Heat

The girl with the arm is named Ellie Garcia, and she is “the most beautiful girl Michael [has] ever seen” (47). Although Michael doesn’t believe Carlos when he says that he will soon start to care about girls, at the ballpark, “all he [knows]” is that Ellie is “different from all the other girls” (47). As Michael begins to ask how old Ellie is and where she is from, Manny makes fun of him for his “interview” (48) questions. He finds out she is 12 years old and lives in the Bronx.

Ellie takes over the questioning and asks who the boys are; Manny takes over and “[tries] to tell her both his and Michael’s life stories in the space of about five minutes” (48). Ellie responds to Michael, though, explaining that she, too, is from the Caribbean, and then making fun of Manny for talking “more than any of [her] girlfriends” (49). Michael and Ellie bond over a song their fathers used to sing about Misifuz the cat.

Quickly, they decide to play, Michael taking the role of catcher while Ellie pitches. When Manny starts to explain that Michael is the best on their team at all positions, Michael tells both him to “shut up and hit” (50).