Sam was sitting in the park again. Sometimes she met up with her friend Marci and they'd talk about school and stuff, even in the summer. Like they both wondered if they'd get Mrs. Scranton next month, since there were two sixth-grade teachers at their school. Sam and Marci had some stuff in common. They both had dead moms, and dads who loved sports, although Dr. Ferguson didn't play of course, he just watched. Marci was more into sissy stuff than Sam was and she even had a bra with a little pink bow, although she was flatter than Sam. Sam saw the bra at Marci's slumber party last week.

Marci didn't like sports, but sometimes Sam could find boys to play with. She'd brought along a football today, just in case. Jonathan was busy adding to his bug collection, but maybe Sam would draft him if no one showed up.

Then she saw Bobby Walsh. He had glasses but he wasn't a total nerd. He was on the Bulldogs Little League team, which Sam hoped to join next year. She called him over and they talked about Old Lady Scranton a little bit. Then she asked if he wanted to toss the football around and he said sure.

So they did. But when she tried to tuck the ball into her chest when she caught it, like Dad had taught her, it hurt.

"Gee, Sam, I'm sorry! Are you OK?"

Jonathan raced over. "Did you hurt Sam?" he said, like he was gonna beat Bobby up or something.

"I'm fine," Sam lied.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" Bobby offered.

Jonathan glared. "We don't need your help!"

"Gosh, you have a really protective little brother, Sam."
"He's not my brother. He's my, my housemate." It was too hard to explain, especially with some of the wind knocked out of her. "I'll see you later, Bobby."

"OK, bye, Sam. And I am sorry."

Sam waited till they left the park before she asked Jonathan, "What was that about?"

"I don't like people hurting my friends."
Sam almost said, "I didn't know you had any friends," but Jonathan was a nice little kid, so she just said, "Well, thanks. But Bobby didn't hurt me on purpose and I'll be OK."

When they got back to the house, Sam knew she wouldn't get any sympathy from Mrs. Hiller. Besides, this was kind of a personal injury. She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror but her chest seemed OK, just tender. Maybe she should get a bra, for protection at least.

She thought about asking Dad for one for her birthday, but that was a little joke with herself. Dad was going to take a couple days off to make a special birthday visit, arriving that weekend. He'd told her about it ahead of time, instead of making it a surprise like last month. Sam wasn't sure exactly what happened then, but Mrs. Bower got annoyed that Dad went out with Mrs. Robinson's teacher. Mrs. Robinson didn't mind, but it wasn't like Dad was her son or something. Sam sure wouldn't like Dad dating one of her teachers!

Anyway, discussing foundation garments with Dad was never gonna happen. Up until a few months ago, Sam had always figured that when the day came, she'd ask Mrs. Rossini, who was sort of like a grandmother to her. But Sam wasn't gonna go all the way to Brooklyn on her own again. And she did have a local woman she could talk to about it. Not Mrs. Hiller.

...

It was a wonderful afternoon. Angela left work early on Friday and had Mother take Sam down to the City so they could all meet up and go to Bloomingdale's. When Sam had shyly asked Angela about buying a bra, Angela had decided that she'd spoil the little girl a little, especially with her birthday coming up. Angela used to wish that she and Michael would have a daughter together, but she'd given up on that dream years ago. Not that Sam was like a daughter of course. And it was still a little awkward, at least at first, although after awhile, especially with Mother to break the ice, they relaxed around each other more, and Sam agreed to call them Mona and Angela.

Sam took to shopping like she'd been born to it. And it turned out she liked dresses and necklaces and a little makeup, once she tried them. She looked lovely in them, too. Angela was so happy to see her happy like this. Sam was very grateful for the gifts and Angela enjoyed getting them for her.

Angela couldn't wait to see Tony's expression when he arrived tomorrow. He was going to be so proud of how much his little girl had grown up!

...

"Tony!"

"Hey, Champ!" Tony said, scooping Jonathan into a hug. "Where's Sam?"
"She went shopping with Mom and Grandma."
"Oh." Tony set Jonathan down.

"How come you're here early?"

"I wanted to surprise Sam."
"Well, they'll be home soon."
"Yeah, of course." Then he smiled and pulled something out of his suitcase. "You wanna see what I got Sam for her birthday?"

"Yeah!"
"OK, but don't tell her."
"I won't."

Tony showed Jonathan the catcher's mitt with his team's signatures all over it.

"Wow!"
"Think she'll like that?"

"Yeah! Sam loves sports. Except when she gets hurt."
"Sam got hurt?" Why hadn't Angela called and told him?

"She said it wasn't much, and she's OK now."
"Oh." It was probably just a very minor sports injury, like a scrape or something that Sam was used to.

After Tony put the mitt away, Angela, Mona, and Sam came home and Tony couldn't believe his eyes. Sam was all dressed up like a miniature Joan Collins! Angela and Mona thought she looked great, but this wasn't his Sam. What happened to the little girl in overalls and baseball cap he'd left a couple weeks ago? What had these Connecticut ladies done to his daughter?

He couldn't yell at them, especially since Mrs. Hiller summoned everyone to dinner just then. Mrs. Hiller's only comment on Sam's outfit was "I hope that doesn't need dry-cleaning. And I hope you're not planning to play sports in that get-up, because it's hard enough to get grass and blood out of your scruffy playclothes." Everyone tried to ignore her, although Mona did thumb her nose when Mrs. Hiller's back was turned.

After dinner, Tony went over to his apartment, which was slowly coming together. Most of the remodeling was done but it still needed paint and wallpaper and the finishing touches. Maybe this would all be easier to deal with when he was around on a regular basis. Then he could take back the parenting from Angela and be Sam's dad, at least until next season started.

He never had this problem before. Marie was Sam's mom and Tony never questioned her decisions about their daughter. Of course, that was before puberty. And Pop raised Sam kind of like he raised Tony. What was Tony supposed to do with an almost-teenager in the family? He had no experience with that. Not that Angela did, Jonathan was a long way from puberty, but Angela had been a teenage girl, although never a tomboy.

Someone knocked on the open front door and then he heard Angela ask, "Can I come in?"
"Aren't you supposed to give 24 hours' notice?"

"Well, you're not the typical tenant," she replied.

He wondered if she was thinking of how he'd seen her naked. He still hadn't quite gotten over it. He'd told himself he didn't see Cindy on his last visit because of the rash, but that wasn't the only reason. He just said, "Yeah."
"Look, Tony, I'm sorry if you think I overstepped my role with Sam."
He shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't have left you to do all the 'mom' stuff."
"I like doing the mom stuff. I mean, of course I'm not her mother, but I like having a little girl around to do these things for. And, Tony, what would you have done if this came up when you were around?"

"I don't know. I mean, she's only turning twelve tomorrow. What's the big rush?"

"She's starting to develop."

He winced. "I don't want to hear that."
"I know. Probably I'll feel weird when Jonathan, um."
"Needs a jockstrap?"

"Thank you."

"Well, if I'm still around, I'll take him shopping, how about that?"

"Fine."

They both knew this set-up wouldn't go on for years and years. It was debatable sometimes whether it would even last till the World Series. How would he and Angela get along when Tony was her full-time tenant half the year?

"She's really happy you came back early. She missed you."
"Even after shopping with the girls?"

"Yes. And I think she's going to love her catcher's mitt."
"Jonathan told you?"

"My son is not very good at keeping secrets."

Tony almost said that Jonathan needed a man around the house to teach him how, but instead he just nodded and came back to the house with Angela. Sam did love the mitt the next day and Tony was relieved that she hadn't completely changed overnight.