The Baseball Thief

Samuel was upstairs working on multiplication tables at his desk when he happened to glance out the window and see a small pile of dirt at the edge of the lawn. Ordinarily, a pile of dirt wouldn’t be enough to distract him from his homework — he really, really, really liked math — but the thing about this pile of dirt that demanded his attention was that it was growing.

He put down his pencil, knelt at the window, and pressed his forehead against the glass. What had moments ago been no larger than a Tonka truck was now higher than the ball bin where Samuel’s parents insisted his balls be kept when he was done playing with them. Then, following a small geyser of dirt, he saw a furry head poke through the peak of the heap. Was it a mole? Or a gopher? He couldn’t be sure. What he absolutely did know was that the creature was rummaging through his ball bin and making a mess of the yard. A soccer ball, a few racquetballs, a whole bunch of tennis balls, and his beach ball were now strewn about the lawn. Samuel would have been pretty annoyed had he not been completely transfixed.

The animal emerged from the ball bin with a baseball in its grasp. Samuel had never seen an animal carry a ball with anything except its mouth — other than the chimpanzees and gorillas at the zoo, of course — but that’s not what Samuel was now thinking about now. That badger, or whatever it was, was taking his favorite ball back down the hole!

Samuel jumped to his feet and sprinted down the stairs. He made it from his room to the patio door in seconds, but by the time he arrived at the pile of dirt there was no sign of the creature or his ball. He got a stick from under the almond tree and poked it down the hole but he couldn’t feel anything but the sides. He ran to the shed, threw the door open, and then dashed back to the hole with a shovel. He poked the handle down the hole, but it wasn’t long enough to touch the bottom, either.

He picked up a rock and dropped it down the hole. A couple seconds later he heard a dull thud. “That’s not too far,” thought Samuel, so he picked up the shovel and started widening the hole. When he had widened the hole enough to fit into, Samuel returned to the shed and got a length of rope. He tied one end around the almond tree and dropped the other end down the hole. He grabbed the rope and was about to drop his feet into the hole when he hesitated for a moment. He then dropped the rope and walked back inside … only to come back out wearing a head lamp.

Now he descended into the hole. Just as his rope was about to run out, his feet touched the bottom. Looking around, he found himself in a small chamber with two tunnels leading away in opposite directions. He could hear the sound of dripping water from the tunnel to his left, and a faint scratching sound coming from the tunnel to his right. Thinking the scratching sound could be the groundhog, or whatever, he went that way. After a short while, the tunnel ended in another chamber. This one had an uneven, rocky floor. He could still hear the scratching, so he followed the sound to a hole in the floor.

His headlamp was unable to penetrate the darkness of the hole, so he decided it was unsafe to try descending. He picked up a rock from the chamber floor and dropped it in. The scratching sound stopped almost immediately. “Bring me back my baseball!” he yelled into the hole. He sat motionless and listened for a bit, waiting for any kind of response, but none came. He returned to the previous chamber and headed into the other tunnel.

The dripping sound got louder and louder until he came to a turn where he saw a leaky metal pipe protruding rom the wall. Water was dripping from the pipe onto the tunnel floor and running away in a small stream. Samuel followed the stream down the gentle slope of the tunnel until it ended at a pond in a large cave-like room. In the middle of the pond was an island. On the island was what looked like a large pile of sticks. The pond was too deep to wade across and Samuel didn’t want to go swimming, so he began looking for another way to cross the pond.

On the ground near him were quite a few branches. He wished he had some more rope so he could tie the branches together for a raft. Then, while looking down at his feet, he noticed his boot laces. “Yes!”, said Samuel as he removed the laces from his boots. He used the laces to lash together as many branches as he could. He then put the raft on the water and tested his weight on it. It held!

Samuel carefully laid his body onto the raft and slowly paddled to the island using his hands. Once he reached the shore, Samuel pulled the raft clear of the water and then approached the pile of sticks to examine it closer. It seemed to be just that — a pile of sticks. Then he spied footprints in the dirt and followed them to a hole near the opposite end of the island. The hole appeared to slope down at a manageable slant, so he crawled into it.

After a somewhat claustrophobic journey — the tunnel seemed to narrow the further he went — he emerged in a small cozy chamber. Looking up, he saw what must have been the underside of the pile of sticks he had seen while exploring the surface of the island. When he turned his gaze back downward, he saw his ball perched on a rock in the middle of the room. It appeared to be unharmed. He picked it up and put it in his pocket. The strangeness of the situation was starting to dawn on Samuel, so he decided to leave before anything happened to him.

As his head and shoulders were into the exit, he was startled by a shrill whistling sound behind him. He pulled his head out and turned to see an animal standing on its hind legs staring at him. It whistled again and stared at Samuel’s pocket. Samuel took the ball out of his pocket and the animal whistled yet again, appearing more anxious. Samuel dropped the ball and backed away. The creature snatched up the ball and replaced it on the rock in the middle of the floor before backing away to the opposite side of the chamber.

Before Samuel had the chance to process what had just happened, the ball started wiggling on its own, as if something inside was trying to escape. Before long, the stitches on one side began to pull apart, then the leather peeled back to reveal the balls stuffing. Out of the stuffing and onto the dirt popped a red ball. Then the red ball split open and our rolled a smaller black ball. Then that ball split and revealed an even smaller light brown spotted ball.

The brown ball split open and revealed a bright glowing orb. The orb rose up into the air and hovered just below the stick roof. The light it was emitting began to pulse, growing brighter and dimmer like a heartbeat. Just then, Samuel felt a curious sensation throughout his entire body. The hairs on his arms and legs stood on end, and then all of his apprehension vanished.

“Thank you, Samuel,” he heard the glowing orb say. It didn’t exactly say it, though. It was more like a voice inside his head talking. “I am now free from my prison and can rejoin my family. Thank you for allowing this groundhog to fulfill his duty.”

“Ah, so it’s a groundhog!” Samuel thought to himself, just as the orb vanished. Samuel and the groundhog were now alone, staring at each other across the little chamber. He had so many questions about what had just happened that he just started blurting them out.

“What just happened? What was that about your duty? How did that thing get inside my baseball?”

The groundhog continued to stare at him, making no indication that it had understood anything he had said. Samuel was beginning to think that he’d never find out what had happened and why. As he was coming to terms with his disappointment, Samuel’s headlamp started to flicker. He decided to head back before it gave out completely.

Taking one last look at the groundhog, he gave it a little wave, and then crawled back out of the tunnel. He dragged the raft back into the water, paddled across the pond, followed the stream back up to the dripping pipe, and then continued to the room where he found the bottom of his rope waiting for him. He climbed the rope back to the surface of his yard and saw that the sun had set not long ago. He’d better clean up the mess and get inside before his parents started to worry. He pulled the rope out of the hole and returned it to the shed.

As he shoveled dirt back into the hole he had widened earlier, he thought about the glowing orb that had given him such a peaceful feeling. Then had an idea. He stopped short of completely filling in the hole, and then returned the shovel to the shed. The last thing he did before going inside was to clean up the balls that the groundhog had tossed into the yard.

After his parents had tucked him in for the night, Samuel waited for the house to grow quiet. He slowly opened his door and glanced down the hall toward his parents’ bedroom door. He saw no light escaping from beneath the door, so he left his room and quickly and quietly went downstairs. He opened the door to the garage and turned on the light. There in the corner, behind the pitching screen, was the basket of baseballs his dad used for baseball practice.

Samuel grabbed a couple balls in each hand and took them out into the the yard. He placed them at the edge of the lawn next to the hole he had left. Then he returned to his room and knelt at the window, waiting to see if the groundhog would reappear.

The next morning his mother found him asleep on the floor next to the window. She woke him up and asked him why he hadn’t slept in his bed, but he acted as if he hadn’t heard and pulled himself up to the window sill to look out instead of answering. All of the balls were gone!

“Samuel!” His mother was getting impatient with him.

“Oh, I must have had a dream,” he finally replied. It wasn’t a dream, of course. He and the groundhog were now in it together — this glowing orb rescuing business.

As Samuel brushed his teeth, something occured to him and made him smirk. He was now a baseball thief, too.

Hedgehog and Scoop

Note: Hedgehog and Scoop (a pelican) are my kids’ favorite stuffed animals. I will often use familiar objects as jumping off points for a story, and they went to bed with these a few nights ago. What better way to enter a night’s sleep than by hugging the stars of your very own Daddy Story?

After a good day’s sleep, Hedgehog emerged from her burrow in the late afternoon and started looking for something to eat. One of her favorite spots to forage was by the berry bushes that grew near the cliffs next to the ocean, so she headed straight there and found that the bushes were full of berries. Just as she had about had her fill, she noticed the biggest, juiciest berry she had ever seen. It was dangling just out of reach on a branch hanging out over the cliff.

Determined to sink her teeth into the berry, she hooked her front feet over the branch and slowly scooted over toward it. When she was about halfway there, she heard a loud SNAP and, before she knew it, she was tumbling down, down, down toward the ocean below. She landed with a great splash in the frothy surf below. She was sure to be lost…

But not far away, a pelican named Scoop was perched on a rock and had seen Hedgehog fall. He took off immediately and dove headfirst into the water to retrieve the poor wet creature. With a beak full of hedgehog and salty water, Scoop flew to a nearby beach and emptied his pouch onto the sand. Hedgehog rolled out and began to cough and sputter.

“What happened?” she asked.

“You fell from the cliff and I just rescued you from the sea,” answered Scoop. “What were you doing near the cliffs, anyway?”

“Oh, yeah,” said Hedgehog. “I was trying to get the biggest, tastiest berry I ever saw from one of the bushes that grow up there. Did you happen to see it in the water?”

“No, I was only worried about you,” said Scoop.

“Thank you so much!” said Hedgehog, now better aware of the danger she had been in. She approached Scoop and gave him a giant hug. (Well, it wasn’t really a giant hug because hedgehogs are much smaller than pelicans, but it was as big a hug as she could muster.)

“So you risked your life for a berry, did you?” said Scoop. “I’ve never had one. Are they really that good to eat?”

“Yes, they are the best!” replied Hedgehog. “Do you want me to bring you some?”

“Sure, I would like to try some,” said Scoop.

So Hedgehog and Scoop waddled up the hill back toward the cliffs where the berries grew. Hedgehog gathered up a few berries and presented them to Scoop, who carefully picked one up with the tip of his beak, leaned his head back, and dropped the berry into his throat.

“Hmmm,” said Scoop. “I don’t think it’s the best thing ever, but it’s not bad.”

“If berries aren’t the best thing ever,” asked Hedgehog, “then what is?”

“Fish!” replied Scoop. “Shall I get one for you to try?

“Yes, please!” said Hedgehog.

So Scoop took off from the cliff and flew down closer to the water. He started circling for a bit and then dove down into the water with his beak open. When he returned to where Hedgehog was waiting, he opened his beak and dropped a wiggling, glistening sliver fish at her feet.

“There you are,” said Scoop. “The best food ever.”

Hedgehog had eaten moving things before — one of her favorite snacks was insects — but never anything this large. She used her front feet to hold own the fish and then opened her mouth to take a bite.

“I like to eat them whole,” said Scoop.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to manage that,” said hedgehog, pointing to her small mouth.

She gathered herself up once, and then took a small bite out of the fish, right above one of the fins. As she chewed, she started to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” asked Scoop.

“Well, it’s not the best food I ever had,” she answered, “but it’s not bad.”

She offered the rest of the fish to Scoop, who gladly accepted.

“So what do you like to do for fun?” asked Scoop.

“I like to roll down hills and bounce off of bushes,” said Hedgehog. “They tickle. I can show you my favorite rolling spot.” After Scoop said he’d like to try it, Hedgehog led him to the top of a nearby grassy green hill.

“OK, watch me to see how you do it,” said Hedgehog as she started to roll into a tight ball. “One, two, three!” And with that, she rolled down the hill, bouncing off of a bush or two on the way down. When she reached the bottom, she unrolled and said, “Ta da! Now you try!”

Scoop tried to make his body into the shape of a ball as best he could, but his beak just would not bend. “Oh well, here goes nothing!” Scoop leaned forward and let gravity take hold of his body. He didn’t roll very smoothly at all, though. His beak make him go bump bump, bump bump, bump bump all the way down to the bottom, where Hedgehog was once again giggling.

“You’re not a very good roller,” she said.

“No, I’m not,” said Scoop, “but I bet you’re not a very good flier.”

“I don’t even have wings,” said Hedgehog.

“I could take you up in my pouch,” said Scoop. “I promise not to fly too fast.”

“I would love to try that,” said Hedgehog, with a bit of excitement.

So Scoop lowered his beak and opened it. Hedgehog walked in. Then Scoop took off and flew out over the ocean. He started to fly in big circles, leaving his beak open just enough so that Hedgehog could see the sky, the clouds, and the beautiful ocean below. Hedgehog was scared at first, but she trusted Scoop and was able to relax and enjoy herself.

After completing a few great circles, Scoop came back down and landed on the hill where they had been rolling. The sun was setting now and he was starting to get tired. After letting Hedgehog out of his mouth, he told her, “It’s getting close to my bedtime, so I’ll have to say good-bye for today.”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” said Hedgehog. “I stay up late all the time. I really like the night time.”

“Well, my eyes don’t work very well without the sunlight,” explained Scoop.

“OK, then,” said Hedgehog. “Will I see you again?”

“I’m sure you will,” answered Scoop. “If you stay away from those cliffs, anyway.”

The Flirt and the Sulker

Everybody has a Flirt and a Sulker. They live on your shoulders, one on each side. They’re small creatures with large furry feet so they have very good balance. A Flirt has brightly-colored hair that points straight up. A Sulker’s hair is brown or black and almost always hangs down over its ears. Both like to wear warm button-up coats — even in the summer when it’s hot outside.

Your Flirt and Sulker have been there since you were born. When you learned how to talk, your Flirt and Sulker learned how to talk, too, and that’s when they started trying to change you. You see, your Flirt and your Sulker are always telling you what you should do, but they have very different ideas about what that is. When you decide to listen to one instead of the other, that choice can change the kind of person you are.

The Flirt really likes adventures and wants you to try new things, but the Sulker likes it when you stay home and read your favorite books. The Flirt wants you to have a lot of friends so you can always have someone to play with, but the Sulker thinks one or two friends is enough. The Flirt sometimes tells you to do naughty things, too, like take all your toys and dump them out of their containers onto the floor. Your Sulker can also be naughty. Sometimes, when your parents ask you to clean up a mess, the Sulker will tell you to pretend you didn’t hear them.

If your Sulker or your Flirt tell you to do something that you don’t want to do, you don’t have to listen to them. If either or both of them keep trying to tell you something you don’t like, you can teach them a lesson. To teach your Sulker a lesson you grab him off your shoulder, put him on the ground, kick him as hard as you can, and then run the other way so he can’t find you for a while. Teaching your Flirt a lesson is almost the same, but instead of kicking him you have to throw him as far as you can.

If you look carefully, you will see that most kids have a Flirt that is larger or smaller than their Sulker. Sometimes they are a lot bigger or smaller. This happens because the more you listen to your Flirt or your Sulker, the bigger they will get. If you see a person with a Flirt that’s a lot bigger than their Sulker, that means they have listened to their Flirt a lot more than they have listened to their Sulker. People whose Flirts are a lot bigger than their Sulkers can be a lot of fun to be around, but they can get annoying after a while. The same is true of people whose Sulkers are a lot bigger than their Flirts. They can be a lot of fun to play with if you like some of the same things that they do, but if you try to get them to do something new, then they’re not so much fun any more because they don’t want to try it.

You might be wondering where Flirts ans Sulkers came from. Your mommy and daddy have Flirts and Sulkers, too. When we got married, mommy’s Flirt married my Flirt and mommy’s Sulker married my Sulker. (The Flirts and Sulkers helped us get married because they wanted to live together, too!) Then, when we had a baby, the Flirts and Sulkers each had a baby, too: one baby Flirt and one baby Sulker. Right after you were born, they moved onto your shoulders and became your own.

Nobody really knows where the first Flirt and Sulkers came from. Some people think they came from outer space. Other people think they’re just really smart animals that learned how to talk and like to ride on shoulders and get you into trouble. I’m not sure who is right, but I do know that they can be very helpful about as much as they can be naughty. Part of growing up is learning when it’s good to listen to them and when it’s good to kick them or throw them away.