5. A Secret Language

5 A Secret Language Grown-ups always say practice makes perfect. And you know what? For once, they were right! We practiced after school with Mr. Ott on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. And we were getting good. We hardly ever dropped our turtles. Mr.

Ott taught us how to run the bases and how to bunt. Andrea was the best bunter, of course. "Can you teach us how to spit?" I asked Mr. Ott. "Baseball players spit all the time." "Maybe tomorrow," said Mr. Ott. "Today, you need to learn how to slide." Oooh, sliding is cool. When there's a close play, you're supposed to slide into the base to make it harder for the fielder to tag you. "I don't want to get my pants dirty," said Neil. "Yeah," agreed Emily. "Dirt is dirty." "That's why they call it dirt!" shouted Mr. Ott. He told us that sliding was

dangerous, so we had to be really careful. He set up a slip 'n slide on the grass. Do you know what a slip 'n slide is? If you don't, what is your problem? Look it up! Everybody knows what a slip 'n slide is. It has the perfect name! Anyway, Mr. Ott showed us how to do a bent-leg slide. That's when you fold one leg under the other knee so your legs make a shape like the number four. Then you slide on your butt and touch the base with your toe. Sliding is fun, especially when you're sliding on a slip 'n slide. We all lined up and slid over and over again. Even Emily looked like she was enjoying herself. "Hit the dirt!" Mr. Ott shouted when it was time for us to slide. After a while, we were getting good

at sliding. Andrea was the best slider, of course. "Okay, gather 'round," said Mr. Ott. "Take a knee." "How can we take a knee?" I asked. "Knees aren't removable." "It's just an expression, Arlo!" said Andrea.

I knew that. I was just yanking Andrea's chain. We all gathered around Mr. Ott, like a football team in a huddle. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Okay, you kids have mastered the fundamentals," he said. "Now it's time for me to teach you some signs." "Signs?" we all said. Nobody knew what he was talking about. "It's like a secret language that only we understand," said Mr. Ott. "We don't want the Dirk team to know what we're planning to do." Secret languages are cool. Our bus driver, Mrs. Kormel, invented her own secret language. (You can read about it in a book called Mrs. Kormel Is Not Normal!) "When I touch my nose," Mr. Ott

said as he touched his nose, "it means swing at the next pitch. And if I touch the brim of my cap, it means bunt the next pitch. Got that?" We all got it. "If I tug on my left ear," Mr. Ott said as he tugged on his left ear, "it means take." "Take what?" I asked. "Take the next pitch," he replied. "Where should we take it?" I asked. "Taking a pitch means you don't swing at it, Arlo!" Andrea told me, rolling her eyes. Oh. Why didn't he say so? "If I put my hands on my hips," Mr. Ott said as he put his hands on his hips, "it means steal a base." "Stealing is wrong," said Alexia. "That's what my parents tell me."