The Brooklyn Nine

Kat does well on her new team. The players run the gauntlet after games at home where they shake hands with fans, and sometimes the fans give them money. A man gives Kat his phone number, and Connie takes it away from her, saying she will have to protect her. Connie asks Kat why she always has to chew gum and touch the bats, and she explains that when she is nervous, she touches “all the wood I can see,” a proclivity that got worse when her father entered the war, fighting in France (185). She folds an Orbit gum wrapper and keeps a wrapper for every day he has been gone, believing that the act is keeping him safe. Ms. Hunter, the woman in charge, gives Kat “A Guide for All-American Girls: How to Look Better, Feel Better, Be More Popular” and tells her that the league encourages them to always look as attractive as they can. The players are always supposed to wear skirts, have long hair, and wear feminine shoes.

Kat suffers from recurrent nightmares where she must tap hundreds of thousands of bats, and as her heart pounds, she hears a knock on the door. It is Ms. Hunter telling them that the war in Europe is over, and everyone is celebrating. Kat, however, is sad because she has just made it to where she wants to be in the league. Connie tells her that “it’s just the beginning” and that Kat’s daughter may be playing for the team one day (195). Kat is horrified to realize that she never put her Orbit wrapper with the others the previous night. The next morning, Kat gets a telegram saying that her father died on May 8 in France on Victory in Europe (VE) Day. Kat thinks it is her fault because she failed to put the gum wrapper in her box that day. Connie consoles her and tells her that she does not need to play, but Kat insists on playing because she knows she will have to go home the next day to help her mother and sister, but she ends up staying on the team.

Jimmy Flint is a master card flipper in his class, and he flips cards with Eric Kirkpatrick. Jimmy is about to win Eric’s Yogi Berra card. Jimmy’s next card draw is Jim Gilligan, a favorite of Jimmy’s who started playing second base when Jackie Robinson started playing outfield. Jimmy likes second base because it was the position his mother played on the Grand Rapids Chicks, and she was pregnant with him while she played for three months. Everybody cheers because Jimmy has won the game, but Eric claims he cheated. Eric taunts Jimmy for not knowing who his father is. His mother is currently in California because she scouts for the Dodgers. Eric tells him that he is going to beat him up after school.

The teacher brings in a radio as they listen about Sputnik, “the first man-made spacecraft, built and launched by the Russians” (206). This satellite passes over the United States, and students run to the window to see it until their teacher tells them that they cannot see it during the day. Jimmy does not like the beeping sound of Sputnik, and Eric tells everyone that because of Sputnik, the Russians can drop bombs on them. After school, Jimmy hides until Eric is gone, but when Jimmy thinks everything is safe, the boys come out of hiding, and chase Jimmy.

At school the next day, Mrs. Holloway shows the students a film about how to stay safe if there is a bomb. The students learn that they need to duck and cover during a bomb. The narrator in the movie tells them that there will be a bright flash if a bomb is dropped. Some attacks, they learn, come with warning, but other ones do not. Air raid sirens will sound if there is warning. The students practice seeing a flash and getting beneath their desks. Eric protests, saying that he is not afraid of a bomb, but his teacher makes him participate anyway. After school, Jimmy again hides from Eric. The bullies have manned the exits, but when his friend Ralph tells them that Eric has Jimmy at another door, they leave and Jimmy sneaks out. The boys go to the rally to try to stop the Dodgers from leaving town and moving to a new city. Back at home, Jimmy does not want to play outside, and Great-Grandpa Snider knows there must be a bully Jimmy is avoiding. He warns Jimmy that if he does not take care of Eric, he will have to continue hiding the rest of his life. He tells him that this is what his father did and ultimately, “it wore him down” (221).

In school, Jimmy and Eric are tasked with going to get the film projector. Eric punches Jimmy and tells Jimmy that he better not tell anyone. Suddenly, the boys hear a siren, and Eric claims he sees a bomb and says they must hide under a table. Eric refuses to get out from under the table until they get the all-clear. Mrs. Halloway comes in and tells them that it is a drill. Eric is sure he saw a bomb fall, but when they look at the sky, they realize that it is a blimp. After school, Eric and his friends confront Jimmy again, and Jimmy points up at a blimp and says that it is a bomb. The boys laugh at him, but he keeps talking about it saying there was a flash in the sky, making sure that Eric knows that he is referring to the incident earlier. Eric gets his friends to back off. Jimmy knows he will never bother him again as he tells Ralph “all about Mutually Assured Destruction” (230).