Paul Venosdel - Lying Strikes Out

LYING STRIKES OUT

LYING STRIKES OUT

Baseball with an Attitude

Book Two

Paul Venosdel

LYING STRIKES OUT

Baseball with an Attitude Book Two

Copyright 2018 Paul Venosdel

Cover design by petercover. Swinging Batter image Paul Venosdel.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. No portion of this book may be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. No part of this book may be copied or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any informational storage and retrieval system without the written permission from the publisher except for the following:

Permission is granted for short excerpts to be used in reviews, catalog descriptions, articles and by educational or literary organizations.

ISBN-13: 978-1986007825

ISBN-10: 1986007820

2018 First Edition

Published by Venoz, Inc., Eagle, Idaho

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Printed in the United States of America

CHAPTER 1

PLAYING CATCH

F ive, four, three, two, one, wait for it...wait for it...and here it comes, just like the Old Faithful geyser going off at Yellowstone National Park BURRRING, BURRRING, BURRING the sweet music of the last bell of the school day is my favorite sound on planet Earth. Finally, time to go play some ball. He Gone ! yells Casey to the Kansas City Royals baseball bat bag that he uses as his school backpack. He slings the blue and white bag over his right shoulder and races toward bus 505 waiting in the school parking lot to take him home.

Casey (KC) Howards, twelve-year old average student from Oildale, Idaho and future Major League Baseball superstar, arrives home with one thing on his mind playing baseball. He knows however, that before he can play baseball hes got to get past a huge roadblock. His mom will throw the dreaded H word at him like an Aroldis Chapman 105 mile per hour fastball as soon as he steps off the bus. Homework. Without a doubt, the single worst word ever created in the entire history of mankind. Homework. KC isnt happy about having do homework right after hes spent seven hours at school.

Mom, really, I have to do homework right after school? Give me a break. Ive been at this all day! Cant I go outside and play baseball? Studying spelling words is so stupid. Thats what spell check is for on the computer! yells KC to his mom Anna.

Study those spelling words honey; you have a test on Friday. Im going to quiz you after you get out of the shower tonight. Now stop stalling and get that homework done before your dad gets home from work, replies his mom.

Like a giant wave swallowing up a surfer on Hawaiis Banzai Pipeline, KC gets wiped out by his mom in the homework battle.

Laughing out loud to himself KC begins studying his spelling words.

Come on man, this is crazy. When am I ever going to need to know how to spell dandelion? You dont spell the silly weed, you pick it! ponders KC to himself.

KC has the best intentions to honor his mothers request of studying his spelling words but his mind is on baseball. KC is a good kid and tries to please everyone. He wants to do the right thing but has difficulty telling the truth. He even tries to get along with the kids on the playground that have nicknamed him COWARDS .

The sixth grade simpletons have combined his first and last name, Casey and Howards, to produce the concoction COWARDS . The nickname is way off base as KC is not afraid of anything. Well maybe he is afraid of the dark. KC sleeps with his Kansas City Royals nightlight turned on just to see the glow of the Royals World Series trophy. That is what he tells his little brother anyway.

KC is a tough kid with a high threshold for pain. Hes fallen out of tree houses, crashed his bike going over homemade jumps in the driveway, fallen out of the back of his dads slow moving Ford F-150 pickup truck at the baseball field parking lot (giving himself a concussion), and he didnt even cry when he broke his arm skateboarding.

KC is up to any challenge if it makes the other person happy or if they question his ability to get it done. He will put his body in danger to win any competition. He once fell off the monkey bars on the playground after accepting a dare to complete a triple reverse flip. The epic failure resulted in breaking the same arm he did skateboarding the prior summer.

KC begrudgingly attempts to tackle his homework after school each day but not without a fight. Before each homework battle, he must have three Oreo cookies dipped in ice-cold milk. As predictable as the sun coming up in the morning, Oreo cookies and ice-cold milk are a perfect snack after school. Curiously, KCs bulldog Mojo is always at his feet after school during snack time.

Mojo, I gave you an Oreo cookie one time and you didnt stop farting for a week! laughs KC.

The two most prized positions in KCs world are his Rawlings baseball glove and the brand new major league replica baseball he bought at the sporting goods store.

KC spent last spring and fall working to get enough money to purchase his 11-inch Pro Mesh black Rawlings baseball glove. He earned $400 and spent every dime on his pride and joy. KC mowed lawns around the neighborhood, setup lemonade stands on the busiest streets in town, sold used golf balls he fetched out of the water hazard at the public golf course around the corner from his house, and filled in for his friend delivering newspapers at five oclock in the morning while he was on vacation.

KC and determination go hand in glove. Theres not a kid in Idaho that can out work KC when he puts his mind to it, especially on the baseball field.

In the classroom, KC doesnt have the same drive. KC is a B minus student with a couple of Cs sprinkled in for good measure. He doesnt like reading or science but is mildly interested in math and engineering. His favorite subject is P.E. along with lunch and recess. School doesnt come easy for KC and he would rather be outside than stuck in a classroom.