“My grandfather doesn’t want me to make it about him,” Lucas said.

“Why not?”

“He hasn’t really made that clear,” Lucas said. “What he has made pretty clear is that he wants me to find another subject.”

“Are you going to find another subject?”

“Not yet,” he said. “If I have to, I might ask Mr. Collins if I could do it about him. But I’m not ready to give up on Gramps. I still think it’s a cool idea. It’s my way of putting down the feelings I have for him in my heart down on paper.”

“He’s such a cool guy,” Maria said. “I was watching him watch you during the game on Saturday. He looked like the happiest person in the world.”

“I want this paper to make him happy,” Lucas said.

“You’ll figure it out.”

“How do you figure?” Lucas said.

Maria smiled again. Lucas would never admit this to Ryan, or even his mom. But he thought she had an amazing smile.

“Hey,” she said. “You’re the writer.”

ELEVEN

The Sheridan Sonics hadn’t been one of the better sixth-grade teams last year, but had certainly been the biggest.

Their center, Robbie Marino, had been the tallest player in the Twin Lakes League, by a lot. And when they showed up at the gym at the Sheridan YMCA, they saw that Robbie had just continued to grow.

“I was hoping that he’d gotten shorter somehow,” Ryan said to Lucas.

“Don’t worry, you showed last season you can guard that guy,” Lucas said. “And I know you can do it again.” He paused. “If the refs allow you to stand on a chair.”

“Is that your idea of a pep talk?” Ryan said. “Seriously?”

“No,” Lucas said. “That was just me trying to lighten your mood. Or your load.”

“That guy is a load,” Ryan said.

“I’ll try to do better,” Lucas said. He grinned. “But that sounds like a pretty tall order.”

“You’re not funny,” Ryan said.

“You know I’m funny,” Lucas said. “It’s just that right now you don’t think I’m funny.”

Ryan was still staring at Robbie, shaking his head slowly and sadly.

“Don’t worry,” Lucas said. “You just stay between him and the basket as much as you can. And I’ll drop off and help out whenever I can, same as we did last year when we shut them down.”

“I don’t know why I even have to guard him,” Ryan said. “He’s their center and Billy’s ours.”

“Gramps told me he likes your quickness staying in front of him,” Lucas said. “And how long you are.”

“You know what’s really going to be long?” Ryan said. “This day.”

“You want my real pep talk?” Lucas said. “He’s bigger. You’re better. End of speech.”