The Porterhouse X-Women

Suzanne Peterson had never seen anything like it. There she was, watching some girls play baseball, trying to work up the nerve to ask them to let her play. She tried to tell herself that she didn't have her glove with her anyway, but she knew it was just an excuse, a way of getting out of asking, because she didn't know any of the girls. But just as she had worked up the courage to ask, suddenly there wasn't any game to ask about. It was the strangest thing. Suzanne stood and watched in amazement. A bunch of boys, maybe nine or ten of them, walked on to the field carrying bats and gloves and the girls just stopped their game and started to leave. The boys walked on to the field, right in the middle of a game, and even though there were more girls than boys, the girls just stopped and started to leave. The boys didn't kick them off either. Nobody said anything. It just seemed to be understood. It was just the way it was. When the boys wanted to play, the girls had to stop. All except for one ice-blonde girl, with pale blue eyes, who wore a grey baseball shirt; she walked on with the boys and went straight out to center field. That seemed to be understood too, that she was somehow different. Suzanne was completely amazed; she had to ask somebody what was going on. She saw that one of the girls, the short redhead who’d been batting, was walking home alone. She hurried over to her. "Hi, can I ask you something?" The girl looked at her in surprise. "Why did you let those guys just take over like that?" The redheaded girl shrugged. "They're on the team." "What team?” "The school team.” Suzanne still didn't get it. "So?" “So, they have to practice.” "Don't girls have to practice?" The girl looked at her, trying to figure out why she was so upset. “We don't have a team. We just play for fun." Suzanne looked at the girl, trying to figure out why she wasn't upset. "You mean, the boys have a team, but the girls don't? " "Yeah." "But that doesn't bug you?" "I don't know. There's never been a girls’ team." "But why not?" The girl shrugged again. "I don't know. There just isn't." They walked along in silence for a few moments. Suzanne couldn't think of anything to say. She couldn't believe what she’d just heard. Then she had a thought. “But there was one girl. In the gray baseball shirt.” “Oh, you mean Mason.” “They let her play.” “She’s trying out for the boys.” “I don’t get it.” “Because there’s no girls’ team. She’ll make it, too. She’s good.” “You’re good too. I saw you. " Suzanne was astonished to see the girl blush a deep red. And she thought she was shy sometimes. "This is where I live." Suzanne looked around in complete bewilderment. As far as she could tell, this redheaded girl was not only shy, she was crazy. They were standing right in front of her new house. But then the girl smiled, said "See you" and walked into the house right next door. * * * * * * * * * * * “It’s only baseball.” “Mom, that’s not the point. It’s not fair.” “No, Suzie, you’re right. It’s not. And joining omething has always been a great way for you to get to know some of the other kids. They must have some sports for girls.” “But I love being on a baseball team. Remember last year?” “I do, sweetie, I do. I’m just a bit overwhelmed at the moment.” Her mother was sitting on a pile of cushions, staring at a jumble of cardboard boxes. "By now, you'd think I'd be better at this." What she was talking about was how often they’d moved lately, four times in the last four years. Her mother taught English, but it seemed that colleges these days were only willing to give one year contracts, so each year she had to apply somewhere else, and so far, the colleges had all been in different towns. So here they were, unpacking cardboard boxes again. Her mother stared at the boxes for a minute more and then she decided. "I'm not up to this right now. Let's go out for pizza." Climbing into the passenger seat, Suzanne was struck by the thought that there were two things that were the same no matter where they lived. They always ate a lot of pizza and they always had the worst car in the neighborhood. That had been true four years ago when their Mazda had merely been old. Now it was ancient, and it had already broken down on the way here, so that she was going to have to start school a week late. For one thing, the car was orange and for another thing, it looked like more of it was rust than wasn’t. But her mother was determined to keep it on the road for at least one more winter because money was short. First-year teachers didn't make very much and so far Mrs. Peterson had always been a first-year teacher. At least, this new house had a garage, so that the Orangemobile would be hidden from sight some of the time. "I’m glad you met somebody today."