Gracias I might need a few days to heal said Danny Hope you’re ready to play every day Diego answered in Spanish He hopes he is and he’s sorry you’re hurt said Lance Tell him Thanks and I’ll be fine said Danny to Lance He knows said Lance He understands almost everything you guys say He just can’t speak English Diego nodded and said something else in Spanish He says he knows enough English to get Wayne’s jokes said Lance Poor guy said Danny Dylan returned from the other dugout He was the other batboy and he had been in the visitors dugout helping the Cougars Hey Wally he said to the clubhouse manager who was our boss I have something important to talk to you about What’s up It’s kind of secret said Dylan looking around the locker room OK Let’s meet in my office Wally’s office was nothing but a desk in the equipment room but Dylan followed him in there I was dressed and ready to leave Then I remembered that it was still raining so I looked for my rainproof poncho Wally had given both Dylan and me Porcupine ponchos a while back My locker was kind of a mess I had extra clothes game-day souvenirs and a bunch of other junk I kept meaning to sort it
out but never got around to it
Dylan came back and grabbed his poncho from his locker What’s going on I asked I’m going to miss most of the next home stand the week after next Really The next home stand was going to be the longest of the season with games on ten straight days How come I’ve got other plans He closed his locker door Wally’s going to try and find a replacement OK I expected Dylan to tell me why he would be gone but he didn’t Are you ready to walk home he asked Sure I finally found my poncho hiding in the corner of my locker under a baseball glove I used during batting practice We headed out We walked with our hoods up and our heads lowered because it was raining really hard Dylan had plenty of time to tell me where he was going but he didn’t say a word I wondered what the big secret was and why he wouldn’t tell me
onday was a day off so Dylan and I went for a bike ride It had stopped raining and the sun was out We stopped at the golf course clubhouse to have a Coke and cool off You don’t have to play golf to use the clubhouse How’s Penny Dylan asked He had taken care of her when my family was on vacation He was crazy about animals She’s fine I told him Penny did mope around for two days because she missed Dylan but she was getting better Hey do you need somebody to take care of your rabbits while you’re gone No My parents can take care of them he said So his parents weren’t going with him That was a clue Was Dylan going to camp Was he visiting relatives on his own And why would either of those things be a secret Why couldn’t he just tell me I needed Mike McKay the Sports Detective to help me crack the case That gave me an idea
