The story so far ... Ben and Nate ride again past the clothesline after nearly two weeks without a message. It is almost time for school as well as soccer to start. Ben feels an urgency to see a new message. However, Nate is growing irritated with his friend's interest in the clothesline and wants to just ride past. But they stop at Ben's insistence and he focuses on a pink yoga shirt with stand tall written on it. Just then, the owner comes out and angrily tells them to get going. While riding home, Ben is thinking about the meaning of this new message.



School started, and the lazy summer days were over. My time was filled with classes, friends, and homework. Besides soccer practice, which was every day after school, I was also in 4-H. There was no time to think about clotheslines and secret messages.

My feeling that I had seen another message had faded. I mean stand tall... I didn't even know what those words meant. Seemed a stupid message compared to the other two. I wasn't even sure it was a message. Maybe Nate was right, and I was making too much of it.

After two weeks, the day of soccer tryouts arrived. A bunch of us stood around waiting in our shorts and T-shirts while the coaches talked in a huddle. They had clipboards. We were all nervous, each hoping to stand out from everyone else.

Nate raced up late and slapped me on the back. He was out of breath. "You ready? Good luck. I hope we both get on the traveling team."

Just then, the head coach blew his whistle and motioned us all to the centerline.

"You'll get on for sure." I jogged next to him up to the line. "And I'll do my best."

For the next two hours, I moved from station to station dribbling, passing, stealing, and kicking goals to a goalie. A coach at each station was writing on a clipboard. I had no idea how I rated. Afterwards, we had a scrimmage. I played forward and saw a lot of action. Having been told over and over again to be more aggressive, I attacked the ball every chance I got.

Nate left early for a dentist appointment. I was waiting for Mom to pick me up with some of the other guys. Tanner was the star of last year's team and always pushing the rest of us around. He was taller, and outweighed most of us by ten pounds. Only Nate was bigger, and he was such a likable guy that Tanner never bothered him. "Hey, who wants to walk to AJ's with me? I need a Dew."

I looked the other way, searching for Mom's red car. No one answered.

"What's the matter, are you all a bunch of losers?" he yelled, looking at all of us. "Who's coming?"

"Hey, I could go for a Dew, but my dad will be here any minute," Xavier said. "We're headed for Cedar Falls. My sister's got a volleyball game." He walked towards the crossway.

"Yeah? I wasn't even including you." Tanner shot out after him. "No losers." He looked over the rest of us. His eyes stopped on Parker. He'd never played soccer before and was pretty bad, missed passes, couldn't even dribble the ball. Just like Little League.

Most of the boys ignored him because he always kept to himself at school. He likes playing video games instead of sports and ate lunch by himself. At recess, he played alone. Suddenly, I remembered my own mean words to him during our last Little League game. Guess I wasn't much better...

Tanner walked over to him and stood a little too close. "Well, I guess it's just you and me, Parker."

"Hey, I can't go. My mom would kill me."

"All the more reason you should go." Several of the other boys had drifted away. A couple had been picked up. Tanner cuffed Parker's head. "Let's go."

Parker ignored him and looked hopefully down the street.

"You deaf? Let's go." He repeated and punched him in the arm. Having been bullied by Tanner myself, I felt bad for Parker. I sometimes did whatever Tanner wanted just to get him off my back.

But Parker continued to ignore him even though I could see tension in his face. Something inside me snapped. "Lay off. He said he can't go." I straightened up and looked right at Tanner.

"Oh, are you his Daddy?" Tanner smiled at me in a fake way that was really mean. He slowly walked toward me. I held my ground, standing tall.

"Go by yourself. His mom's coming, my mom too." I was really nervous, but the words kept dribbling out. "I mean, what's the point of all this? Are you trying to bully us?"

Tanner stared at me without saying a word. But I stood tall.

And as if by some magical timing, Tanner's dad drove up. He rolled down the window and said sternly, "Get in. We got things to do."

Tanner slumped down and quietly got into the car.

Parker looked over at me as his mom drove up. He nodded his head and said quietly, "Thanks." They drove off.

Christian walked up with a big smile and put out his palm. "Wow, you really put him in his place." I slapped his hand and grinned.

I was the last kid left waiting. I felt kind of proud. I'd never before stood up to Tanner or any other bully. It felt pretty good. Maybe Tanner wasn't used to anyone calling him out, and he was actually relieved when his dad drove up.

And then it hit me... like a ton of bricks. The message on the shirt. Stand tall... I didn't even know what it meant. But I had just now stood tall, even though it had taken courage. And I helped Parker save face. Now I was finally sure that the clothesline messages were real and meant for me.

Just then, Mom drove up. "Sorry I'm late. Last minute job at work."