Read Brooks Berry In The Case Of The Stolen Season Page 5

  Chapter 5 Morning Revelations

  Brooks woke up the next day and went to the Tosa East page on Facebook. He wanted to see if anybody had anything to say about last week's game. There wasn’t much on the page. Most fans were pretty disappointed over starting the season with a loss like that. He hated to do it, but he clicked on the Tosa West page. It was full of congratulations and taunts to Tosa East. He read through the comments and one caught his attention. GREAT GAME, SON! The person who posted that was named Sue Ille-Arno. "Hmm," thought Brooks, "must be Marc’s mom,” referring to the Tosa West quarterback, Marc Ille.

  "That other last name - Arno. I've heard it before. Where??" He couldn't place it. He got up from the computer and turned it to sleep mode. He headed downstairs to get breakfast. He sat down at the table, reached for the remote control and flipped on the TV. He grabbed the paper and opened the paper to the local news section. His toast and juice consumed most of his thought while he scanned the headlines. He was thinking about his day and what he'd do. He was supposed to hook up with Brad later that day to go to the batting cages.

  The headline on page 2 caught Brooks' eye. TROJAN COMPUTERS COMPLETES SCHOOL DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY UPGRADE. The article went on to say that Trojan Computers had installed new computers in all of the school district offices and classrooms, redesigned the network for the district and also did the software upgrades on the new scoreboard installed at Tosa East. The story quoted the guy that Brooks had talked to yesterday - Gunther Arno. "That's where I recognized that last name from. Hm. I wonder if he's related to Marc Ille," thought Brooks.

  The phone rang, Brooks answered it and it was Brad who wanted to talk about what they were going to do that afternoon. The boys made plans to meet up around 2pm. They decided they would head out to the school to play a game of Strike Out.

  Strike Out is a game that you can play with 2, 3 or even 4 guys. One pitches, one hits, and then you could either rotate into the outfield if you had a 3rd or just play 2 on 2. On the school wall a red paint line in the shape of a rectangle formed the strike zone. The pitcher aimed for the strike zone - if he hit it or the batter swung and missed, it was a strike. If he missed the zone and the batter didn't swing - it was a ball. Then in the field there were different landmarks that determined singles, double, triples and over the fence it was a home run. The game was a lot of fun and really helped Brooks with both his hitting and fielding. Today it was just the 2 of them playing. They played for about 90 minutes and by the end they were both hot and tired. Brooks barely beat Brad 6-4.

  As they sat on the ground drinking a soda they talked about Tosa East's football debacle. Brad said, "I read about the school district's new computer system - it sounds pretty cool. That stuff that Coach Vitrano was telling us about – the play editing software and video reviews seems really cool too. They are filming every practice and can watch plays on their computers. I guess he and the coaches and some of the players are reviewing every snap and doing simulations. Supposedly some pretty high tech stuff." "Well it didn't show last week," said Brooks. "I know it," agreed Brad. The boys headed their separate ways to go home for dinner.