Grandma's Baseball Card: A Braynard Family Story

By D. Rae Gayken

Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, is also home to some of the worlds most devoted baseball fans. Marshall Braynard and his sister, Jane, are two of those devoted fans. They love watching baseball games from the best seats in the stadium, the bleachers. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Marshall catches the game winning homerun baseball. This catch sets in motion a series of events, which leads Marshall and Jane on a search for a missing Ernie Banks baseball card. Join this high-energy brother and sister team as they tear things apart, humiliate each other, and in the end, work together to acquire a common goal.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Sep 27, 2007
• ISBN: 9780595897513

D. Rae Gayken

D. Rae Gayken is a Southern Minnesota native. She is an outdoor adventurist and avid international traveler. Her writing stems from her own family and the corky things that happen in their everyday lives.

Book preview

Grandma’s Baseball

Card

42736.jpg

A Braynard Family Story

D. Rae Gayken

iUniverse, Inc.

New York Lincoln Shanghai

Grandma’s Baseball Card

A Braynard Family Story

Copyright © 2007 by Darcie R. Gayken

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

iUniverse

2021 Pine Lake Road, Suite 100

Lincoln, NE 68512

www.iuniverse.com

1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, places, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

ISBN: 978-0-595-45439-6 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-0-595-89751-3 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

1

The Game

2

The Next Day

3

#14

4

The Search

5

The Basement

6

Trapped

7

The Card

8

The Dress

Dedicated to Mom and Dad.

I would like to thank my Mom for all of the feedback she has given me while writing Grandma’s Baseball Card.

1 

The Game 

Bang … Bang … Bang … Bang …

Marshall! Laura Braynard yelled from the large tan sofa in the living room. She looked comfortable in her pink pajamas, her thick brown hair pulled back in a ponytail.

Yeah, Mom? Marshall answered.

Stop hitting the ceiling with your baseball! Laura yelled, then continued to read her book and drink her enormous cup of cappuccino.

Bang . Bang . Bang . Bang .

Laura quickly put her book down on the end table, took one more sip of her drink, and marched down the narrow hallway to Marshall’s room. What did I just say? Come on, put the ball away and go to bed. We don’t need any more holes in the ceiling!

Marshall slowly climbed into his twin bed. His pajamas consisted of shorts that showed off his bird-like legs, and a T-shirt. You could tell the boy loved outside activities. Marshall’s hair was bleached blond from hours in the sun, and his skin was a dark tan. His fingernails and elbows were stained black from diving and sliding in the infield dirt. Like many twelve year-old boys in the neighborhood, he played baseball almost everyday.

Good night, Mom! he replied. And don’t forget, we have to be at Wrigley Field early so I can watch batting practice.

Don’t worry, the game starts at noon and we don’t have very far to walk. You’ll get your chance to watch batting practice, Laura answered. She exited his room and headed back to her book and her cappuccino. Now, Marshall had been to many baseball games. But every time he went to a Cubs game with his family, something went wrong and they arrived late. He prayed that this time would be different. He loved baseball; the atmosphere made him feel alive. The smells and the sounds of the ballpark were intoxicating. Wrigley Field was like his second home. He dreamed of someday being a professional baseball player and hearing the crowd cheer as he rounded the bases.

While Laura said good night to Marshall, her husband Clark visited with Marshall’s sister Jane in her room. "Now, Jane, tomorrow at the game we have to be