He’d try harder for awhile, and then his mind would wander again. The Cubs felt sorry for him because obviously he meant well. Chub though, was a total loss to the team, even as a substitute.
“Something’s bothering Chub,” Brad confided to Dan. “He’s worrying about things, and he’ll never be any good until he gets it off his chest. Any idea what’s wrong?”
“It may be because he hasn’t any father or mother,” Dan replied. “I’ve tried to talk to him now and then, but he never opens up.”
The next few days were so delightful that the Cubs abandoned basketball for hikes. They decorated their clubroom with cornshocks and pumpkins obtained from a nearby farm.
Fred made cardboard witches for the walls, and in the work forgot his disappointment over loss of the cardboard fort.
All the Cubs fashioned Halloween costumes and laid plans for another party. They took care however, that Pat and his cronies should not learn of the affair.
Regularly, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the Purple Five practiced thirty minutes in the church gymnasium. The Bay Shore area boys now were much better behaved and quieter while in the building.
Nevertheless, the Cubs could not forget past actions. By agreement no mention was made of the destroyed cardboard fort. The conviction remained however, that Pat and his gang were responsible for it as well as the damage to the old Christian Church. Nor had they forgotten the ice cream freezer episode or Pat’s unfair demand for half of the game receipts.
The Bay Shore boys were treated politely, but none of the Cubs warmed to them. Furthermore, while the Purple Five team was in the building, the clubroom always was kept locked.
“You guys don’t trust us much, do you?” Pat demanded of Dan one afternoon on the final practice session before the coming Friday game.