Baseball in April and Other Stories

Alfonso, a boy in junior high, is obsessed with cultivating an appealing style to attract girls’ attention. He longs for defined abdominal muscles, and he cuts his hair in the latest style. Lately, he has been worrying about his crooked teeth. When his mother tells him that braces are too expensive, Alfonso pushes on his teeth with his thumbs, sometimes for hours at a time. One Saturday, he grows bored with this when he sees no improvement in his smile, so he goes outside to clean his bike. As he wipes down the 10-speed, his brother, Ernie, arrives, looking upset. Alfonso asks what happened, and Ernie admits that some girls stood him up.

Later, Alfonso sits outside working on his teeth, then jumps on his bike and rides through the neighborhood. At his old elementary school, a boy hangs upside down from a fence. The boy’s pants are stuck, and his sister looks on. Alfonso helps the boy down and introduces himself to the girl, Sandra. He walks them home, and he and Sandra stand on the corner and talk nervously. Eventually, Alfonso asks if she wants to ride bikes with him sometime. She says yes, even though she does not have a bike to ride.