Hercules moved away from the kids, they all followed behind him and what they saw caused their eyes to widen. In the hole sat around 150 baseballs, the team were stunned in joy at the sight. "We can play forever now," Benny said as he rested his arm around Riley's waist, her head leaning on his shoulder. Scotty grabbed Hercules collar and carefully lead him towards the back door, Riley and Benny followed behind them.

Scotty knocked on Mr Mertles back door, the rest of the team stood a short distance away. An older man with dark glasses stepped out of the door, Riley couldn't help but find the man familiar. "Hello?..." Mr Mertle spoke. "Um, we brought your dog home," Scotty replied with an unsure tone. "Hercules? How did he get out?" Mr Mertle wondered causing the three kids to look at one another. "Well, sir... um, we kind of, well, what happened was-" Scotty stuttered.

"We hit a baseball into your yard. Then we tried to get it and-" Benny began to explain. "-Why didn't you just come to the door... I'd have gotten it for you," Mr Mertle interrupted. Riley turned her 'I told you so' glare to Benny and Scotty before looking back at the team. Yeah-Yeah, Ham, Bertram, Timmy and Tommy all began hitting Squints and yelling at him causing Mr Mertle to chuckle.

"Well, thanks for bringin' him back," Mr Mertle said with a smile. "He's a sweetheart," Riley spoke up as she scratched the back of Hercules' ear again. "He is. Why don't you three come in... we can talk about that baseball," Mr Mertle offered kindly before leading Hercules into the house. Mr Mertle leads Benny, Riley and Scotty into a room full of Baseball memorabilia causing Riley to look around like a kid in a candy store.

Mr Mertle sat down at the table in the room while the three kids looked around the room in pure amazement. "You played baseball?" Riley asked as her eyes landed on a photo of Mr Mertle and a few other baseball players, the other two looked over. Benny walked up next to Riley, slipping his hand into hers as they looked at the picture. "Yeah. Best days of my life," Mr Mertle answered as Riley thought deeply about his familiarity.

Riley turned to him with wide eyes, "You're Thelonius Johnson Mertle! TJ Mertle!!" Mr Mertle smiled and nodded. "You were amazing on the diamond, you won a dozen games in your prime! You were an inspiration to me," Riley continued as she stood across from him. "I am honoured to be an inspiration of yours, miss..." Mr Mertle held out his hand. "Riley Smalls, Mr Mertle. And the honour is mine," Riley introduced as she shook his hand.

Benny and Scotty smiled widely seeing the look of awe and adoration Riley held as she spoke with one of her idols. "You in trouble, aren't you, son?" Mr Mertle spoke, directing his attention to Scotty. "Yeah, well, uh, that was my stepdad's ball. I took it without asking," Scotty explained as Mr Mertle held the signed ball in his hand. "It was signed by Babe Ruth," Riley added with a sigh, she was still willing to take the blame.

"George signed this?" Mr Mertle asked as he spun the ball around in his hand. "George Herman Ruth? Yeah," Scotty responded before smiling at Riley, after his reveal in lack of knowledge about Babe Ruth, she had taken it upon herself to teach him everything she knew about him. "I take it back. You're not in trouble," Mr Mertle began. "You're dead where you stand," Mr Mertle finished causing Scotty's eyes to widen while Benny and Riley sent him a sympathetic glance.

"Hold on. Hold on. Here," Mr Mertle spoke as he got up and grabbed a ball from a glass cabinet. "I'll trade ya," He held out the ball to Scotty. "That's really nice of you, but that ball really is signed by Babe Ruth," Benny spoke up on behalf of his best friend. "So's this one, with the rest of the 1927 Yankees," Mr Mertle explained. Scotty grabbed the ball and the three kids all began looking at the different signatures.

"Oh, man. Murderers' Row!" Benny read out with a smile. "Lou Gehrig!" Riley cheered with a wide grin. "Babe Ruth!" Scotty read out lastly before the three turned to look at Mr Mertle who was smiling at their enthusiasm. "But why would you trade? That one's all chewed up," Scotty asked the older man. "I got a lot of good stuff. Look at that stuff. Besides, you need it more than I do," Mr Mertle explained.

"You knew Babe Ruth?" Scotty asked as Riley leaned back against Benny's chest. "George? I sure did. And he knew me. He was almost as great a hitter as I was. I would've broken his record, too, but--" Mr Mertle explained until Scotty spoke up, "You went blind." Riley looked down, the pain in her arm had faded. "Yep. I used to crowd the plate so the strike zone almost disappeared," Mr Mertle spoke with a hearty chuckle. "Pitchers hate that," He continued causing the three to laugh with him.

"That's the way I played, 100% all the time. Baseball was life. And I was good at it, real good. And then, one day, a high fast one, and pow-- lights went out," Mr Mertle continued explaining. "I don't think we can take this ball," Benny spoke up as he rested his chin on top of Riley's head, Scotty smiled at the sight of his sister and best friend happy together. "I'll tell you what. You guys come by here once a week and talk baseball with me, we'll call it an even trade," Mr Mertle thought up and the three knew that was the perfect deal.

"Deal!" Scotty said as he reached for Mr Mertle's hand, shaking it with a smile. Riley smiled at her brother and the four of them spoke for a little while longer. Riley even struck the opportunity to walk Hercules daily to give him a chance to see the world more. Riley let Scotty confront their stepfather alone per his request, she decided on hanging out with Benny where the two read comics in his room just enjoying the silence together.

── ⚾️ ──

Scotty Smalls

Even though Bill loved the Murderers' Row ball, he was still plenty mad about me having swiped his Babe Ruth autographed ball and ruining it. So I didn't feel too bad when he grounded me for a week-- instead of the rest of my life. Even when we found out about Riley's original plan to take the blame, Bill had lessened the punishment and taken pride in how we look out for each other.

Things worked out between me and him, and from then on, Riley and I didn't have any trouble just calling him Dad all the time. We all lived together in the neighbourhood for a couple of more years, mostly through junior high school, and every summer was great, but none of them ever came close to that first one. When one guy would move away, we never replaced him on the team with anyone else. We just kept the game going, like he was still there.

── ⚾️ ──

-Rose <3
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