way to jump, Stogy!” yelled a fan.

The Astro Jets had the ball and were taking it down their end of the court. An instant later an Astro Jet passed. Another
caught the ball, leaped, and sank it for two points.

Toby ran upcourt and met Johnny's eyes. A stunned look was on his face.

“Thought you had one for sure,” he said disappointedly.

J
ohnny learned that the small Astro Jet who had outjumped him was Stogy Giles. For each basket scored by one of his teammates,
Stogy scored two. He was lightning fast and easily the best player on the Astro Jets team.

Johnny stayed in when the second quarter started. The Astro Jets were leading 13 to 7. They took the ball from out of bounds
and moved it across the court in a series of quick, snappy passes. Johnny covered the backboard as an Astro Jet shot one from
the
foul line, but an Astro Jet outjumped him and caught the rebound.

A yell went up from the Astro Jet fans. “Nice going, Stogy! Those long legs! They're too heavy for him to lift!”

Johnny tried to shut out the needling cries. They pricked and hurt.
Could he help it that he couldn't jump? He was trying, wasn't he?

Nat Newton took Toby's place and plunked one in from a corner. Later Johnny was fouled as he tried a layup and was given two
shots. While he bounced the ball at the foul line he prayed he would make both of them. Making both would help to cancel out
his poor jumping.

He hit the first shot and missed the second.

He rushed in for the rebound. But once again Stogy Giles outjumped him and took possession of the ball for the Astro Jets.
He scooted under Johnny's outstretched arm like a bug, dribbled all the way down-court, then shot a pass to a teammate. The
Jet broke for the basket and scored.

The quarter was half over when Coach Dates took out Johnny and put Rick back in. “You're not getting off your feet, Johnny,”
he said, tapping Johnny's right leg with his big hand. “What the matter, big guy? No spring in those long legs?”

“Guess not,” replied Johnny lamely.

“Exercise them,” advised the coach. “Walk and run all you can. And jump. You'll notice the difference.”

Johnny nodded.

The Astro Jets led 26 to 19 when the half ended. Both teams went downstairs to their locker rooms for a rest. When they returned
Johnny caught a glimpse of two familiar figures walking toward the stands at the far end of the court. Mom and Dad!

He sat on the bench as the second half started and hoped he would stay there the rest of the game. But near the end of the
third quarter Coach Dates sent him back in to replace Rick.

He tried to do better, to avoid traveling, to avoid making a foul, to outjump an opponent at the boards or when a jump ball
was called. It seemed that the harder he tried the worse he played.

“You outjumped him again, Stogy!” a Jet player shouted.

The Jets scored on the play. A few seconds later Cotton flipped a pass to Johnny near the basket and Johnny sank it. The crowd
cheered. But the cheer didn't sound sincere. It seemed to mock him, as if Johnny had sunk the basket by accident.

Johnny sat on the bench during most of the fourth quarter. He went in when there was a minute left to play. He didn't score.
The Astro Jets won, 68 to 57. Johnny couldn't get showered and out of the locker room fast enough.

“Those fans,” said Mom irritably as they rode home in Dad's car. “The nerve yelling such awful things. I don't want you to
go to another game, Johnny. I don't want you to play again. It's embarrassing.”

“Now wait a minute, Celia,” said Dad. “Don't ask Johnny to quit. That will only make things worse for him. Fans are like that.
Whether they see kids play, or grownups, they like to pick on someone. It's part of the game. Johnny's a good target. He's
tall. He has long legs. The fans think he should jump higher than anyone else out there.”

“It's ridiculous,” muttered Mom.

“Well, there is some truth to that,” said Dad, and turned to look back at his stepson for a moment. “You really don't have
spring
in your legs, Johnny. But practice should take care of that.”

“Coach Dates told me to walk and run and jump all I can,” said Johnny.

“That'll do it,” Dad said with a smile.

B
undled in coats, hats, and boots, Johnny and Toby bucked the stiff wind and heavy flakes of snow as they headed for the Community
Hall gym and the game against the Hornets.

The hall lay in the direction of the long hill where the boys had gone tobogganing. It was about a third of a mile from home.
Dad would have driven them but it was only four-thirty and he was still at work. Johnny didn't mind walking, though. Since
Coach had suggested that he exercise his legs and jump as often as possible, he preferred to walk.

Rick Davis started at center against the Hornets. Jim Sain, tall and trim in his green uniform, was in the Hornets left forward
position.

The referee tossed the ball up between the centers, blew the whistle, and the game was on. Rick outjumped the Hornets center
and tapped the ball to Toby. Toby flipped it to Huck and Huck dribbled it toward the White Cats basket. He stopped as Jim
sprang in front of him, pivoted on his left foot, and whipped a pass to Rick. Rick broke for the basket, went up for a layup,
and missed. He and Jim Sain leaped for the rebound and Jim got it.

Jim dribbled the ball upcourt, slowed down as he crossed the center line, then suddenly drove in and laid it up against the
boards. A basket.

“That-a-way, Jim!” a deep voice thundered from the stands. “Buzz, boy! Buzz!”

Johnny saw the fan on the top seat at the opposite side of the court, a man wearing a shabby gray topcoat and holding a battered
old hat.

Seconds later the Hornets scored another basket. Then Rick sank a twenty-foot set shot and Toby followed up with a corner
shot that tied the score.

Soon Jim laid up another and the fan wearing the shabby coat yelled, “You're buzzing like a real hornet, Jim, boy!”

Half a minute later Jim tried to lay one up again and Stitch fouled him. Jim took two shots and missed them both. There was
a wild scramble under the basket and Jim came up with the ball. He drove in and sank it for his sixth point of the game.

“Okay, Johnny,” said Coach Dates. “Take Huck's place.”

As Johnny went in Huck said to him, “Good luck.” Jim Sain was his man.

Johnny and Jim shook hands. “About time,” said Jim. “I've been anxious to see you in action.”

White Cats' ball out. Toby tossed it in to Rick. Johnny ran down center court, keeping several paces ahead of Jim. He lifted
his hand now and then, trying to catch Rick's attention. Suddenly Rick heaved the ball and Johnny caught it. An instant later
another pair of hands grabbed it and the ball was going nowhere.

Shreeeek!
“Jump!” yelled the ref.

Johnny and Jim faced each other, their knees bent slightly in readiness to spring. Up went the ball. The boys jumped. Johnny
saw Jim's hand go almost a foot above his. Jim tapped the ball and a Hornet grabbed it and dribbled away.

The quarter ended with the Hornets leading 11 to 8.

“Got to get spring in those legs of yours,
Johnny,” said Coach Dates as the White Cats grouped around him. “You should be able to jump higher than anybody on the floor.”

Johnny avoided his eyes. He accepted the towel handed him and wiped the sweat from his face and arms. Someone was always reminding
him of his long legs and poor jumping. Think he didn't know? Why didn't they leave him alone?

He was determined to guard Jim closer than ever during the second quarter. Jim, with a lot of spring in his legs, was a good
re-bounder. But he was a slow dribbler.

Hornets' ball. A Hornet threw it in from out of bounds and a few passes later Jim had it dribbling upcourt. Johnny saw his
chance and rushed in.

He stole the ball from Jim and whipped it to Cotton. A roar broke from the Cats fans. “Nice steal, Johnny!”

Cotton brought the ball back downcourt and passed to Toby. Toby stopped near the corner, aimed for the basket, and shot. In!

Johnny got another chance to steal the ball from Jim. This time Jim grabbed it though, and both boys fought for its possession
before the referee's whistle stopped them.

“Jump!”

Johnny dreaded the moment.
Here we
go
again,
he thought.

Up went the ball. And up leaped Jim and himself. And Jim outjumped him.

A few minutes later the half ended with the Hornets leading, 28 to 25.

Johnny didn't start the second half. He didn't go in until the third quarter was nearly half over. Jim Sain was out so Johnny's
man was new to him.

It wasn't long, however, before Jim was in the game again. His presence made a big
difference, Johnny saw. Jim was the Hornets' best player. No doubt about it.

In the fourth quarter Johnny tried to stop Jim from sinking a layup and fouled him. The ball had gone in so Jim was given
one shot. He sank it and cast a sly grin at Johnny. “Thanks, Johnny,” he said. “You can foul me anytime you want to.”

Later Johnny took a pass from Cotton, feinted by Jim, and sank a hook shot. It was a nice play and the crowd gave him a big
hand. Jim took the throw-in from out of bounds, dribbled to the center line, then bounced a pass under Johnny's right arm
to a Hornet teammate. Johnny watched Jim closely, expecting a throw back to him. Jim dashed for the basket and reached for
a pass. Johnny stretched out his hand, intercepted the ball, and passed to Huck. He paid little attention to the cheer that
went up for him.

He glanced at the clock. Fifty seconds to go. The Hornets were leading 61 to 49. Toby sank a corner shot to make it 61 to
51. Then Jim took another rebound away from Johnny and laid the ball up for two points just as the whistle shrilled, ending
the game.

Jim grinned cockily at Johnny. “Told you I'd get even with you tonight,” he said, as they headed for the locker room.

“There will be another time,” replied Johnny.

It was snowing hard when he and Toby left the Community Hall and headed for home. Suddenly he felt a sharp blow against his
back. He started to turn and ducked. A snowball whizzed past his head. Jim Sain and a couple of other Hornets were pegging
snowballs.

“Let's run,” said Toby.

Johnny quickly took the lead. He turned sharply off the sidewalk, ran up the high
snow piled along the side of the street and down the other side toward the street when he saw a monstrous, light-blinking
object advancing less than a dozen yards away. A snowplow!

Panic seized Johnny. He slipped and slid down the bank of snow. At the same time he saw the right wing of the huge blade bearing
toward him, shooting up a white spray of snow. He heard a scream as the blade struck him. And then his name, “Johnny!”

A
hand touched his face and he heard a man's deep anxious voice. “Hey, boy. Look at me.”

Johnny opened his eyes and blinked against the falling snow. A broad grin spread across a wrinkled face against which the
strong headlight of the snowplow was shining.

“That-a-boy,” said the man. “You hurt any place, son?”

Johnny tried to think where he might be hurt. “My side a little. And my right leg,” he said weakly.

“Just lie still,” advised the man. “We'll get an ambulance, take you to a hospital.” He looked at his companion, a man in
a heavy parka beside him. “Stay with him, Ken. I'll phone for an ambulance.”