The Love Match Read online

  Brother looked puzzled for a moment. Then he caught on. “Oh!” he said. “You mean as an excuse to pay Milton a visit!”

  “Exactly,” said Papa. “At Farmer Ben’s he’ll be on his own turf. He’s bound to be more comfortable there than at school. He might open up a little.”

  “And being with him on the farm,” said Mama, “will give you an opportunity to mention Bertha Broom—how she grew up on a farm, too. I think there’s a chance for a real friendship between those two.”

  “Why think small?” said Sister. “They might even wind up going steady!”

  “Not so fast, Sis,” said Brother. “What Milton needs most right now is a friend. Oh, wait. I just realized. Bertha isn’t in the picture anyway. She’s too busy right now to make any new friends. She’s not only full-back on the football team, she’s also heavyweight on Coach Grizzmeyer’s new wrestling team. Wrestling season won’t start until winter, but they’re already practicing and training every day after football practice and on weekends, too.”

  “I’ve been meaning to ask you about that,” said Papa. “When will Mr. G hear from the league about whether or not the new team has been accepted?”

  “Should be any day now,” said Brother. “And if the answer’s yes, Bertha just won’t have time for Milton.”

  “Oh, please,” scoffed Sister. “Sister Bear’s first rule of romance: If a girl really likes a boy, she’ll make time for him.”

  Brother’s eyebrows rose. It seemed his little sister was growing up.

  Chapter 4

  A Budding Friendship

  Though Sister had always enjoyed playing matchmaker, she agreed with Brother that what Milton needed most was a good friend, not a girlfriend. Besides, she thought, with two shy cubs like Milton and Bertha, the best a matchmaker could do was get them to talk to each other—and then let nature take its course. So she suggested that Brother ask Bonnie to call Bertha that evening and talk to her about Milton. Bonnie could ask her to introduce herself to Milton on the school playground the next morning.

  “But Bertha’s so shy,” said Brother. “Are you sure she’ll do it?”

  “She may be shy,” said Sister, “but she’s also one of the most kindhearted cubs I know. When Bonnie explains how badly Milton needs a friend, she’ll do it.”

  Sister’s suggestion worked. On the playground the next morning, Brother managed to interrupt Queenie, Bermuda, and Babs in their teasing of Milton by telling Queenie that they’d heard a rumor that Too-Tall had a secret crush on someone. As soon as Milton was alone, Bertha went up to him and introduced herself.

  The two were still talking pleasantly, if a bit shyly, when Too-Tall and his gang finally arrived on the playground. Ordinarily, this would have broken up Milton and Bertha’s conversation. But today Too-Tall didn’t have a chance to make fun of Milton. Queenie, his on-again, off-again girlfriend, immediately cornered him and lit into him about his secret crush. Too-Tall was taken completely by surprise, because he hadn’t heard the rumor yet. He couldn’t have. Brother and Bonnie had made it up just minutes earlier on their way to school.

  Now, getting Queenie mad at Too-Tall by starting a rumor is a good way to distract Too-Tall from teasing someone. But it’s just as good a way to get Too-Tall mad at you. Fortunately, Brother had taken care of this possibility. After checking with Harry McGill, he had told Queenie that he’d heard the rumor from Harry, who had gotten an email message about it on his computer the night before. Whoever had sent the message hadn’t left a name, probably out of fear of Too-Tall’s wrath. Brother hoped that this phony story would keep Too-Tall from ever finding out who started the rumor.

  Sure enough, Too-Tall spent all three recesses that day questioning cubs about the rumor. By the end of the day, not only had he failed to find out who had started it, he had also spent so much time questioning cubs that he never had a chance to tease Milton. And that gave Milton and Bertha more time to get to know each other.

  Chapter 5

  On His Own Turf

  After football practice that day, Brother headed for Farmer Ben’s. He was very pleased with how things had gone at school between Milton and Bertha. It seemed they were already well on their way to becoming friends. At the same time, he knew that rough times lay ahead for them. Soon Too-Tall would give up trying to solve the rumor case and return to business as usual. That meant that Milton needed more than one friend.

  At the farmhouse, Farmer Ben greeted Brother and told him that Milton had just headed out to the barn to pitch hay. Brother walked over to the barn and went in. Milton, pitchfork in hand, stood before a huge pile of hay.

  “Hi, Milton,” said Brother.

  Milton looked up and frowned. “I know you,” he drawled. “You’re that Brother Bear fella I met yesterday mornin’. I never expected to see you here.”

  At first Brother didn’t know what Milton meant. Then, all of a sudden, he understood. “Oh!” he said. “You mean because of what I said when we were introduced?”

  Milton gave a slight nod of the head and kept his eyes on Brother.

  “Look, Milton,” said Brother. “That’s one of the reasons I came. I want to apologize. It was an accident. It just sort of…slipped out.”

  Milton kept staring at Brother for a while. Then his frown eased. “I may not be as clever as you city cubs,” he said. “But I can tell when a fella’s bein’ truthful. I accept your apology.”

  “Thanks,” said Brother. “What’re ya doin’?”

  “I was just gettin’ set to pitch this here hay up into the hayloft,” said Milton.

  “Mind if I watch?”

  “Nope,” said Milton. And with that, he got a good grip on his pitchfork and began flinging great heaps of hay into the hayloft with incredible speed. Within minutes he had reduced the enormous pile of hay on the barn floor to a few scattered strands.

  Brother gazed up at the full hayloft. “Wow!” he said. “I’ve never seen such powerful arms and shoulders on a cub!”

  Milton cracked a smile. “Aw, shucks,” he said. “Always been strong. Ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper, I guess.”

  Brother knew it was only an expression, but it was hard to imagine Milton ever having been a little cub at all. “I tried pitching hay once,” he said, “but I couldn’t even reach the loft. You know, some of my friends and I worked part time as farmhands for Farmer Ben for a while.”

  “Yeah, I know,” said Milton. “That Bertha gal told me.”

  “Oh, Bertha Broom,” said Brother. “She’s real nice, isn’t she?”

  Milton gave Brother a suspicious look. “Come on outside with me,” he said. “Gotta replace a broken fence post.” As they walked, he continued, “Yeah, Bertha’s kinda nice, I guess. Got to talkin’ to her today at recess. Don’t s’pose I woulda if that little bully fella hadn’t quit pesterin’ me.”

  “Little bully fella?” said Brother. “Oh, you mean Too-Tall.”

  “Yeah, that one.”

  “Well, I think I should warn you,” said Brother. “Too-Tall was sort of distracted today by a problem with his girlfriend, Queenie. Tomorrow he might be back on your case. And if you’re with Bertha, he’ll be that much harder on you.”

  Milton shrugged and hefted a heavy wooden fence post. “I can take whatever foolishness that little fella dishes out,” he said. “Just so he leaves Bertha alone.” He hefted the post above his head and plunged it into the ground. Then he picked up a sledgehammer and gave the post a couple of mighty whacks.

  Brother might have just stood there gaping at this remarkable show of strength had he not been absorbed in thinking about what Milton had just said. “Fat chance,” he replied before he could catch himself, then stammered, “Er, uh…I mean there’s not much chance of that. Too-Tall’s bound to be just as hard on Bertha as he is on you.”

  Milton’s grip tightened around the handle of the sledgehammer. “He better not make fun of Bertha,” he said. “I won’t stand for that.”

  Brother was surpris
ed to see that the gentle giant had a temper, after all. “What’ll you do if Too-Tall makes fun of Bertha?” he asked.

  “What’ll I do?” said Milton. “Why, I’ll—” But he didn’t finish the sentence. Instead, he raised the sledgehammer again and pounded the fence post deeper into the ground with a series of savage blows. Then he straightened up, wiped his brow with a forearm, and said, “Better not say. Why worry about somethin’ that hasn’t even happened yet?”

  “Why, indeed?” said Brother. “Well, Milton, nice talkin’ to you. Gotta go.”

  “See ya around, little fella,” said Milton. He turned and walked off toward the barn.

  Hmm, thought Brother as he headed back across the cow pasture. Could it be that Massive Milton was already getting a crush on Bertha Broom? And was it possible that when Too-Tall insulted Bertha, Milton would treat him the same way he’d treated that fence post?

  Chapter 6

  A Shocking Decision

  Meanwhile, at Bear Country School, something was about to happen that would have a big impact on Milton Chubb’s life. Coach Grizzmeyer’s new wrestling team had just started practicing in the gym. Practices were always held after football practice so that Bertha and Too-Tall could attend. They were fullback and tight end on the football team, and on the wrestling team they were heavyweight and light heavyweight. Barry Bruin at middleweight and Gil Grizzwold at lightweight rounded out the wrestling team.

  Coach Grizzmeyer didn’t mind making special scheduling arrangements so the school could start a wrestling team. He was a great fan of the sport. He had been a star wrestler himself right through college, and his greatest ambition now was to place a team in the well-established school league. In fact, he had even handed over the football team’s head coaching job to his assistant, Teacher Bob, that year so he could put in extra time coaching wrestling.

  “Good takedown, Bertha!” barked Mr. Grizzmeyer. “Better help Barry up. He looks a little woozy.”

  Despite Bertha’s helping hand, Barry stumbled and fell flat on his face. He looked up wearily. “It’s no use, Coach,” he said. “I just can’t give Bertha a decent practice match. She really needs Too-Tall to go against.”

  Mr. Grizzmeyer glanced at his wrist-watch. “Where is that slacker? Football practice was over at least twenty minutes ago!”

  “I don’t think he’s coming, Coach,” said Bertha. “He cut football practice, too. Said something about investigating a nasty rumor.”

  Just then Teacher Bob poked his head out of the gym office and called, “Coach! Phone for you! It’s the president of the wrestling league!”

  Mr. Grizzmeyer’s eyes lit up. “He must be calling to welcome our team to the league!” he said, and hurried to the office, with his three wrestlers close on his heels. He snatched up the phone and said, “Hello, Mr. Grapple. Grizzmeyer here. I just want to say it’s a great honor to accept your gracious offer to join the league. I can assure you that the Bear Country School wrestling team will be a worthy addition to—” He broke off. A look of horror came over him. “What? Unacceptable? You can’t mean that! Why?” As he listened, the horror turned to shock. “No girls allowed? No, I didn’t know…I just assumed you’d done away with that silly rule like all the other school leagues… Yes, I know I tried to keep Bertha off the football team. But that was then, and this is now! I’ve changed! And so should you, I might add, and those other guys who made up the league rules—hello? Hello? Hello?”

  Coach Grizzmeyer slammed the phone down and looked at the cubs in amazement. “He hung up on me! Can you believe that?” But now all the air seemed to go out of him. His shoulders slumped. “Well, you all heard what happened. They won’t accept us unless we replace Bertha with a boy.”

  Bertha hung her head. Barry stared at the wall. Gil asked, “What do we do now, Coach?”

  Mr. Grizzmeyer stood straight up and squared his shoulders again. “I’ll tell you what we do,” he said. “We fight! We can’t allow them to keep girls off our wrestling team, not in this day and age! Besides, Bertha’s our best wrestler! We’ll take ’em to court!”

  But Bertha shook her head. She was the kind of cub who hates being the center of attention. “Please, Coach,” she said. “Don’t make a big fuss on my account. I’d really rather not be in a league that feels that way about girl wrestlers.”

  Though the fire remained in Mr. Grizzmeyer’s eyes, he pursed his lips and nodded. “All right, Bertha,” he said. “If that’s the way you want it, then that’s the way it’s gonna be. But I can’t think of a replacement for you. I guess we just won’t have a wrestling team this year.”

  Suddenly Bertha had an idea. “I know!” she said. “What about that new cub, Milton Chubb? Couldn’t he replace me?”

  “Yeah!” said Barry. “There sure isn’t any question about his being a heavyweight.”

  The coach considered this for only a moment before shaking his head no. He thought the new cub was too gentle, too passive to play any competitive sport. Besides, he’d heard that Too-Tall was giving him a pretty rough time. Judging from Milton’s reaction to the gang’s taunts about his joining the football team or the basketball team, it wasn’t likely he’d want to be on the same team with Too-Tall.

  As the dejected cubs trudged off to the locker room, Barry turned to Gil and said, “Pretty disgusting deal, huh?”

  “Yeah,” said Gil. “But Coach still has that fire in his eyes. He’s a fighter. And he wants this wrestling team more than anything.”

  “But he promised Bertha he wouldn’t do anything,” said Barry.

  “Not exactly,” Gil pointed out. “He promised not to make a big fuss.”

  “So what?” said Barry. “Can you imagine Coach fighting for something without making a big fuss?”

  As it turned out, however, Barry had underestimated his coach. For at that very moment, Mr. Grizzmeyer was on the phone in the gym office. “Now, Queenie,” he was saying, “I think we can win this case in court, maybe even in time to meet this year’s league deadline for new teams. But I promised Bertha there wouldn’t be any fuss. That means you have to promise me that you won’t start a public campaign like you did to get Bertha onto the football team. Okay? Good. Let’s get down to business. I happen to know that your cousin Bermuda’s big sister is a lawyer. And I also know she used to work in Judge Gavel’s office as his assistant…”

  Chapter 7

  The Sleeping Giant Wakes!

  And so a court challenge to the wrestling league’s no-girls rule was set in motion. Coach Grizzmeyer hoped that the friendly relationship between Judge Gavel and Bermuda’s sister would lead to an early hearing date in court. But the start of the wrestling season was less than three weeks away. As the coach looked out at cubs gathering on the school playground the next morning from his office window, he was beginning to doubt that the court case could be speeded up enough to meet the league deadline for new teams.

  Out on the playground, Brother and Bonnie were pondering their own problem. So far, there was no sign that Too-Tall had figured out the trick they’d played on him. But there was no guarantee that that wouldn’t change as soon as the big guy reached school.

  “There he is now,” said Brother. “He just came through the gate.”

  “Uh-oh,” said Bonnie. “He’s coming over here. Try to look casual.”

  “Well, well,” said Too-Tall, approaching at the head of his gang. “Look what the cat dragged in. Or should I say, ‘Look what the kitten dragged in’?”

  “Hi, big guy,” said Brother. “What’s up?”

  “I’ll tell you what’s up,” sneered Too-Tall. “Had a little talk with Cool Carl King last night. You know that so-called rumor you said Wheels McGill got off his computer? Cool was gonna play computer chess with Wheels that night. But he couldn’t. Know why? ’Cause there was a power failure in the whole neighborhood. Which is the same neighborhood that Wheels lives in, by the way. And it lasted until the next morning.”

  Brother and Bonnie glanced at each
other. “Gee,” said Brother. “Must have been the night before…”

  “Nice try,” said Too-Tall. “It wasn’t the night before. Or any other night. And don’t try to blame it on Wheels. ’Cause I figured out that it was you two who masterminded this prank. And I even figured out why you did it.” He pointed across the schoolyard to where Milton and Bertha stood apart from the other cubs, talking happily as if in a world of their own. “You did it to get me off Massive Milton’s case for a while, so those two lovebirds—or should I say lovewhales—could spend some quality time together.”

  “Okay, you figured it out,” said Brother. He put up his fists. “I’m not afraid of you. Go ahead. Beat me up.”

  Sister, who had overheard, sprang forward, fists at the ready. “You’re gonna have to beat me up, too!” she cried. “I didn’t know about the prank, but I’m the real matchmaker behind all this!”

  Too-Tall laughed. “Figures. Sister Cupid Bear strikes again. Put your dukes down, both of ya. I ain’t gonna beat nobody up.”

  “You’re not?” Brother and Sister said in unison.

  “Nah,” said Too-Tall. “That would be uncivilized.”

  Brother, Sister, and Bonnie gave each other puzzled looks.

  “I got a better way of getting back at you bums,” continued Too-Tall. With an evil grin, he looked across the schoolyard again. “Since the reason you did it was to get Milton and Bertha together, I’m gonna go over there and break ’em up! I’m gonna embarrass ’em so bad, they won’t even look at each other for the rest of their long, overweight lives! Let’s go to work, gang!”

  Queenie, who had also overheard, made a move to run after the gang to stop them. But Brother caught her by the arm. “Chill out,” he said.