The Jet (A Sandlot Story) Benny Rodriguez

Chapter 4

The next day bright and early, there was a knock on your window. The sun had barely come up and yet someone had the audacity to knock on your window. Whoever it was clearly had no idea how much you hate mornings, especially Saturday mornings.

You lifted your face up from between your pillows to see that Benny was standing right outside your window. Though you hadn't changed your clothes, your hair was all down and framing the sides of your face.

You panicked, reaching down to pick up a hat from the floor. You quickly slapped it on your head, tucking your hair in as you raced to the window. You pulled up the glass pane and revealed Benny, practically trying to pull you out of your window.

"Hey, what're you doing?" You smacked his hands away, climbing out of the window yourself.

"Come on, you gotta see this." He shouted, taking off down the street, and motioning for you to follow him.

"See what? Benny what's this all about?" You brushed off your flannel which was now covered in dirt from your window sill.

You walked up to the middle of the street where he was standing, and looked up. The sunrise was beautiful. You'd never seen a sunrise like this before.

"Wow. Is it like this every morning?" You asked Benny, who was just as entranced by the sky as you were.

"Nah, usually only happens every few months. I get up every morning around the same time just to see if it's good like this." He replied, never taking his eyes from the beautiful scene in front of him.

"How can you get up so early every morning? Don't you like to sleep?" You joked, dropping your tone when you looked back at your house.

The front door opened, and Mikey stepped out, pulling his jacket on before your mom followed. He gave her a peck on the lips before walking to his car, which you hadn't even noticed was parked there until just now.

"Is that your dad?" Benny asked innocently. He honestly hadn't known anything about your family life, you hadn't told him because you thought you might slip up and spill your secret.

You sighed as you watched him drive away. "No. That's my mom's new boyfriend Mikey." You said, in a sarcastic sounding tone.

"I'm gonna take a guess and say you don't like him." He came up behind you with his hands on his hips.

"Not really no. But it doesn't have as much to do with him personally. I just don't like the idea of having any other guy but my dad in the house." You confessed. It was true. Although Mikey didn't seem like a great guy, the main reason you didn't want him around was because you thought he might try and replace your dad.

"I don't mean to be all in your business Mack, but uh, I've never seen your dad. Does he not come around?"

You were hesitant to answer him, but you figured he would have to know about it eventually.

"He uh, he died when I was ten. Lung cancer. He used to smoke all the time." You pressed you lips into a thin line, the thought of your dad suddenly putting a lump in your throat. You had to do everything you could to keep from crying.

"I'm sorry. You must hate that your mom even has a new boyfriend." He patted you on the back and you nodded.

"You don't even know the half of it. He seems to be a real loser too." You heaved your shoulders up and down as you sighed. The only thing you wanted was to just go back to bed. All this was just too irritating. You didn't blame Benny, you actually really appreciated the fact that he thought to wake you up. However, seeing Mikey leave the house was not exactly your ideal morning.