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Date Posted: 12:04:36 10/17/00 Tue
Author: Slyck
Subject: page 7 and 8

"Yeah, I think so. But I won't be throwing any more fastballs. How am I going to strike this guy out, Phil?" inquired Steve.
"Well, he has another weakness. He can't hit a knuckleball to save his life." Said Philip with a sly grin on his face.
"But that is the one pitch I haven't gotten across the plate all season." Said Steve in disgust.
"Have faith in yourself, young grasshopper." Joked Philip. "Seriously, you have what it takes to do it. Just concentrate and focus."
"Okay, here goes nothing." Steve said half-heartedly.
Steve Prime composed himself and took a deep breathe. He made a small sign to God and started his pitch. He moved the baseball in his hand to get a knuckleball grip. He drew back his arm and let loose with all he had left. The batter, expecting another fastball, took a mighty swing. At the last moment, the baseball took a sudden dive and the bat passed harmlessly over the baseball.
"Strike three, you're out!" shouted the umpire.
Steve could not believe his own eyes. He had just thrown the most perfect knuckleball ever thrown. He stood in stark disbelief as his teammates rushed out to bury him in an avalanche of players. As all his teammates piled on, he thought to himself that this was the moment he had waited for all season long. They had won the district championship. He was a hero at last.
The noise in the locker was thunderous. Since this was only high school, instead of champagne flowing freely, there was club soda flying everywhere. And the thing of it was nobody cared. This was the greatest day in their lives. All, that was, except one. Steve Prime was called into the coach's office.
"Steve, have a seat, son." Said the coach, in a gently voice. A voice that made Steve Prime feel very nervous.
"What's up, Coach?" asked Steve, in a slightly shaky voice.
"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, especially right now. Your parents are dead." Said the coach in the most soothing voice he could muster.
"What?" exclaimed Steve in disbelief. He just sat there, remembering what his parents said when they left for the expedition. And he remembered all of the good times they had shared, all in one giant rush of memories. Not wanting to remember anymore, Steve shot out of the chair and raced outside, where a huge thunder and lightening storm was taking place.
"Steve!" shouted the coach. But he was too late. Steve Prime had run out into the storm, trying desperately to out run the pain and anger he was feeling at his parents death.
"It's not fare!" Steve screamed into the howling wind and rain. "Damn you, God. It's not fare. What did they ever do to you?"
A jagged bolt of lightening crashed into a tree not more than a hundred feet from where Steve Prime stood. With a thunderous crash, the tree split right in two, throwing shredded bark everywhere. Steve had several pieces of bark hit him. But he didn't feel a thing. One piece of bark slashed across his face, leaving a gash that bleed. But, once again, he didn't feel anything. He was in complete shock.
"Steve!" shouted Phil and Todd together. They had run out into the storm looking for their friend. The coach had told the team about Steve's parents. Immediately, Phil and Todd knew that Steve would be devastated. They knew that he had a close relationship with his parents. They were like his best friends. Phil and Todd continued to scream Steve's name into the roaring wind.
They then saw the lightening bolt strike a tree in the distant. Not knowing why, they ran towards the spot where the tree used to stand.
As they approached the tree, they saw that the lightening had split it into two, shredded pieces. They also saw bark all over the ground in all directions. As they turned around to follow the path of the bark, they spotted Steve standing there in a daze, covered in his own blood from the numerous cuts on his face and arms.
"Steve, what happened?" inquired Phil, but he already had guessed the answer. It was difficult to figure out that the flying bark had done this to his friend.
"Phil, Todd, is that you?" Steve said in a far away voice. "They're gone, gone for good."
"Yeah, we know. You have to come inside so we can have the coach look at those cuts." Stated Todd. He was very worried about his best friend. He had never seen Steve like this, even when he had lost his best pet in a car accident. Steve looked visibly shaken and ghostly white. He had his hands balled into tight fists at his side. And he was rocking back and forth.
"Steve, for the love of God, we have to got out of this storm before we all get a cold." Phil tried reasoning with him.
Steve just stood there. All the images of his parents flooding his mind. He could not have spoken even if he had wanted to. He just let Phil and Todd lead him back into the school and into the coach's office. There, the coach fixed Steve's cuts, none of which were very bad.
"He really should get some rest." Coach said to Phil and Todd.
"We'll take him home, coach." Phil said.
"Okay, boys. Make sure to keep an eye on him. The next few days are going to be very rough for him."
"We promise, we'll keep a close eye on him. Besides, he's staying over my house." Said Todd.
With that, Phil and Todd loaded Steve into the back of Todd's car. They drove first to Phil's house to drop him off.
"Thanks for the ride, Todd. You sure you can handle Steve?" Phil asked, looking for reassurance.
"Yeah, I think we will be just fine. I'll call you tomorrow and let you know how he is doing." Todd told Phil.
"Okay, goodnight." Phil said as he opened the front door to his house.
"Goodnight." Todd said back as he sped off into the night. Todd drove directly back to his house. He parked the car and ran inside to get his father. The both of them then took Steve up to the guestroom he was staying in and put him down on the bed.
"We should let him sleep now." Stated Todd's father, Bill McIvory.
"Sure thing, dad." Todd said. "Do you think he'll be alright?"
"We can only wait and see, son." Bill McIvory said back to Todd.
That night, Steve Prime dreamed like he had never dreamed before. He was dimly aware of Todd and Mr. McIvory carrying him upstairs and plopping him down in bed. Then everything went dark. Steve Prime woke up in his own house, in his own bed. Not believing his own eyes, he raced outside of his room. There stood his little sister, Meagan, pounding on the bathroom door, trying to get his little brother, Andrew, to hurry up. But when Steve called out to them, they acted like they didn't hear him. Shrugging off as just being snobby little siblings, he raced downstairs to the kitchen. Steve couldn't believe his eyes. There stood his mother, in all of her glory, cooking morning breakfast.
"Good morning, sweetheart. Do you want your eggs scrambled as usually?" Asked Emily Prime.
"Yeah, sure mom." Steve managed to get out. This can't be right, he thought to himself. They were dead. Both his mother and father. But, as Steve looked to his dad's usually chair, there sat his father reading the morning paper, the same way he had since Steve could remember.
"Good morning, son." Said Henry Prime. "Sleep well?"
"Not really, dad. I had this weirdest dream. You both were on an expedition over in Siberia and you both were killed by something there." Steve said uncertainly.
"Now that is interesting. Please, go on." Henry Prime said, setting his paper down and leaning forward on his elbows.

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