Boxcar Children 68 - Basketball Mystery (3 page)

An hour later, Mr. Alden drove Jessie and Violet to the new sports center. The building wasn’t quite finished yet, but the indoor and outdoor basketball courts were ready for practice. The Fast Breakers girls were the first to use the indoor court.

“There’s the twins’ car,” Violet said when Mr. Alden pulled up. “That means they’re back from the banquet. We’re a few minutes early. Maybe Tipper can help me before the rest of the team gets here.”

“See you later, Grandfather,” Jessie said. “The twins are going to drive us home at nine o’clock.”

The Greenfield Sports Center had a nice new smell of fresh paint and wood. Jessie and Violet stopped to look at the display case in the lobby.

“ ‘
James Alden, Donor
.’That’s Grandfather’s name!” Violet said. “Now everyone who wants to play basketball can come here.”

Jessie and Violet headed toward the gym. Their feet slapped against the new tile floors. Every sound echoed through the empty halls.

A minute later the girls heard angry words echoing through the halls as well.

“Somebody’s having an argument,” Jessie said.

The girls slowed down. Should they go in the gym? Or make a lot of noise so the people would hear them and stop arguing?

“It’s easy for you to come in and take over for a couple weeks,” a young woman said. “But I’m the one who’s still going to be here after you leave Greenfield.”

The halls were quiet. Jessie and Violet wondered what to do next.

“I’m sorry,” the second person said. “I didn’t want to force my ideas on the girls. I just thought —”

“Everybody knows what you think from all those interviews you do. But that doesn’t mean I have to agree with everything you say. I still think we should pick out the best players and give them the most training. Then they can lead the team.”

“That’s Courtney’s voice,” Jessie whispered. “She and Tipper are having a disagreement.”

Violet nodded. “Let’s make a lot of noise so they’ll hear us.”

Jessie coughed. She and Violet took heavy steps. They didn’t want to break in on the two young women during an argument.

Courtney and Tipper turned around when the Aldens walked in. Tipper looked flushed and upset. Courtney fiddled with some papers.

“Hi,” Jessie said. “I guess we’re early for practice. We saw your car outside, Tipper, so we just came in. Is Buzz here?”

Tipper cleared her throat. “He wanted to try the outdoor court now that the spotlights are hooked up. Then he has some errands to run. He’ll be back to pick us up at nine. I wonder if I should go outside and practice, too. I don’t seem to be much help around here.”

Before the Aldens could say anything, some of the other Fast Breakers girls arrived. Courtney’s and Tipper’s cross words were soon forgotten. The girls squealed with excitement. Tipper Nettleton was really here!

One of the girls quickly removed a sneaker. She handed it to Tipper. “Hi, I’m Amy Billings,” the girl said. “I know this might seem funny, but would you autograph my sneaker?”

Tipper laughed. “Sure thing, Amy.” She picked up a pen from the coaches’ table. “It’s not the first time I’ve autographed a sneaker or somebody’s hand or even a napkin in a restaurant. Here you go.”

Pretty soon all the girls wanted their sneakers autographed. Suddenly everyone heard the scream of a whistle.

“Listen up, people!” Courtney yelled over the girls’ voices. “Are we here to play basketball or get autographs? Anybody who isn’t ready for practice shouldn’t be here.”

The girls’ voices died down. They put their sneakers back on. Courtney blew the whistle again. The girls knew what this meant. No more talking. Make a circle. Listen to the coach. After all, they were the Fast Breakers. They wanted their team to be the best.

“Okay, we’re going to do some drills tonight,” Courtney told the players. “Tipper will take some girls. I’ll take the others.”

Several of the girls whispered when they heard this. All the girls wanted to be in Tipper’s group.

But Courtney Post had other plans. “Okay,” she began. “I want the following girls to line up here next to me: Patsy, Jessie, Mary Kate, and Ellen. Everyone else stand next to Tipper.”

The girls stood in two rows side by side. Courtney and Tipper checked their clipboards to decide which drills to cover.

“What’s the matter, Violet?” Jessie whispered when she saw how disappointed her sister looked. “Do you mind that we’re not in the same group?”

Violet shook her head. “It’s not that. Courtney just likes a few players best. She teaches them to keep the ball to themselves. I know you wouldn’t do that. But the others she picked just hold on to the ball, especially Patsy. The rest of us won’t get to play very much.”

Jessie gave Violet’s hand a squeeze. “Tipper won’t let that happen. No way. Besides, now that she’s coaching your group, you’ll get so good, you’ll be on the court all the time.”

Courtney blew her whistle again. “Okay, girls. Here’s what’s happening. Tipper will get some basketballs from the storage room. Everybody else, meet with your groups down at each end of the court. Ready?”

“May I have the key to the storage room?” Tipper asked Courtney.

Courtney stared at Tipper. “I gave you the key already. Don’t you remember? Right after that newspaper interview here yesterday morning?”

Tipper’s face turned red. “I’m sorry. I’ve been so busy, I guess I forgot. It’s probably in my gym bag or my purse. I’ll go check.”

After Tipper left, Courtney spoke to the girls. “Well, it’s too bad we have to waste so much time waiting around. We should be playing. But that’s what happens when you’re famous.”

When Tipper returned, she was empty-handed. “I’m sorry, Courtney. I couldn’t find the key. Are you sure you gave it to me? There were so many people around yesterday morning, I just don’t remember.”

Courtney shifted from one foot to the other. She checked her watch. “It’s already seven-thirty. We haven’t got time for this. There’s a basketball in my gym bag. We really need a bunch of them, but one will have to do. I’ll use it for my group. Did you bring one?”

“No, but Buzz did!” Tipper said, relieved. “He’s practicing on the outdoor court — that is, if he’s still there. I’ll borrow his basketball. Wait up, girls!” she called out to her group.

A few minutes later, Tipper returned empty-handed again. “Buzz left. I don’t think he’ll be back until nine o’clock to pick us up.” She looked nervously at Courtney. “Do you think our group could share your basketball?”

Courtney rolled her eyes. She took a long time to answer. “I guess so. But you’ll have to wait until we’re done. Come on, girls.”

With that, Courtney went off with her group. Soon the other end of the gym was filled with the sound of her girls dribbling, passing, and making shots from the foul line.

Tipper’s group was quiet. When would they get a turn? No one asked for Tipper’s autograph now. The girls just wanted to play basketball. They weren’t going to improve if they were watching from the sidelines.

“Sorry, guys. I really goofed,” Tipper told the girls. “But that doesn’t mean we just have to sit here. Let’s do some stretches. Then I can show you some things my college coach taught me about the ready position and about guarding. You don’t need a ball for those. Bet you’ve never played basketball without a ball before!”

Soon Tipper’s girls were having fun even without the ball.

“First I’m going to show you the ready position. Okay, everybody, line up and do what I do.”

Tipper stood with her feet apart, knees bent, arms out, and hands curved as if she were holding a ball. She made the girls practice their ready positions quicker and quicker. “Relax. Hold. Ready position! Now I want you to run, then get into position when I say stop.”

In no time the girls were able to get themselves into the ready position without even thinking about it.

“Okay, the next drill is guarding,” Tipper said. “This is important, girls. You need to be as close as possible to the other player, but you can’t touch her. I don’t want my Fast Breakers giving up foul shots to the other team. Okay, let’s try ‘ghosting.’ Pair up with another player. Pretend one of you is running to the backboard with the ball. The other girl shadows the runner like a ghost. Remember, no touching!”

The girls enjoyed this drill. Tipper made them shadow each other closer and closer, faster and faster. When anyone touched, she blew the whistle, and the “ghost” was out. After a while, Tipper hardly blew her whistle at all.

“Gee, I guess you really can have fun playing basketball without a basketball,” Violet said when the girls took a break.

Tipper bit her lip. She looked over at Courtney’s girls. They showed no sign of giving up the ball. “Well, there’s only half an hour left. It’s even more fun to play with a ball! I’ll ask Courtney for it.”

At eight-thirty, Courtney’s group finally quit.

“Everybody drink plenty of water,” Courtney told her group when they stopped playing. She threw the ball across the gym to Tipper. “It’s all yours.”

Tipper jumped to her feet. “Okay, girls. Now you can try out everything we’ve been practicing, only this time with a ball. Ready?”

“Ready!” Tipper’s girls screamed.

Soon they, too, were passing, dribbling, and making baskets.

A short half hour later, Courtney blew her whistle again. “Time to go home.”

“Do we have to leave?” Violet asked when Courtney came over. “Our group didn’t get much of a chance to practice with the ball.”

Courtney pointed to the clock. “Sorry, the manager told me we had to get everybody out by nine o’clock sharp.” She looked at Tipper. “Maybe next time somebody will bring the storage room key so the whole team can play basketball.”

Tipper said nothing. Her girls were silent as they filed out of the gym.

“Patsy, could you get my ball and stick it back in my gym bag?” Courtney asked. “I’ll be ready in a minute.”

Patsy picked up the basketball. “Would you unzip Courtney’s bag, and I’ll stuff it in?” she asked Jessie.

When Jessie held the bag open, she noticed something. “Look at this.” She held up a key chain attached to the zipper pull. “One of the keys says, ‘
Storage Room
.’Courtney had her own key the whole time.”

Violet ran over to the coach. “Courtney! Courtney! We just found the storage room key. It was on your gym bag.”

Courtney didn’t say anything right away.

“Is it the key for the storage room of this gym?” Tipper asked Courtney.

“There are a lot of keys on the chain. One is for the storage room of my apartment building.” With that, Courtney took her bag from Patsy. “Next time, Tipper, please bring your own key. The girls need to practice.”

A
t nine o’clock the next morning, the Alden children and the Nettleton twins were sound asleep.

However, Watch was not sound asleep, not at all. He was wide-awake and scratching at Jessie’s bedroom door. He had heard Grandfather Alden out in the hallway. He wanted to be up and about, too.

Mr. Alden heard the whimpering and scratching. He slowly opened Jessie’s door. Watch scooted out and ran downstairs.

“I’m going out shopping today,” Mrs. McGregor told Mr. Alden when he followed Watch into the kitchen.

Mr. Alden took Watch’s leash from the hook on the back door. “Have a good time, Mrs. McGregor. I’m glad all the young people are sleeping late for a change. This basketball fever is wearing them out. As for the twins — they’ve been on the go since they arrived. Henry said they don’t have any practices or appointments until this afternoon.”

Mrs. McGregor put on her hat. “Last night, Buzz and Tipper told me not to make breakfast,” she told Mr. Alden. “They said they were going to sleep late, then surprise the children with breakfast at the diner.”

Mr. Alden smiled. “That’s just the kind of surprise my grandchildren like.”

Nearly all of Greenfield seemed to be enjoying breakfast at the Starlight Diner when the Aldens and the Nettleton twins arrived.

“Hello, Aldens!” the waitress said. “I recognize you two,” she told the twins. “I saw your picture in the paper last night. Welcome back to Greenfield.”

“Thanks,” Buzz said. “It’s good to be back. Especially here. Our whole team used to come to the Starlight Diner for your famous burgers after basketball games. I hope you have room today. It’s pretty crowded in here.”

The waitress picked up an armful of menus. She waved everyone over to the back. “You just got lucky. A group of construction workers just left. The big booth in the corner is free.”

Benny looked up at Buzz. “It’s not really free,” he whispered. “You still have to pay.”

Buzz laughed. “Good one, Benny. Well, I’m glad we don’t have practice until later, you guys. It felt good to get a couple extra winks of sleep for a change.”

Soo Lee thought about this. “I don’t wink when I sleep. I shut my eyes all night.”

Tipper squeezed the little girl’s hand. “I don’t wink when I sleep, either, Soo Lee.”

Everyone slid into the big booth and picked up a menu.

Benny didn’t have to read it. “I already know what I want,” he announced.

“Let me guess,” Buzz said. “Liver and onions, right?”