Lucy on the Ball (2 page)

Shawn was smiling. He pretended to kick the ball right back at her.

It’s good to try new things
, Bobby reminded himself. That was what his mother had said.

He hoped she was right.

Big News

“K
ick it to me, Bobby!” Shawn danced around his backyard.

Bobby and Shawn had been trying out Shawn’s new soccer ball for the last half hour. And for the last half hour, Bobby had been trying to kick the ball to Shawn. Sometimes it went too far. Sometimes it didn’t go far enough.

Bobby was surprised that something that
should be so simple was turning out to be so hard.

“Why don’t we rest for a while?” Bobby suggested.

“Rest? I’m just getting started,” Shawn answered with a grin.

Bobby knew why Shawn was smiling. He was good at kicking the ball.

“Boys,” Shawn’s mother called from the back door. “Come in and have some lemonade. It’s hot out there.”

“I’m pretty thirsty,” Bobby said.

Shawn looked as if he wanted to keep playing. Then he said, “Okay, let’s get something to drink.”

Mrs. Taylor poured Shawn and Bobby tall glasses of lemonade. The calendar said September, but it still felt like August outside.

Ben, Shawn’s younger brother, came into
the kitchen. “I’m bored.” He looked at Shawn and Bobby hopefully.

Bobby knew what that meant. Ben wanted to hang out with them.

Shawn shook his head. “We’re busy, Ben.”

Mrs. Taylor said, “I’m going to the garage to pack some summer things away. It’s supposed to get colder this week. I don’t want Ben underfoot, so please watch him.”

“Mom! Bobby and I are practicing,” said Shawn.

“Well, Ben can practice with you,” his mother answered.

Shawn looked at her with horror. “No, he can’t. He’s too little.”

“I think you were about Ben’s age when you started kicking a soccer ball,” Mrs. Taylor reminded Shawn.

Bobby was surprised. That meant Shawn
had been playing around with soccer for a couple of years.

“Where’s Sara?” Shawn asked. Sara was Shawn’s older sister.

“She’s babysitting,” his mother told him.

“She should be babysitting for Ben,” Shawn muttered.

“I won’t be long,” Mrs. Taylor said. “Just play upstairs for a while.”

Bobby followed Shawn up to his room. Ben tagged along. The first thing Bobby saw in Shawn’s room was his soccer gear laid out on his bed. A brown T-shirt. Black soccer shorts. White shoes with spikes. Shin guards.

Bobby had all the same equipment, but it was at the bottom of his closet. He hadn’t even taken it out of the bag.

“How come your stuff is on your bed?” Bobby asked.

Shawn shrugged.

“Oh, he likes to look at it. He likes to try on his uniform,” Ben said. He stuck his arms up in the air and shouted, “Goal! G-O-A-L.”

Ben loved to spell.

Shawn glared at Ben. Bobby walked over to a wire cage on Shawn’s desk. Inside the cage, running on a wheel, was Twitch, Shawn’s white mouse.

Twitch jumped off the wheel. He came over to Bobby and sniffed at his finger. Then he scampered away.

Bobby noticed a picture on Shawn’s desk. “Hey, you’ve been working on the Worm,” he said. The Worm was Planet Man’s archenemy. Bobby had told Shawn about his art project. Now he and Shawn were planning a comic book about the adventures of Planet Man and the Worm.

Shawn nodded. “I’m not done.”

Bobby could see that. Right now, the Worm just looked like, well, a worm. He had a long, squiggly body and two bulging eyes. He didn’t look like a villain who could destroy the world.

“Worm. W-O-R-M,” Ben said proudly.

“Ben. Stop with the spelling, already,” Shawn said.

The phone rang. Ben ran into his parents’ bedroom to get it. “H-E-L-L-O,” the boys heard him say. Shawn sighed.

Ben came back, holding the phone. “Bobby, it’s your mom.”

Bobby’s mother wanted him at home. “I’ve gotta go,” he told Shawn.

“Too bad,” Shawn said. “I wanted to practice some more.”

Bobby didn’t say anything to that.

When Bobby got home, his parents were waiting for him. They were sitting on the living room couch. Bobby frowned. The Quinn family hardly ever used the living room except when company came.

“Did I do something wrong?” he asked.

“No,” his mother replied. “Of course not. We just have something we want to talk to you about.”

His parents looked so serious. “Is Lucy okay?” Bobby asked anxiously.

Right then, Lucy bounded into the living room. She looked fine.

“Come sit down, Bobby,” his mother said. “We have some big news.”

Bobby sat down in the large red chair next to the couch. He liked the red chair. It had plenty of room for Lucy to sit next to him.

He patted the cushion of the chair. That
was all the invitation Lucy needed. She jumped up and snuggled next to Bobby. For once, Lucy was quiet. She wanted to hear the big news, too.

Mr. Quinn cleared his throat. “Bobby, I think you know that your mother and I have wanted to give you a brother or a sister for a while now.”

Bobby did know that. His parents talked about how nice it would be to have a baby in the house. Bobby always felt a little funny when they mentioned a new baby. It had been just the three of them for a long time. For his whole life! Now, of course, Lucy made four.

“We thought we would have a baby the way most people do,” his mother went on. “But that hasn’t happened.”

“So we have decided to adopt a baby,” his father told him. “You know what adoption means, don’t you, Bobby?”

“Sure,” Bobby said.

There was a girl in his class who was
adopted. Her name was Jade. Her parents had gone all the way to China to adopt her. Jade had told the class about it in show-and-tell.

“Are you going to China to get a baby? Like Jade?” Bobby asked.

“No,” Mrs. Quinn said. “People can go to other countries to adopt babies. But we’re going to get ours here.”

“Mothers can’t always take care of their babies,” Mr. Quinn explained to Bobby. “Then they give the baby to an adoption agency, and the agency finds it a good home. We hope the adoption agency will find a baby for us.”

Bobby didn’t know what to say. This
was
big news.

“When will we get the baby?” he asked.

“We’re not sure,” his mother answered.
“Sometimes it takes a while. Sometimes babies come right away.”

“We’ve already filled out lots of papers,” his father said. “Next, a person from the adoption agency will come to our house. They’ll make sure we will be a good family for a baby.”

Bobby frowned. “We’re a good family. Absolutely. We’re a great family.”

Lucy gave a short bark.
Of course we’re a great family
, she seemed to say.

Mr. and Mrs. Quinn smiled. “I’m glad you and Lucy agree on that,” his mother added.

“Will the baby be a boy or a girl?” Bobby asked.

“We don’t get to pick,” Mrs. Quinn told him. “But we don’t care if it’s a boy or girl. We just want another child to love.”

“You’re such a great kid,” his father said with a smile. “We know you’ll be a wonderful big brother.”

“Do you have any more questions?” Mrs. Quinn asked.

Bobby felt as if he had lots more questions. He just wasn’t sure what they were yet. He shook his head.

“Well, if you do, ask them. We’re all in this together,” his father told him.

His mother held her arms out to Bobby. “Come over here and give me a hug.”

Bobby gave her a big hug.

“You’re a good boy, Bobby,” his mother whispered in his ear.

Bobby started to walk to his room. He wanted to think about all this news. Then he did have a question. “Do I have to share my bedroom with the baby?” he asked.

“Oh, no,” Mrs. Quinn answered. “Your dad is going to give up his office for the baby’s bedroom.”

Mr. Quinn frowned. “Well, it might be your sewing room, Jane. We haven’t decided yet.”

Uh-oh
, Bobby thought. He hoped this wasn’t going to turn into a fight.

Instead, his parents started laughing. “We’ll flip a coin,” Mrs. Quinn said. “But don’t worry, Bobby. Your room is safe.”

When Bobby got upstairs, he flopped on his bed. He stared at the ceiling.

Lucy didn’t jump up next to him. She sat on the floor and looked puzzled. Usually Bobby was doing something—drawing, reading, working on the computer, or playing with her. She wasn’t used to seeing him doing nothing.

A new baby
, Bobby thought.
A brother or a sister
. Wow. He couldn’t quite imagine what that would be like.

He thought about the babies he knew. He didn’t know many. He remembered his cousins when they were babies. They could be cute. They could also be fussy and stinky.

Bobby looked over at Lucy. She was very cute. She had her stinky moments, too.

“I hope I like this baby as much as I like you, Lucy.”

But he didn’t really think that was possible.

Kick It!

B
obby looked at himself in the mirror on his closet door.

He was wearing his soccer uniform. Brown shirt, black shorts, long white socks, black sneakers.

Lucy strolled over to him. She looked Bobby up and down. Then she walked away.

“Yeah,” Bobby muttered. “I know what you mean.”

The shirt was a little snug. The shorts were a little big. The socks looked weird. They went right up to his knees. The shin guards felt stiff and uncomfortable. Only the sneakers seemed okay.

“Bobby!” Mrs. Quinn called from downstairs. “Shawn’s here.”

Today was the first Saturday soccer practice. Each week there would be two practices, one after school and one on Saturday morning. Soon their team would start playing real games. They would play against other teams from nearby towns. Those games would be on Sunday afternoons.

Bobby walked to his desk. His picture of Planet Man was there. He picked it up. He wanted to draw Planet Man in some new poses. Between soccer practice and homework, he probably wouldn’t have time today.

“Bobby!” his mother called again. “Come on! You don’t want to be late on your first day.”

Bobby put down the picture and grabbed his shin guards. He hadn’t tried them on yet. They didn’t look very comfortable.