That Saturday, when Billy invited Robbie over to his house to listen to some new 45 records he had bought, Robbie jumped at the chance. Billy had the latest Elvis Presley, Bill Haley and the Comets, and Lonnie Donegan discs, and a much better record player. Now the two were stretched out on Billy’s bed, savouring the last few rollicking words of Donegan’s “Rock Island Line”: “Well, if you ride it you gotta ride it like you find it. Get your ticket at the station for the Rock Island Line.”
Billy had introduced Robbie to Donegan’s skiffle music, and the British musician had fast become one of Robbie’s favourites. Skiffle was a blend of blues and folk music and could be played on just about anything—washboards, jugs, kazoos, and harmonicas as well as banjoes and guitars.
When Billy noticed Robbie nodding off, he said, “Boy, you must have stayed up all night listening to your mom and her mates talk about the CF-105. No one ever falls asleep when Lonnie’s singing. Did you hear anything new?”
“Nothing good. I didn’t really understand it all, but it looks like the air force wants to use a different system to fire the missiles on the CF-105. It’s some sort of electronic machine.”
“What’s so bad about that?”
“My mom and her friends think this new system will be a lot more expensive than the one they were going to use. And like I’ve told you before, the government’s always bugging my mom and everybody else at Avro about spending too much money.”
Billy blew a big pink bubble with his chewing gum, watched it pop, then asked, “Why don’t they just say no then?”
“That’s the funny part. They seem worried the government might get upset about the cost, yet they also said it’s the government that’s insisting they use it.”
Billy blew another bubble. “My dad says you can never trust politicians.”
“I think my mom would agree. But, hey, let’s forget about all that for now and listen to that new Elvis song you got.”
Billy reached over and picked up another 45. “‘Heartbreak Hotel’?”
“That’s it.”
Billy got off the bed and went over to the record player. He took off the disc they’d been playing, put on the new one, and carefully positioned the needle into the first groove. “By the way, how’s your new car? Been out in it again?”
“Yeah, once. It’s terrific. It’s got all these gadgets—and what an engine! I think my mom’s a bit afraid to put her foot down too hard yet, ’cause it sure can go.”
“Sounds super. Maybe you can wangle me a ride next time.”
“My mom was saying something about taking the car out for a spin in the countryside around Toronto. I’ll ask her if you can come, too.”
“Smashing! Just let me know when and where, Robbie, and I’ll be there.”
Six
A month or so later, on a sunny Saturday morning, Robbie went downstairs for breakfast before his mother had even started cooking. “I see you didn’t forget the baseball game,” Emily said.
“No way. We can move into a tie for first place if we win today, Mom.”
“Well, that’s good, Robbie, but remember you don’t have to win to enjoy it.”
“I know, but it’s kind of exciting. I never thought we’d do this well, but we have some really great guys on the team.”
“I may not know a whole lot about baseball, but I do know one thing. Every player needs to eat a good breakfast, so make sure you fill up. You’ll need it. Is Billy coming over here, or are we picking him up at his house?”
“He’s coming here, Mom. He can’t get enough of our Thunderbird since we took him for that ride in the country.”
Robbie had never been so scared in all his life. The game with the Shell Sharks that Saturday had swung back and forth all morning, and now, with his team two runs down, he was standing at the plate, two out, bottom of the ninth inning. Billy was on third base; Hank Shepherd, one of their best hitters, was on second. Both were poised to head home as soon as Robbie hit the ball.
“Strike one!” the umpire boomed, his voice sounding like a death knell.
When the opposing pitcher wound up and let loose with his second pitch, he glared ferociously at Robbie.
“Strike two!” the umpire barked, and Robbie could barely stop shaking. He was running out of chances.
As the third pitch hurtled toward Robbie, he tried to focus his entire mind on it. When the ball entered his strike zone, he swung with all his might and heard the sweetest sound imaginable— thwack! The hit was solid. Without even looking to see where the ball was going, Robbie flung his bat aside and, head down, took off for first base. Almost as if from another place, he vaguely heard cheering. Legs pumping like pistons, he rounded first base and finally glanced toward the outfield to see what was happening.
The ball had sailed over everybody and had landed just inside the back fence. It wasn’t quite a home run, but Robbie thought he had a good chance to make it all the way around for an inside-the-park homer. Billy and Hank had already crossed home plate and were jumping up and down and cheering him on. As he neared home, Robbie flung himself into a headfirst slide and beat the ball by inches.
The home spectators burst into wild applause, the umpire yelled “Safe!” and Robbie lay happily in a cloud of dust until Billy and Hank pulled him up and nearly squeezed him to death. “We did it, we did it!” they shouted as they danced around the field, pulling the winded Robbie with them as the whole team rushed out of the dugout to join the celebration. As his teammates took turns slapping him on the back, Robbie gazed into the stands and spotted Joe Wilkie and his mother clapping loudly. It was, he thought, the best moment in his whole life.
Seven
As soon as Robbie got to school the following Monday, Billy trotted up to him. “Have you heard about the big change?”
“What change?”
“This fall we’ll be going to another school. Seems they’re moving grade nine into one of the new high schools they’ve built.”
“You’ve got to be kidding, Billy. I like it here. I don’t want to go anywhere else.”
“Me, neither, but it seems we don’t have a choice. I also heard letters about this are going out to all the parents.”
“That means we’ve only got another month here then. What high school are we going to?”
“I don’t know, Robbie. All I know is that after this summer we go straight to the new school.”
“Maybe we’ll find out the name of the high school in those letters. I sure hope it’s not too far away.”
Robbie didn’t like this sudden change and was worried about what it meant. When he got home, he immediately glanced at the hall table where Mrs. Brady always put the day’s mail. The letter from the school board, addressed to his mother, was easy to spot thanks to the official address in the top right-hand corner. However, because his mother had to work late, he had to wait several agonizing hours to learn what the letter contained.
That night, over supper, Emily read the letter from the school board. Robbie’s anxious face told her that he already knew something. “I get the feeling you know about the new school.”
“Billy told me this morning, but we don’t know what high school we’re going to.”
“Well,