Gary returned with the two drinks, sat down next to Janet and said, “I have to begin to explain to you what my Dad was like. Do you remember my Dad?”
“Sure,” Janet replied. “He was always nice to me.”
“Oh, my dad was nice, and he was a great dad. He was fun and he gave the three of us all he had. He got us involved in all kinds of activities; baseball, scouts, swimming, dance, everything we wanted except football. We weren’t allowed to play organized football until high school.”
“Really? I remember watching you play, I wouldn’t have guessed that you didn’t start playing until then,” Janet remarked sarcastically.
“Well, smarty, I didn’t but his reason was simple, he didn’t want us to get hurt. He loved football the best of all. He received a football scholarship to a small college, Central Methodist. It got him out of his even smaller town in Iowa. He met Mom there and that, of course, led to me. Back to football, he was a starter. He played offense and defense as most players did in the 50s. On offense, he played center. You know the guy who hikes the ball to the quarterback. Back then, Janet, they long snapped. I mean, he practically threw the football between his legs every play to anyone behind him. You know that side lot by the house. Yeah. He used to do that the length of the yard. It was pretty amazing. Anyway, on defense, he was a linebacker. He never left the field, so he was rather intense when it came to football. He dumped all of that on me.”
“What do you mean by that?” Janet took a drink.
Gary took his first swig from the Bud Light beer bottle he had been spinning in his hand before answering her.
“I am getting to that. When he disciplined us, he was quiet and what I mean by that is that he rarely spanked us or sent us to a corner. He would say something like ‘I am extremely disappointed in you”, give us a look, and walk away. It would take a long time for us to get back in his good graces and I hated it. When I started playing football, I saw a lot more of that because I wasn’t quite the player he was. Before I explain to you that night that you saved me, you have to understand what he was like and what I was going through at home at that time.”
“Okay,” Janet spoke hesitantly.
“He didn’t even know he had anything to do with it and was the reason behind it all. I was young, too.”
“Okay,” Janet repeated like she had before.
“Okay,” Gary took another swig from the Bud Light. “It was building during that homecoming week and it started on the Monday…”
***
It was a gray when Gary woke up and he knew it was going to be a rainy day by the time football practice would begin. He trudged down the steps from his upstairs bedroom. It was still dark outside, but his parents were awake doing their morning routine. He knew his father was downstairs in the shower as he walked into his mother in the kitchen. She was standing at the stove in her light blue robe that was pulled tight around her.
“Scrambled eggs, honey. Take a piece of toast and sit down.”
He sat under the window and pulled a piece of toast from the plate in front of him.
“I put your football uniform in your gym bag by the front door,” she continued to talk with her back to him as she was still focused on the stove.
“Thanks,” Gary mumbled as he continued to chew the toast in his mouth.
Finally, she turned from the stove with the small pan she was stirring eggs in and brought it to the counter where three plates were waiting for her. She carefully divided the eggs into three portions, placed the pan in the sink, and brought two of the plates to the table. She handed Gary one of the plates and sat down on the bench in front of him.
Gary took the plate without speaking but he looked at her. She smiled at him and he returned a small one in return. They picked up their forks and began to eat their eggs. As they began, footsteps could be heard rising from the basement to the main floor. The door to the stoop opened and in stepped, his father, Ronald Jackson. The man stood about six feet, two inches tall and weighed about two hundred and fifty pounds. His hair was gray still showing black streaks, his eyes were blue, and his jaw was square. He was dressed in a white shirt that was buttoned to the top and tucked into dark blue pants. Gary knew he would be adding a jacket and tie to complete his business work attire. Ron stood at the counter to a steaming, full cup of coffee, and plate of scrambled eggs. He reached for the fork beside it before he spoke.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Good morning,” Julie replied while Gary continued eating his eggs.
“It’s a big week, isn’t it, Gary?”
“Yes, Dad. You know it’s homecoming week,” Gary flatly replied.
“Homecoming week,” Ronald repeated as he placed the first bite of eggs into his mouth and then sipped at this coffee. “Are you finally going to start a game this year?”
“I don’t know,” Gary answered and put his fork on his plate.
“I was hoping you would be a player, Gary,” his father said as he continued to eat. “I don’t think I will be attending unless you start the game.”
Gary abruptly got up from the bench and scooted past his father. As he left the kitchen, he called, “Thanks, Mom,” and stomped through the dining room into the living room. He paused at the front door to pull on his black and gold leather, letter jacket, picked up his black and gold gym bag, left the house and slammed the door behind him.
***
He was right. It was raining as practice started that Monday. Football practice on Mondays was what they called Run Day. As Gary exited the side door of the school where the locker room was located, he spied the growing group of football players beginning to gather on the practice field and he walked toward them. They all were carrying their helmets in one hand, and all were dressed the same in all white practice uniforms. The netted jerseys were stretched over the shoulder pads and the padded pants reached just below the knee. The sophomore team was at the far end of the field and the varsity, juniors and seniors, met closer to the school. Gary walked to five guys standing to the side of a larger group. The DB, Defensive Backs, Gang was gathering there. The six defensive backs were always together during football season. Their leader was Nick Smith (Smitty) and the others were Tim Blake, Andy Simpson, Rick Meyers, Matt Jones (Jonesy), and Gary.
In football, there are always eleven players on the field for both teams. Hazelwood’s team defense uses what is called a 52 or 61 format, meaning there are either five lineman and two linebackers, 52, or six linemen with one linebacker, 61, in front. There are always four defensive backs on the field behind them. Smitty and Andy were the starting cornerbacks meaning they played on the outside of the formation behind the linemen and linebackers. Smitty played on the left side and Andy the right. Tim and Rick were the safeties and the were in the middle of the field behind everybody. Tim’s position was called the monster position because he always lined up against the opponents’ tight end. Rick’s position was called the free safety because the position was basically free to go to where the opposition takes the ball. Jonesy and Gary were the back up players for any of the four defensive back positions. Gary was the guy that was most often chosen to go in for one of the starting players particularly in passing situations. Because of that, Gary led the team with interceptions.
The six defensive backs pulled their helmets over their heads and huddled together. Smitty placed his arm with a clenched fist in the center of the circle they had made and leaned in. The others do the same, their fists join together, and their helmets click as they meet in the middle. Smitty starts the chant that they began to do from the first day of summer practice to this October day, “D…B…Hawks, D…B…Hawks, D…B…Hawks…” The others join in. They start low and gradually get loud but not as loud as they could. “D…B…Backs, D…B…Hawks,” the rhythm is catching and the huddle of six begins to sway with it. A whistle blows and they yell as loud as they could “DB HAWKS!”
“Run Day! You crazy DBs, you run backwards!” a coach yelled to the team and they started to do just that, run. At the beginning of every practice, the team ran what is called the Super Lap. The field beside the building is a huge square bordered by the school’s parking lot on the north, a road to an elementary school on the south end, the high school is on the east side and the football field, the location of the Saturday football games is at the west end of the square lot. Inside the square, are two baseball fields, one in the northeast corner and the other, facing it, in the southwest corner. Alongside the parking lot are eight, fenced in, tennis courts then a sidewalk that runs from the school to the football field. From the school to the fence that surrounds the football field is another football field where the team practiced. The super lap was the perimeter around this square lot of land.
The DB Gang was running backwards, they always ran backwards on Mondays. It was hard to talk when they ran backward but they did anyway.
“Anyone hurting from the game?” Jonesy asked.
The others answered negatively as they rounded the first turn around the baseball field there.
“Any girl problems?” Andy always asked when they began this stretch of the run.
“Why do you always ask us that?” Smitty laughed at him. “Everyday.”
“I ask because I was hoping to hear these two responses, you broke up with Ann and Gary has a girlfriend now.”
“You know my old man doesn’t allow me to date during football season. He wants me to focus on the game,” Gary groaned.
“I can focus on both at the same time,” Rick added, and the group laughed. They were beginning to catch up with the rest of the team that was running forward, specifically the lineman. They, like the defensive backs, ran together in a cluster.
“Caught up with you guys!” Tim yelled at them.
“It happens every Monday,” Brian Hutchins, the team’s center, called out. “We catch up with you guys in the end, don’t we?”
“Not today!” Smitty called out as the group of six run around the contingent of eight, larger teens, and can now see them as they pass them, still running backward.
They cheat and cut across the far corner of the square. The linemen follow them and are in their sights. There pace slows, running backwards for so long can get tough but they were also pacing themselves for the last sprint on the final edge of the lap.
“We are going to beat them today,” Jonesy said.
“Never say it,” Rick said. “We need to keep this pace to the turn. What do you think, we are ahead them by twenty yards?”
“Yeah,” Gary agreed. “About twenty yards.”
“They will do what they always do, start sprinting at the last turn,” Andy said.
“This rain,” Gary complained. “Just makes it hard to run in.”
“Could be our advantage,” Smitty said as he looked over his shoulder. “We are about thirty yards from the turn. They burn out about halfway through their sprint. Let’s keep this pace through the turn and let them begin to sprint to pass us. When they catch us, let’s turn it on, okay?” The others agree.
As predicted, the DB Gang make the turn about twenty yards ahead of the lineman and when they had all cleared the turn, the lineman began to sprint. They caught and evened up with the defensive backs.
“Go!” Smitty yelled and the group of six started to churn their legs faster as they ran backwards. The lineman started to run harder but then one by one their pace slowed until only one was even with Jonesy, who was the slowest of the six. A whistle blew and they all slowed to a stop with Jonesy and the DB Gang slightly ahead of the lineman.
“Told you guys,” Smitty called out as he bent forward gulping in huge breaths of air. “Not today!”
***
“So,” Ron Jackson said to the family as he sat down for supper and then specifically asked Gary. “How was practice?”
“Muddy,” Gary replied as he put down the fork that he had just loaded up with green beans. The others continued to eat and began to talk to each other as the question wasn’t addressing them.
“Anything else happen?” his father continued to quiz Gary.
“Like what?” Gary asked trying to figure out where this conversation was going.
“Like, are you starting this week?” his father revealed where he was going.
Gary’s mother and siblings stopped eating and talking to pay attention to the conversation he was having with his father.
“I don’t know. We run a lot and do drills on Mondays,” Gary explained to his father.
“Did you ask the coach?” Ron asked.
“No, Dad, I didn’t,” Gary yelled at his father. “It’s Monday. No one talks to anyone at practice on Monday.”
“Well, I am letting you know that I will only be attending that game on Saturday if you are on the starting lineup. You can’t get to college on the bench,” Ron lifted his fork for the first time
“Ronald!” Julie spoke to her husband as Gary left the room and ran upstairs to his room.
To be continued…
My First Stories 