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“Did you see Crazy Jane’s letter in the paper?” Thomas asked Emily.
“Never mind that,” Chloe said. “Do we have a softball schedule?”
“Sort of. I’ve got ten games, but I also left messages with Vinalhaven and Valley. So we’ll probably play them too. Basically, we’re just going where the baseball team goes.”
“Do you think we could have a scrimmage with someone?” Chloe asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean”—Chloe looked around the room as if to confirm it was just the three of them—“well, we are not exactly used to being bad at something, and I think maybe we’re going to be kind of bad at this. So I was thinking maybe we could have a practice game against someone before a real game that counts?”
Emily’s first thought was to find a church softball team to come scrimmage them, but Thomas interrupted her train of thought.
“Camden Christian is close,” he said, “and they’re never good at anything. They might scrimmage us.”
“Thomas, that’s not a very encouraging thing to say. And also, don’t call Jane crazy. I don’t think she’s crazy at all.”
“You haven’t seen her in her tinfoil hat.”
“Really?” Emily had bought it.
Thomas laughed.
“So did you find uniforms?” Chloe asked.
“Sure did.”
“Can I see them?”
“Sure. Meet me in the gym after school.”
“Do you know who is going to pitch?”
“Nope. You interested?”
She shrugged. “I’ll try it. But I don’t know if any of us are going to be able to do it. I was watching pitchers on YouTube last night. It’s pretty crazy.”
“Well, you were watching good pitchers on YouTube. You weren’t watching Maine Class D high school pitchers.”
“I was watching Richmond.”
“Oh.”
The bell rang and Emily’s first period freshmen began wandering into the room. Chloe stood to go. Then she turned back. “By the way, how did you get Sara Crockett to sign up for softball?”
It was Emily’s turn to shrug. “I didn’t do anything. She just signed up.”
Thomas held out his fist for a bump. “I’m serious, Miss M, read Jane’s letter. She is going to cause a lot of trouble. I’m not so sure you want her kid on your team.”
Emily sighed. “Makes me worry about Duke and Sara. How does Jane’s passion affect them?”
“Don’t worry about Duke,” Thomas said. “He’s just as nuts as his mother. Acts like windmills are pure evil.” He put his hands up in the air for the last few words and shook them like jazz hands, adding a trill in his voice for dramatic effect.
“Go to class, Thomas,” Emily said, firmly but with affection.
Emily finally got a chance to Google Jane’s opinion piece during her fifth period prep. The letter was lengthy and well-written. Jane certainly had a firmer grasp of the English language than her son. Or, Emily wondered, does Duke just have me fooled? The letter was vehement, but there was really nothing new. It was more of what Jane had already said at the town meetings: windmills pose health hazards; windmills ruin island scenery; windmills make people see ghosts ... Wait! This was something new. Windmills also caused pets to exhibit behavioral issues. Emily rolled her eyes and scanned the rest of the article. Jane ended with an enigmatic “This battle isn’t over. Piercehaven is not going to let these monstrosities go up.” Is that a threat?
Emily’s eyes flicked to the comments, and they were numerous (425 and counting) and brutal. And there was no way all the commenters were islanders. She just couldn’t see that many Piercehaveners taking the time to log on and comment. No, Jane was attracting attention from around the state, and maybe even beyond.
A few commenters claimed to be from Vinalhaven. One of them encouraged Jane to stand strong and protect her island. The other told Jane to stop whining and causing drama.
Emily winced at how many of the comments were personally directed at Jane. How could people be so cruel? Ah the bravery internet anonymity allows, Emily thought and forced herself to close the window.
––––––––
Chloe brought friends to her afterschool meeting with Emily. Hailey, MacKenzie, and surprisingly, Sara accompanied Chloe across the gym.
Emily unlocked the athletic locker for the second time that day and then asked Chloe to run the key back to Julie. Chloe obliged.
Emily flipped open the trunk and pulled out the top uniform.
Hailey grimaced. “Miss M, it’s striped!”
Emily looked down at the uniforms and then at Hailey. “So?”
“So? So they’re ugly!”
“Oh, come on,” Emily said, “they’re not so bad.”
MacKenzie reached into the trunk and grabbed a uniform. Then she held it out in front of her and shook it until it unfolded. “Eeewww.”
“Oh, stop it. At least we have uniforms,” Emily said. “I repeat. They’re not bad.”
“But why do they have little red stripes up and down them?” MacKenzie asked. “We’re going to look like candy canes!”
Chloe returned then. “Yikes. Those are pretty bad.”
Emily really didn’t see the issue. They weren’t that bad, and she knew they could be much worse.
“They’re scratchy,” MacKenzie whined.
“You guys need to stop. These are fine. I’ll see what I can do about getting new ones, but that’s going to take some time. For now, let’s do the best we can with what we’ve got.”
Sara, who hadn’t made a peep, reached into the trunk and pulled out a red stirrup. “What the heck is this thing?” She held it up to her face and peered out through the hole made by the straps. “Is it a thong?”
The girls laughed as though this were the funniest thing they’d ever heard. Emily had to struggle to keep a straight face. She ripped the stirrup out of Sara’s hands and said, “It’s a stirrup and we don’t have to wear them. We can just wear socks.”
MacKenzie had already grabbed another stirrup from the trunk and was pretending it was a slingshot. “No, I think we should use them! They’re like little polyester weapons!”
