Lou didn’t hesitate. His defender was ahead of him, trying to stay between Lou and the goal. He wasn’t expecting Lou to pass backward. But that’s just what Lou did.
Jerry trapped the ball neatly. Then he waited. Sure enough, the Torpedo halfback charged him. With a quick move, Jerry dodged her. He dribbled madly for the goal. The fullbacks tripped all over themselves to get to him. But Jerry remained calm. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Roy streaking up the sideline.
Jerry waited a beat, then sent the ball rocketing to Roy. Roy stopped it ten feet in front of the goal. He seemed surprised to have the ball, but only paused for a second. With a swift kick, he sent the ball flying into the net for the ’Cats’ first goal!
“Wow! Great pass, Jerry!” Roy cried happily. Jerry grinned.
But that was the only goal the ’Cats made. When the game ended, the final score was Torpedoes 3, ’Cats 1.
Jerry was disappointed they hadn’t won. But he knew he’d done his best, at least in the second half. The coach thought so, too.
“Glad to see you got rid of the puppet,” Coach Bradley said.
“Yup, that puppet is ...” Jerry’s voice trailed off. His jaw dropped and he clapped a hand to his forehead. “That’s it!”
Without another word, he grabbed his sweatshirt and ran off the field. He didn’t stop running until he reached home —and then it was only to open the door. He pounded up the stairs and into his bedroom.
“Good gracious, where’s the fire?” his mother hollered. But Jerry didn’t answer. He had crossed the room to his bed, where Otter was sitting.
Breathing hard, Jerry picked Otter up and turned him over. He stuck his hand inside the hole in Otter’s back and wiggled his fingers into Otter’s arms.
He gave a whoop that brought his mother running. Slowly, he pulled his hand out. In his fingers he held the missing key!
“It must have slipped inside Otter when I put it into the knapsack at Stookie’s house!” Jerry cried.
His mother hugged him. “What made you think to look there?” she asked.
Jerry dangled the key from his finger. “It was something the coach said about puppets,” he answered. “And in a way, you helped, too.”
Jerry explained. “The one time I wasn’t thinking about the key was when I figured out where it might be. Just like you said: Sometimes the answers come to you when you stop thinking about the problem.”
Mrs. Dinh ruffled his hair. “Glad to have helped. Now what do you say we go check on those gerbils?”
“You bet!”
