The 10th of August
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
"Augie! Augie!
Catch it, Augie!" William Calvin Kruger yelled from the pitcher's mound on
the baseball field of Bennett School's playground.
August Hans Kruger's
feet moved his body around in circles, then back peddled him in the
playground's dirt as his eyes tried to focus on a high fly ball. A fly ball hit
by Ira Piggy Reardon so high that it seemed to disappear into the sky. Augie's
ears tried to follow the instructions being relayed to him by his 12-year-old
cousin Willie.
"Back! Back! Back,
Augie!" Willie directed.
Meanwhile, Piggy, also
12, scampered around the bases, urged on by his younger sister, Dottie Mae, in
hopes of making it a home run.
"Faster! Faster!
Run faster, Piggy," Dottie Mae screamed while jumping up and down along
the third base line."Can't ya run any faster, Piggy?"
Piggy huffed and puffed
his way around second base and headed for third. Then, he stumbled and went
sprawling face first into a cloud of dust. The dust from a rainless July at
Jackson Junction.
"Pa's gonna tan yer
hide good when he sees you've dirtied up yer clothes again," Dottie Mae
yelled at her older brother by two years.
The sun's rays of yet
another hot, humid day seemed to burn into Augie's eyes as he caught a glimpse
of the baseball Piggy had hit his way over right field. The baseball came
speeding down towards Augie so fast that it suddenly looked more like a meteor
falling from outer space.
Augie's left hand
pounded into the pocket of the glove he wore on his right hand. Augie was the
last left-hander remaining in his fourth-grade class. Any other left-handers
had been taught, and sometimes even forced, to switch to write, cut, paint etc.
with their right hands. It was school policy for students to be right-handed
for their own good in later life. So far, however, Augie had escaped such
scholastic regimentation, being a transfer student from the county's east side
just prior to summer vacation of 1919.
"Catch it! Catch
it!" Willie implored once more as Augie's back bumped against the right
field fence. He could move back no farther. His head stung from hitting the
fence.
"I got it! I got
it!" Augie yelled in a most confident tone of voice for all the players to
hear.
But the sun's rays now
pierced into the depths of Augie's eyes, almost like sharp daggers, numbing his
very brain. Augie blinked, then used his glove to shield his eyes.
The dropping baseball
sounded like a bullet as it neared the end of its earthward journey. Augie's
eyes squinted. His eardrums pounded from the yells of cousin Willie and his
other teammates. In a split second, Augie's gloved hand raised up over his
head.
Piggy, meanwhile, had
gotten to his feet once more, brushed the dirt and dust off his overalls and
was rounding third base and heading for home.
The thud of the
baseball, crashing into the pocket of Augie's glove, could be heard as far as
Lincoln Street some would say later. The force of the catch knocked Augie down
to his knees, but he kept hold of the baseball.
Thus, the Tigers, as
these particular neighborhood boys
called themselves in the summer of 1919, had won the game, 6-5, over Piggy's
team, which had chosen to call itself the Yankees.
Led by Willie, Augie's
teammates swarmed over his body to congratulate him on his game-saving catch.
Willie helped his 10-year-old cousin to his feet amid claps and cheers from the
other Tigers.
"What
happened?" Augie asked somewhat bewildered by all the attention being
directed upon him. "Is the game over?"
"Look in yer
mitt," Willie snickered. "Ya robbed Piggy of a home run. We won! We
won! That'll learn them Yankees not to mess with us Tigers."
Augie finally looked
into the pocket of his glove and saw the baseball sungly trapped in it. His
hand ached from clutching the baseball so tightly since his phenomenal catch.
"Ya won the game
for us, Augie," other Tigers shouted as they danced and jumped around a
still dazed right fielder.
Only then did a smile
cross Augie's face. He held the glove and ball up over his head in trophy-like
fashion.
"Ya was lucky! Ya
was just plain lucky!" screamed a voice behind the rejoicing Tigers.
"Augie Kruger, ya was lucky the ball didn't hit ya right in the head and
kill ya," Piggy snorted.
"Was not lucky!" Willie growled. "A
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
It's 1919 and the 10th year of August (Augie) Kruger's life. Those two facts clash head-on to produce a mystery-adventure story in "The 10th of August", the third and final book in what might be called a "reverse trilogy" of the Augie series of novels.
For August Hans Kruger, 1919 proves to be an unusually exciting year for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the Black Sox Scandal, which results from a fixed World Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds of that year.
Two gamblers, with black satchels, arrive in Jackson Junction from Chicago ... as does a hired killer from New York. Augie has a dream that tells him there's $10,000 in those satchels. The race is on for him to find those satchels, with help from cousin Willie and friends Piggy and Ruthie, who are all members of a childhood club. Pig Reardon, division police captain for the Michigan Central Railroad, and two local crime reporters will do almost anything to get their hands on those satchels as well.
The club suddenly needs to find a new meeting place and chooses an abandoned "underground railroad" tunnel. It is there that the members barge in on a mysterious inhabitant of the tunnel. A man who will eventually play a crucial role in Augie's life for years to come.
Of course, Dottie Mae is again an obstacle in Augie's path, as is Pig's wife, Mrs. Reardon, who unexpectedly becomes Augie's substitute fourth-grade teacher.
Meanwhile, Hans, Augie's father, vows never to have anything more to do with baseball after he loses a bet to his brother, Cal, on the 1919 World Series, which Hans refused to believe could be fixed. Augie simply will not allow his father to give up on a sport he has loved so much in the past. And, that leads Augie into one dangerous situation after another.
It is also in 1919 when President Wilson tries valiantly to get the United States to join the League of Nations before suffering a stroke; when Congress passes the Prohibition Act over Wilson's veto; and, when the sale of a baseball player from one team to another will change the game forever.
Yes, the year 1919 may have been stuffed between the covers of dusty history books long ago, but August (Augie) Kruger brings it back to life in a flurry of exciting adventures between the covers of this book.
About the Author
ROBERT A. FREY celebrates his 70th year by writing this novel about the 10th year in the life of his trilogy's title character, August (Augie) Kruger. Frey admits to having a tinge of sadness in bringing the August series of books to closure:
"Augie has been a fantastic character," Frey says. "There simply can never be another Augie. He accomplishes the impossible by never giving up, no matter what obstacles or dangers he may be facing. Fictional characters can do that, no matter what their age might be. But, Augie, isn't a magician or some sci-fi character with super powers. No, he has qualities that define him as a real person. His palms sweat, his face blushes, he gets sick to his stomach, he bleeds, he fails, and, yes, he even falls in love. An author couldn't ask much more from a character."
Frey feels there is a little bit of Augie in everyone. "We all, at some time in our lives, want to find our special place in this world . . . our own paradise, so to speak. We all, at one time or another, have dreamed about being a hero or heroine for whatever reason. But, Augie would blush instantly, if you called him a hero. Perhaps Augie's age of innocence is gone forever. I would hope not."
After having three August novels published in less than two years by 1stBooks Library, Frey plans to take a holiday from writing. "I need to get back to working on my model railroad and watching real freight trains," he says. "Who knows, maybe someday I'll wave at an engineer on one of those freight trains and he'll wave back at me. I know Augie Kruger would."
Besides The 10th of August, Frey's previous works in his trilogy are August in Paradise and August and Beyond.
Frey began his professional writing career at the age of 17, when he was hired as a part-time sportswriter by his local newspaper, the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot, while a senior in high school. He attended Jackson Junior College for two years before graduating with a major in journalism from Michigan State University. The day after graduation from MSU, he was hired to a full-time position by the Citizen Patriot, where he remained as a writer until he retired in 1988.