Evening star., 1932-04-17

like bullet.
Mice play Buzz" said the coach to himself.
well, I guess my worries about that position
are over"
Out on the diamond, Buzz Hendricks felt a
thrill of elation. Carpenter High School played
its first game on the following afternoon and he
knew that the second baSeman's job was his.
1t had been q sharp fight with two other boys
anxious for the position, but Buzz had won,
and for the third straight year, Carpenter would
have q Hendricks in the lineup.
Two years ago it had been George, Buzz's
oldest brother, who had represented the family
on the diamond. He had been pitcher. Last
year 1t was Harry, who had been captain and
first baseman. Buzz had been content to warm
the bench for two years, while his brothers
shone on the diamond, but now that they had
moved to college, it was up to him to uphold
the honor of the family. But next year, when
he also had finished high school, there would
be nobody left Well, of course, there would be
Frances, but Frances was just a girl 1t was
too bad.
THINKING Of Frances, Buzz naturally glanced
] at the grand stand. Yes, there she was,
trim slim girl in a navy blue skirt and bright
red sweater, sitting all by herself up there,
watching practice as she had done almost every
afternoon since the team first took the field.
AS inf1eld practice ended and Buzz trotted in
toward the plate he had moment to think
about Frances. Funny how the kid adcred base
ball Well, Frances was funny kid anyway
but one swell sister. Probably it was because
she was the only girl in the family. All her life
she had played with her three brothers, sharing
their sports and their bumps asking no special
consideration because she was girl and need
ing none.
Although she was the youngest of what Mr.
Hendricks had always called his quartet" she
was the best swimmer in the lot And On the
tennis court she had drive that would make
any boy envious During their boyhood games
she had always held up her end in basket ball
and in base ball. She had carried on" in
basket ball by being star forward on the Car
penter girls team in this, her sophomore year
but her base ball playing days were ended
Girls just didn't play base ball.
THIS very thought was running through Fran's
] mind as she sat- chin in hand, in the grand
stand Girls didn't play base ball. How she
wished they did! How she would love to be
out there on the diamond with Buzz!
An hour before she had been one of a group
of girls who left the high school building happy
to be out in the warm Spring sunshine. Mary
Sumner had announced that she was going
shopping for new hat and the other girls had
enthusiastically gone with her. But Fran had
declined their insistent invitations. Yes, she
liked new hats and all sorts of clothes She
liked all the things that all the other girls were
interested in. But she liked base ball better
Why shouldn't she, since she had been brought
up on it? The other girls laughingly taunted
her as she turned away from them and started
for the ball diamond
Spring was sort of unhappy "in-between"
season for Fran. In Winter she was head over
heels in basket ball In Summer with the boys
home from college, there would be tennis and
swimming. But right now there didn't seem
to be much of anything that she liked to do
except to go out to the diamond and watch
Buzz and the other boys practice.
Among the other boys, the one on whom her
eyes most frequently rested was Bob Wayne