That night, Bucky lay in bed listening to a light rain on the roof and imagining the coach taking the jacket out of the gift box and slipping it on.
Suddenly, Bucky sat up. What if it doesn’t fit? he thought frantically. He flopped back down to think about the problem. As his head hit the pillow, the tag on his pajama top scratched his neck. His mother usually cut off the tags, but she had forgotten this time. The night was hot, so Bucky decided to sleep without his shirt. He struggled out of it and started to toss it on the floor. Then he stopped.
The tag! he thought happily, staring at his pajama top. That’s it! He snuggled back into his bed. Tomorrow, if he was clever, he could find the answer he needed.
After the night’s rain, the next morning turned out to be warm and sunny. Bucky showed up at the field a few minutes early. Coach Bradley was already there setting up two long lines of orange cones on the field. Bucky put his plan into action right away.
“Hey, Coach!” Bucky called. “Phew, it sure is a hot one today! I might just practice without my shirt on! How about you?”
The coach shrugged. “I’ll keep mine on. And unless you’re wearing sunscreen, don’t take yours off, okay? I can’t have my star goal-keeper getting a burn before our last game.”
“Oh. Right,” Bucky said. Rats, he thought. The rest of the team slowly trickled in. Coach Bradley had them all do warm-up exercises, then he separated them into two groups and explained their first drill.
“Bucky, you go in one goal, and Jason, you take the other. Group one, you’re with Bucky, and two, with Jason.” The kids followed the coach’s instructions. “Two people from each group, take up positions near the goals.” Dewey and Amanda trotted down near Bucky. Eddie and Lisa went to the opposite goal. “Now, everyone else line up behind the cones. First in line, dribble in and out of the cones. At the end, pass to one of the players near the goal. That player shoots on goal, then goes to the end of the line. The dribbler takes his or her place.” He clapped his hands. “We’re working on control and quickness. Ready? Go!”
Bucky crouched down, hands in the classic W goalkeeper’s pose, ready to stop the ball when it came toward him. Stookie Norris dribbled expertly through the cones, then passed to Amanda. Amanda fired a shot to the upper left corner of the goal. Bucky smacked the ball away and returned to his starting position. Amanda trotted to the end of the line, and Stookie took her place near the goal.
Next in line was Lou Barnes. Lou dribbled around the cones and booted the ball to Dewey. Dewey kicked it hard toward Bucky’s feet. Bucky scooped up the ball and threw it to one side.
Ten minutes later, when the coach blew his whistle, Bucky was breathing hard and his shirt was covered with mud and grass. Looking down at himself, he suddenly had an idea. While the others were busy getting cups of water, Bucky quietly rolled a soccer ball in a muddy patch of grass.
“Hey, Coach!” he yelled. Coach Bradley turned—and Bucky fired the ball directly at his chest. “Catch!”