Jake and Ki were floating in the middle of the water in the center of the cave.  They were facing each other, simply drifting, riding the rise and fall of the small waves beneath them.  It was almost completely dark.  The others had left, including Protector, who flew outside when the decision had been made who would be joining him in The Quest.

  “I don’t want to go,” Jake told his best friend, The Leader of the Flock.

  “I want you to go,” Ki told him.

  “But I don’t need to go,” Jake argued swimming closer to Ki.  “I need to stay near you.”

  “No,” Ki swam forward toward him. “You don’t.”

  “The others know what you want, and they will get him to come back.”

  “I need you to go to be me.  You are my best friend and you know me best of all and you know why I need Deke to return to The Flock.”

  Jake remained silent as he looked at the goose before him.  The bird was smaller than him but was always the one who came up with the ideas.  Ki always showed initiative and drive.  He was observant and quiet.  He thought before he spoke, asking lots of questions.  Ki lived to learn.

  Jake was not like his friend at all.  He grew up with this small goose as their parents had nested next to each other.  The two of them hatched almost at the same time in nests just a few feet from each other.  Jake admired his friend’s drive and it was early on that he decided to follow Ki no matter what, to keep him safe.

  “Ok, I’ll go for you,” Jake finally said as he turned and swam toward the entrance, not looking back.  Ki shook his head, satisfied.

  As Jake passed through the mouth of the cave into the light of day, he paused to allow his eyes adjust to the light.  He paddled with his right leg only, spinning himself in a small circle.  Small ripples of water spread from him toward the nearby shore and also into the center of the pond to a small group of five geese.  They were waiting for him in a semi-circle and were silently bobbing up and down as the ripples smoothed beneath them.  Jake saw the others, nodded, and swam toward them.

  “Together again,” Drifter said as Jake joined the to face the semi-circle of geese.

  “Seems so,” Jake said as he settled to drift with them.  “I have a question for you guys – why can’t we leave now instead of at First Light tomorrow?”

  A spattering of quiet laughter spread among the group.  It was High who broke the laughter directed more at Mattias than the rest of them.

  “Why go at all?  What makes anyone think that he would want to come back especially since Protector said that Deke said he didn’t want to because he would be a distraction.”

  “High,” Matthias answered first.  “I want to go.”

  “But she is right,” Liza admitted.  “It will be difficult to convince him to come back with us.  He is very smart, and I believe he could live alone if he wanted to.”

  “You are probably right,”  Ack agreed.  “But look at what he could teach Ki.  He was our leader for a lot of seasons, and I know what he knows could help the rest of us.”

  “That is so true,” Liza agreed.  “I learned so much from him in the short time I was with him when you guys left for the southern pond.  Where to find food, how to stay warm, and how to stay safe here in the cold season.  Truthfully, I don’t think he wanted to leave this pond, ever.”

  “He seemed to love the cave,”  Drifter added.

  “There are lots of ponds around here,” High remarked.  “What if you don’t find him?”

  “Oh,” Jake said remembering his conversation with Ki.  “We need to find him.”

  The others looked at him as they floated.

***

The next day, the sky was beginning to become early morning gray and five geese gathered in front of the mouth of the cave.  Ack, Drifter, Jake, Liza and Mattias waited to be allowed into the inner circle.  High was staying behind to be ready to nest when the time was right.  Predator had just flown inside ignoring the Sentries that stood in their assigned positions.  The sky around them was beginning to turn pink when Daniel appeared in the entrance and simply nodded for them to follow him.  Ack lead them inside and they fell into a line behind him with Drifter being the last one to enter the cave.  Daniel continued to the middle of the room where Ki was waiting for them.

  “By now, you know what to do,” Ki casually told them.  They, in turn, spun around to face the entrance just at the time the Bright Light broke the horizon with a thin orange strip of light.  The ripples in the water instantly caught that orange light as each small hill of water shimmered.  As the Bright Light rose in the sky, the shimmers jumped to the walls above the entrance of the cave and spread overhead. Suddenly, the shimmers widened and spread through the water and the colors of the rainbow began to gather and explode on the walls.  The geese gasped in delight and the eagle on its perch on the side of the cave, rose, stretched its head to his highest height and the dark eyes reflected the light show, and he was glad he was there in the room.  Slowly the colors on the wall faded as they were replaced by the pale morning light entering the cave.  Ki swam around to face them with his back to the entrance.

  “Okay, that is always cool.  It is different every day, but it is time to go.  Remember, you will go with Predator to the place where he came across Deke.  Oh, and do you also remember Simeone,” Ki paused, and a sparrow flittered above Predator’s head.  “He has agreed to go along with you or, at least a bird from his troop will go with you, to serve as an informer to keep us posted as to the progress of your Quest.

  “It will be me going with you,” the sparrow informed everyone.

  “Good, but I am surprised,” Ki commented.  “Well, the last thing I want to say is this:  work together.  Don’t fight over who is in charge because no one is.  But I do know you guys because I was with you so no fighting among yourselves.  We need Deke back with us where he belongs along with the rest of you.”

  Ki looked at each of them one at a time to emphasize his point saving his best friend for last and to whom he nodded.  “Protector,” he added.  “I can’t ask you to stay with them beyond your showing them where to begin, but…”

  “Don’t worry,” the big bird stretched his wing to their fullest and rose from the tree root.  The breeze from one flap of his wings caused the water beneath them to rise and fall.  “I love adventures,”  he cried as he flew from the cave.

  The sparrow flitted after him through the entrance.  The geese swam behind them and spread their wings just outside the entrance and rose into the sky.  Drifter was the first one out and was already in flight.  Liza flew to his left, Jake fell in place to his right, and Mattias flew directly behind them shaping a diamond as they rose to catch the eagle directly in front of them with a small speck of a sparrow to his right.  Ack rose last, following close behind them, finally falling into line behind Jake. 

  The Quest has begun.

To be continued…

In the early morning light, Mattias was floating in the middle of the pond paddling quietly, his wings tucked tightly next to his body.  He was a little chilly as a breeze slightly ruffled his feathers and he bent his neck to rest his head on his chest.  Other groups of geese swam around him on their way to various spots on the water leaving him alone. He was looking at the horizon watching the Bright Light as it rose into the sky when he noticed a huge bird zoom overhead, its shadow quickly passed over him.  He followed it as it halted and grasped a branch near the cave where the leadership of The Flock were housed.  He was sure it was Protector, the huge eagle with the white feathered head that he had met when he was part of the seven.  A Sentry approached the eagle and then went inside the cave.  Two geese emerged from the cave; the Sentry returned to his post, but the second large white goose swam to the eagle.  Mattias rose his head to its fullest height to watch the encounter.  He wished he could hear the conversation, but it had become apparent to him that something was happening.

  “What is it, honey?” a quiet voice interrupted his witness of the event before him.

  “Good morning, High,”  Mattias responded quietly without stopping his observation of the birds close to the cave.  “Do you see what’s going on?”

  High, a small brown goose with her white under-tail turned her attention in the direction of her mate’s gaze.  “That’s Protector and Ack.”

  “I believe so,” Mattias agree with her.  “I wonder what is going on?”

***

  Drifter was on the water at the farthest end of the pond from the cave.  A group of geese were surrounding him, and he was in his element, preaching to them about the joy of Flight.

  “We could go higher, you know, if we can learn to ride and glide on the warm air the Bright Light sends us,” Drifter was saying.  “we could fly as high as eagles.”

  “Like that one,” a small blue-gray goose with a bright pink bill said.

  The entire group followed the bird’s gaze to the tree beside the cave.

  “Who do you think that is, Drifter?”

  “Oh, I know who that is,” he responded to the question.  “It is Protector.  I wonder what is going on?”

  “Me, too,” another voice rose from behind him caused him to turn and look.  Liza had silently paddled through the group from the rear and stopped beside Drifter.  They watched the scene unfold as the Sentry entered the cave.

***

  It was a little later in the day and the Bright Light was almost directly over the cave.  Directly in the middle of the water, a group of four geese huddled together.  They were turned inward in order to see and talk to each other.

  “Any guesses as to what is going on?” the largest of the group was asking.

  “Mattias, do you really want to know?” the small brown goose on his right asked him.

  “High, you really don’t want to know?” the not-as-small snow-white goose across from her asked.

  “No, I don’t,” High answered Drifter.  “I am afraid.”

  “Afraid of what?” the other female asked her.

  “Liza, I just don’t know,” High explained.  “I have a bad feeling.”

  “Really?” Drifter laughed.  “I have a good feeling about it.  It isn’t everyday Protector goes inside the cave.”

  “Still,” Liza wondered.  “I wish I knew what was going on.”

  “What do you think is going on?” Mattias asked her.  “Danger?”

  “Nah,” Drifter answered instead.  “The Sentries would put up the alarm right away.  I rarely think about danger.”

  “I do,” High stated.

  “You have a good reason to be more aware, Mama-to-be,” Drifter teased back.

  “Knock it off,” Mattias scolded his friend on his right.

  “Yessir, Dad-to-be,” Drifter laughed back.

  “Still, I wish I knew,” Liza repeated.

  The four geese repositioned themselves to line up to face the cave and together, they drifted.  As they watched, a large white goose emerged from the cave and looked around the water.  Its gaze paused on them for a moment then continued looking around itself.  Satisfied, the bird moved to the left of the group that was watching the goose.  It swam into the grass partially hidden from their view.

  “What is Ack up to?”  Drifter asked the geese around him.

  At that point, Ack emerged from the grass with a smaller blackish-brown, white-collared goose and they were headed for the group of four.

  “I have a bad feeling about this,”  High muttered.

  “Not me,” Drifter said.

  “I guess we are going to find out what is going on,” Liza remarked.

  The water beneath them began to rise and fall a little faster as the two geese swam closer to them.

  “Hello, Gang,”  Ack started the conversation.  The goose beside him remained silent.

  “Hello back,” Mattias spoke for the group.  “What’s going on?”

  “Oh, something interesting,” Ack continued, laughing.

  “What could Protector bring to you guys that is interesting?” High asked skeptically.

  “Well, guess what?  You are being invited to find out.  Follow me,” Ack said and turned toward the cave.

  “All right!” Drifter excitedly exclaimed as he began to follow the large white goose.  High and Mattias fell in line behind the first two geese.  Liza hung back, paddled toward the white collared goose who turned with her to follow the others.

  “Do you know what’s going on, Jake?” Liza quietly asked.

  “No, not any more than what you just heard,” he responded.  “I said no way, but he said I would want to know about it, so I followed him.”

  The group remained silent.  When they were closer to the entrance, Ack turned around and asked them to wait.  He continued inside and the others floated just outside.  Two Sentries stood on the ground on either side of the entrance and neither one looked directly at them as they constantly moved their heads from side to side watching for any movement beyond them.

  Another large white goose emerged from the cave.  It was Petra who nodded for them to follow him inside.  Drifter started inside first, then High and Mattias followed by Liza and finally Jake.  Petra led them toward the beach.  On a tree root bending down above it, Protector was perched, with his wings tucked by his sides.  Petra walked up on the beach and the others followed him.  The Wist were already there, sitting in a semi-circle and Petra went to sit beside them.  Ack was standing waiting for them to join him and when they did, he urged them to sit, too.  Beneath the eagle, Ki and Daniel sat quietly waiting for everyone to settle down.  The light inside the cave was dim.  The waves on the water quietly washing onto the edge of the beach and that was the only sound that was heard.  Daniel rose to his feet and took a few steps forward.

  “We would like you to go on a Quest for us,” he told them.  “It will be an interesting adventure if you choose to participate.”

  “Oh, I am in,” Drifter said right away.

  “Not me,” High said almost as quickly as Drifter.  “I am getting heavy with eggs and I do not want to lose them.”

  “Honey,” Mattias said to his mate.  “We don’t even know what the Quest is for yet.”

  “I found Deke,” Protector announced to everyone.

  He got the reaction he wanted as they all grew quiet.

  “Yes,” Ki stood and approached them.  “Deke has been seen and we would like you to go and convince him to come back to us.”

  “What do you mean convince?” Liza asked.

  “Apparently, he thinks he would be a distraction to me,” Ki answered her.

  “How come he thinks that?”  Jake asked.

  “I don’t know,” Protector answered.  “But that is what he said.”

  “Maybe, we should leave him alone,” Liza offered an opinion.

  “We discussed that,” Daniel approached her.  “Do you think that is best for him?”

  “Actually, no,” Liza replied.  “He has a lot of knowledge that could be helpful to all of us.”

  “I would like to have him around,” Ki agreed.

  Miriam moved a bit and the eyes of all of the geese turned their attention to her.  Besides Daniel, she has been part of The Wist the longest, and when she spoke, they listened.

  “I think he needs to be safe and we can keep him safe,” she quietly said causing the rest to nod their heads in agreement.

  “So who’s in?” Ki asked them.

To be continued…

The eagle was flying high above the clouds using strong, fluid strokes of his powerful wings to propel himself forward toward the Bright Light.  He wasn’t hurried as he flew. He was just enjoying his flight, the warmth of the air beneath him and the brightness before him.  He glanced down at the trees below him.  Green sprouted everywhere and the woods weren’t dense yet so he could see through them onto the ground.   The earth was beginning to become green because the grass was beginning to replace the brown dirt.  To his left, a plateau appeared in the distance.  He angled his tail feathers to adjust his direction to travel toward it.  He lowered his path as he streamed closer to the level land and he could see the water just past it.  The Bright Light shimmered off the surface of it showing small ripples spreading throughout it.  Along the edges of the water, sprouts of new spring grass were beginning to replace old brown stalks.  He could begin to see small birds, some in groups and others spread around those edges.  Still high above, he passes over the plateau where he could now see the few trees growing along the rough edges of it.  He arced around and was able to look at the bottom of the hill to see a cave opening, black and mysterious.  The woods began along the right of the cave and a tree stood separate from the rest with one branch aimed directly at the cave.  Protector considered this branch, his branch, and it was the one he was focusing on.  He lowered himself, steadying for a direct route to it and he flapped his wings.  He then tucked them into his sides, streaked to it and suddenly straightened his wings, pausing above the branch and grasped the branch with his talons.  The branch bobbed temporarily as he turned himself on it and faced the cave.

  “Good day, Maxim,” Protector called down from his perch.

  The large goose had watched the eagle fly across the water and land on the tree.  He waded toward it, unafraid, stretched his neck toward him and said, “Good morning, Protector.  How are you?”

  “Doing well,”  the dark eyes peered down at the goose.  “I need to speak to The Wist.”

  “The Wist?” Maxim asked somewhat surprised.  “What do you want to discuss with them, my friend?”

  The eagle stretched his wings out and refolded them into his sides before speaking again, “A business matter.”

  The white goose looked at the eagle and slowly nodded his head.  As one of the Sentries, it was his job to limit visitors to The Wist and, ultimately, The Leader.  Ordinarily, he would turn away other bird types denying access to them, but he knew Protector.  He, like himself, was personally chosen by Deke, the previous Leader, to be part of the inner circle.  He turned and entered the cave leaving the eagle waiting on the tree branch.  A short time later, the goose reappeared accompanied by a second one, another large white goose who separated himself from Mattias.

  “Hello, Protector!” the goose greeted the eagle in a happy tone.

  The eagle nodded in return and simply said, “Ack.”

  The goose swam beneath the tree branch and turned to look out across the water.  A few geese swam together in small groups, casually paddling in lazy circles gossiping to themselves.  He knew other geese were stationed along the outskirts of the shoreline watching for those that might harm the flock.  The eagle followed his lead and looked deeper into the surrounding woods.

  “What is your reason for addressing The Wist, Protector?”

  “I told Maxim.  I have a business matter.”

  A slight breeze ruffled the feathers of each of the birds and they remained unmoved.

  “What sort of business?”  Ack continued to inquire further.

  “I found what has been missing.”

  The goose in the water turned and looked up at the eagle who simply looked back and nodded his head.  The goose turned back toward the cave and reentered it.  This time Maxim, who had stationed himself to the right of the entrance to the cave, turned and entered it.  He reappeared and paddled toward Protector and nodded.  The eagle returned the nod, spread his wings, and thrust them down.  He slowly rose and flew inside the cave.

  It was gray inside and Protector’s eyes adjusted quickly.  He immediately flew to the left once he cleared the entrance and settled on a large tree root arching in the corner.  This, too, had become his roost when he attended Flock meetings in the past.  Below him, sitting on the beach were The Wist, the six geese who advised The Leader on every aspect of managing The Flock.  Daniel, the leader, and originator, of this body of geese, was the only one standing.  When the eagle had settled on the tree root, he spoke.

  “Protector, what do you mean you found what has been missing?”

  “I found Deke.”

  A burst of sound erupted and disturbed the quiet inside the cave.  The white geese that were sitting calmly on the ground were suddenly up and waddling around in aimless circles.  Everyone but Ack who remained in his spot close to the water’s edge.  Daniel remained standing, unmoved, and quietly waited until the others calmed and repositioned themselves on the ground.  The eagle waited patiently for the noise to die down.

  “Please continue,”  Daniel spoke to the eagle once the room was silent again.

  “I almost ate him this morning,” Protector chuckled.  “No, but I was hunting.  I had just enjoyed a nice fish but was still hungry.  I saw this speck of gray movement in a clearing and I approached it.  It turned out to be Deke.”

  “How is he?” Miriam, the oldest of the team spoke out.

  “He is fine.  He has noticed that his eyes aren’t as bad as he thought they were going to be.  He feels that he isn’t going blind after all.  They are limited but still working.”

  “Where did he go?” Petra spoke up.

  “A better question is why did he go?” another voice asked from the dark.

  The quiet splashing of water approached them from the dark and The Leader appeared beside Ack.

  “That is a good question,” Protector agreed.  “He said when he realized that he wasn’t getting any worse, he decided that he didn’t want to be a distraction to Ki, so he left.”

  “He wouldn’t have been a distraction,” Sam said aloud.

  “That’s what he thought he would be,” Protector shrugged.  “He was excited to get on with the next phase of his life.”

  “We need to convince him otherwise,” Ack volunteered.

  “Do we?” Daniel spoke for the first time and turned toward Ki, who was now exiting the water.

  “I think so,”  Ki said.  “We could use him.  He knows all about us and I could certainly use his wisdom.”

  “Isn’t that we are for?” Daniel argued.

  “You are,” Ki responded as he settled down on the ground.  “But we will be only better with him in it.  Don’t you think so?”

  Daniel strode toward him and sat next to him.  “Of course I do.  He is my best friend.  I know he will be helpful.”

  “Well, we need to go get him and convince him to come back,” Ki said.   “Protector, can you take us to where he is?”

  “Do you mean where he was?  He told me he would be gone from there when I told him I was going to tell you that I came across him.”

  “I see,” Ki nodded.  “Well, we need a plan.  Gather round and we will come up with one.”

  The other geese rose from the places where they were sitting and waddled to create a semi-circle around their Leader and re-seated themselves.

  “Protector,” Ki looked up at the eagle in its roost.  “Can you hear me?”

  “I can,” he informed the dark colored goose below him.

  “Then let’s begin,” Ki looked from the bird in the tree to the birds on the ground.

To be continued…

Ki has begun to understand why Deke loved being in the cave when the sun rose early in the morning.  He made it a point to be inside it when it happened.  He was in there, feeling the water rise and fall beneath him, when he was joined by another small goose.  By the shadow it cast as it entered the cave, he knew who it was who was entering.

  “Good morning,” the goose almost whispered the greeting.

  “Good morning, Liza,” he replied.  “Have you come to join me to welcome in this new day?”

  “I have,” Liza admitted.

  “And what else?” Ki asked fully knowing that it wasn’t her only reason.

  The entrance to the cave began to allow the pale yellow of light to enter the interior as the Bright Light slowly began to rise in the sky.  The two geese continue to rise and fall with the tiny ripples in the water.  A thin strip of yellow light began to sparkle on the water at the base of the doorway splattering a few stars of light on the cave walls.  As the light continues to get brighter, the stars became more frequent and spread across the ceiling.  As the geese looked above them, the ripples increased as they moved and the stars became streaks and flash all around the cave painting its walls with yellow, orange and red.  The geese turned in opposite directions, the streaks now include additional colors of blue and purple.  They complete their spins in the water to return to look at the entrance. The rainbow of colors streaming across the walls and ceiling begin to fade as the light entering the cave begins to lighten and change to the pale blue of sunrise completed.  They ride on the waves as they return to slower, calming ripples, rising, and falling, softly shushing on the banks of the cave.

  “That was beautiful,” Liza commented.  “Too bad it does not last all day.”

  “I know,”  Ki agreed.  “But it just enough to get the day going.”

  “What happens when it’s a rainy day?”  Liza asks giving Ki a sideways look with her inquisitive eyes.

  “It is gray inside here and I try to get outside,” Ki chuckled.  “What do you want, Liza?”

  “Nothing,”  she began. “I was just wandering how it went.  Your first trip leading The Flock.”

  “We are reviewing that now,” he revealed to her.

  “Reviewing with who?” Liza asking the question even though she felt that she already knew.

  “The Wist and I.   They have been helpful to me.  They have been a part of Deke’s team since the beginning and they know a lot about where to fly, eat, and sleep.  It was warmer at the winter home, too.”

  “I bet it was warmer than it was here,”  Liza agreed.

  “So what were things like here?”  Ki began to swim toward the shoreline to their right and Liza followed him.

  “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  Yeah, it did get cold, but this Cave was warm.  It provided us with great shelter and, believe it or not, the water didn’t freeze in here.   The clearing on top of the hill above us provided us with food and we certainly could see a great distance to avoid our enemies.  The sky was clear of birds as they stayed sheltered wherever they were, and we could fly wherever we wanted.  And Deke!  He is so fun.”  Liza paused when she mentioned the former Leader of The Flock.

  “Yes, I bet he could be,”  Ki said as they got closer to the beach inside the cave.

  “Oh, he was funny,” a voice interrupted Liza.  “He was very funny but not always at the right time.”

  It was Daniel who was resting, and waiting, on the beach.  Daniel was the leader of The Wist, a group of geese that were chosen by Daniel to provide advice and counsel with the Leader of the Flock. There were five geese, who all happened to be white geese, and each had a responsibility for certain needs of the flock itself: things like travel and food sources.

  “Good morning, Daniel,“ Ki walked up onto the beach. ” You do remember Liza, don’t you?”

  “Of course, I do.” Daniel nodded at her, “Liza.”

  Liza simply nodding in return.  Her assessment of Daniel was limited.  All of her time with Deke was spent on learning how to survive and it did not allow a lot of time learning about his personal relationship with others, other than with her.  Daniel was still a mystery to her.

  “The three of us need to talk about what you learned from Deke,”  Daniel suggested as he rose to his feet to join Ki.  “But not today.  The Wist has a busy schedule.”

  Liza was still bobbing on the water as Ki turned toward her and said, “I’ll find you later.”

  She turned and paddled toward the entrance to the cave.  As she left it, the dazzle of the Bright Light caused her to squint her eyes and she drifted, waiting for them to adjust to the light.  Liza continued forward and stayed to the edge of the water.  She drifted into the tall reeds along the edge and was thinking about Ki.  Until her participation with the seven candidates to take Deke’s place , Liza didn’t pay much attention to him.  Ki was an unknown factor to her.  Well, in fact, they all were.  She did know Ki and Jake were good friends and he did come across as being loyal.  He proved to be kind and compassionate during the journey.  But, to her, she hasn’t decided yet if he was the right choice to replace Deke.  A rustle and quiet splash drew her attention to her right.  Entering the water and swimming toward her was Jake.

  The white ring around his neck stood out on his black body and he had white stripes on his wings that were tucked tight into his sides and he slowly paddled toward Liza.  When he arrived next to her, he drifted alongside her.

  “Good morning, Liza.  Long time, no see.”

  “Hello, Jake.  How have you been?” Liza paddled with only her left foot and turned in a semi-circle to face him, so she was now drifting backward.

  “Pretty good,” he looked down into the water hoping to see a minnow swimming near him.

  They drifted in silence for a moment.  She examined him as his eyes darted from her to the water.  His dark feathers, she noticed, were exactly the same color throughout his body.  There was no variation except for the white stripes of his wings. His head darted forward and beneath the surface of the water causing a small ripple to expand and cause her to bob slightly up and down.  When he rose his head, a small silver fish was in his beak.  He gulped it down.

  “Hungry?” she asked him.

  “A little bit,”  he answered her and lowered his head so that his beak rested on the tuft feathers of his chest.  “Can I ask you something?”

    “Sure,” she responded.as she squinted her eyes at him when he asked her that question.  She wondered what his angle was and, more importantly, what kind of question he would be asking her.

  “What was Deke like?” he asked paddling a tad bit closer to her.

To be continued…

Author’s Note – Dear Readers – There were so many comments about how I ended My First Story – The Flock that I decided to write a sequel to it. If you remember, I dedicated that story to my late buddy, Joe, and I am sure he would have loved that ending but he would want me me to write more about them. Thanks for reading and I hope you are enjoying reading My First Stories.

Rolling hills of light spring green undulated for as far of the eye could see.  Nothing seemed to break the green being viewed from miles and miles in the sky.  If one were on the ground, looking up through those spring green trees to the light blue sky of early morning light, a lonely figure of a bird could be seen circling in long, lazy circles.  The wings are stretched wide and never flapped.  The Bright Light was warming the air as it rose from the earth and the bird was enjoying it.

  The bird was huge, covered in deep brown feathers except for those of the head and they were white.  The tail feathers are spread wide, guiding the bird with subtle movements, left, right, up, and down.  The feathers of the huge talons match those surrounding the head, the beak bent to a hook were a dull yellow, and the huge eyes are deep, deep black.  This bird continues to travel in a huge ring high in the sky and those black eyes are scanning the landscape below.  The hills were dotted with lots of trees of all shapes and sizes and some of them surround small bodies of water.  The bird could see through each leave of every tree and through every ripple of water.  The brown bird was hungry. 

  He preferred fish but would settle for any moving creature he could find except for other birds.  Why?  When he was a small bird, in a nest nestled high inside a trunk of a tree, he was fed scraps of everything, even geese.  As a full-grown bird, it was different now as he has many friends in the world of birds, especially geese, so he stays away from eating birds. A flash in the water caught his eye and he angled his tail feathers to begin a slow spiral down toward a small pond.  Another flash sparked in the water and he focused in on it.  A shadow appeared near the shimmer, slightly beneath the water.  He smiled inside and flapped his wings once, twice, still angling toward it.  The shadow continued in one direction and he could see it was rising toward the surface to snap at insects gathered just above it.  He could see the color of the fish now, light tan across the top and into its tail, lighter, almost white toward the belly.  Tentacles surrounded its mouth as it opened to snatch the insects and return into the water.  It was a good size fish and the bird decides on exactly what it wanted to eat now, that fish.  The wings flapped a few more times, eyes on the prize, and angled around to approach it opposite the Bright Light as the bird did not want his shadow to cross the path of that fish.  Suddenly, the bird folded his wings into his sides and began to dive toward the water, the talons trailing behind, the head straightened and the eyes focused   The speed of the descent increased as the huge bird remained steady and just went it appeared it would dive straight into the water, the talons sprang forward and down.  The wings began to flap in a downward motion and slowly rose above the water that thrashed in a spray and splashing of water.  As the bird cleared the top of the water, the fish was held fast in its talons.  The moderate size fish thrashed back and forth straining to break free of the bird that flapped its wings faster to rise higher and spring forward toward the edge of the small pond.  The fish twisted as the two of them elevated higher into the sky and when they crossed the water’s edge and were over land, the talons let it go.  The fish hit the ground  with a thud and it no longer moved.  The big bird landed beside it, lowered his head to look at it, eye to eye, and said, “Thank you.”

  After feeding, the bird had returned to the sky, spread it wings and circled on the warm, rising air.  He closed his eyes as he drifted in his chosen path of an endless circle enjoying the peace of contentment.  His stomach grumbled and he opened his eyes, said aloud, “I guess I am still hungry.”

  He returned his gaze to the landscape below.  Through trees and over open water, he looked for any movement that might be food when he saw something.  This time it was on land on the outskirts of a clearing in the trees.  He began to angle toward it to get a better view.  He saw some bushes jiggle and the edge of something gray appeared beneath it.  The big bird decided that this might be something to satisfy his appetite.  Maybe a dessert of a mouse.  He adjusted his tail feathers and flapped his wings twice to begin to accelerate toward it.  Again, he decided to approach the animal opposite the Bright Light to prevent his own shadow from revealing himself too soon.  The gray animal continued to shake the bush as he reached the edge of the clearing and he thrust his talons forward.  At the same time, the gray beast emerged from the bush, backing from it, and rising to its full size.  The eagle threw his wings down and backward and began to tumble on the ground in front of the animal that was actually a goose, a small gray goose.

  The goose dropped the stalks of grass it had been holding in its beak and spoke in surprise, “Protector?”

  “Deke?” the huge eagle stood from its tumble, lowered his head, and simply said.  “We thought you were dead.”

The gray goose waddled toward him and said ”I am glad to see you, too.”

The two different birds looked at each other for a while in a mutual gaze of admiration.

  “Protector, I never thanked you.”

  “For what?” the bigger bird asked in reply.

Deke looked at him before explaining himself, “For protecting the seven, for your years of helping me, for your friendship.”

  Again, the eagle bowed before him.  The goose reached down to retrieve the stalks he had dropped and began to chew. 

  “Pardon me,” he said.  “I’m hungry.”

  The eagle watched him and wondered about this goose in front of him.  Here was the former Leader of the Flock, all alone, who was really thought to be dead, and he is alive.  The great Deke, the goose who reshaped a flock of geese and had become the envy of every bird in the world of birds.  Deke revealed that his eyes were failing, and he could no longer lead so he devised a plan to replace himself, The Journey of the Seven.  He,
Protector, was asked by Deke, to watch over them.  And he did, happily.  When the new Leader was chosen and Ki took over, Deke asked him to continue watching over them as they went south last season because Deke couldn’t.  It was Ki’s first trip as the New Leader.  When they returned, the Flock had learned, the goose had disappeared and was assumed dead.  But here he was, a mere three days away from their home by the cave.

  “So Protector, you have questions?”  Deke asked as he looked at him and he simply sat down.

  “First, I am glad you aren’t dead.”

  “Thank you.”

  “What’s going on?”  the eagle flew to the lowest branch of a nearby tree.

  “Well, it seems that while my eyes are bad, they are not getting any worse,” the gray goose began to explain.  “So I decided to try something new, being out on my own.”

  “Why?”  the eagle gazed down at him.  “There is safety in numbers.  Just now, with any other eagle, you would be breakfast.”

  “I will try to be more careful,” the goose replied.

  “Are you going to answer my question, Deke?”  the eagle stopped in front of him.  “I am going to have to tell them I saw you.”

  “I can’t be with them.  My being there would be a distraction and that may create a problem for Ki.”

  “But you could be a help to him.”

  “He has Daniel,”  the goose stood and walked closer to the eagle.  “And he also has Liza.  She is a really smart bird.”

  The eagle watched his friend, yes, his friend, walk past him and his eyes turned to follow him.  “Where are you going?”

  “For a swim,” the goose answered.  “It has been good to see you again, Protector.”

  “I will have to tell them I saw you.”

  “Feel free but I really don’t want to be found.”

  “I cannot help what they will do,” the huge bird flew and landed near him and walked a few steps in his direction.

  The small gray goose, turned and looked at the huge eagle before him and said, “I will be long gone from here.”

  They stood looking at each other before the goose nodded toward the eagle and disappeared beneath the bushes on the fringe of the clearing.  The eagle spread his wings and thrust them downward.  He rose from the clearing above the trees and went forward in the direction of the goose.  A small pond was just on the other side of the bushes and he passed over it, he spied the gray bird enter the water and glide on it.  Protector flapped and rose higher into the air heading for a destination three days away.  The Flock would be anxious to know what has become of Deke.  He rose higher and flapped harder.

To be continued…

The music being played, as she finished her retelling of the story, changed to “Everybody Plays the Fool”.  Gary still held her close and they continued swaying to the music in silence.

  “You saved me from doing something really stupid and I am so glad I didn’t do that,” he told her.

  “But things changed for us then, didn’t it?” she said with her head on his shoulder.  “We never danced like this back then.”

  “No,” he sighed.  “I wish we could have but I was so embarrassed that I just left the dance.”

  “I know, I was there”, she rubbed his back,  “I kind of like this.”

  “Me, too,” Gary agreed.  “I wasn’t a good friend after that.  I knew what had happened was important.”

  “Where did you go anyway?” she asked him.

***

Gary watched her leave the locker room.  He sat against the wall and looked at the bottle, now empty, where it had settled beneath the sink across from him.  He sighed to himself, rose to his knees and crawled across the floor to retrieve it.  Having done so, he got to his feet and looked at himself in the mirror.  His hair was shaggy, combed to his left, and fell over his ears.  The eyes staring back at him looked sad and he wondered why.  He really wondered why.  His Dad had a way of getting to him in a way that he didn’t let others do to him.  He wouldn’t let others irritate him; he would use it to move his attitude from “I’ll  show them” to ignoring them.  But when it came to his Dad, it was “I’LL SHOW HIM”.  He didn’t get it.  Was it because he wanted his Dad’s approval?  And what was his Dad’s big deal with football?  Why football?  It’s only a game.  Just a game.

  Gary placed the empty medicine bottle in his pocket.  He looked at himself in the mirror to straighten his sweater, tighten his tie, and turned to leave the locker room.  He walked past the lockers, exited the room, and stood outside in the hallway.  He looked to his right to return to the gym and the dance.  He thought about what had just happened and he wanted to talk to Janet.  He hesitated.  Things had changed between them and he caused it.  They were just beginning to become a couple and he had a selfish impulse and she was disappointed in him.  But he wanted to tell her that she had saved him.  He changed his mind.  Just a few moments ago, he thought it was the best thing to do – to end his life – and now it seemed the silliest thing to do.  She reminded him of that, and she was right.  If she hadn’t found him, and saved him, he wouldn’t have known that it was the silliest thought of his life.  Now, the thought of facing her was embarrassing and her surprise at his thought of killing himself made it impossible for him to face her.  He wanted to talk to her, but he couldn’t face her.  He decided to turn to the left, walked down the hall, and left the building.  Gary left the building.

  Gary returned to his car, got in it, and decided he wanted a donut from Old Town Donuts in nearby Florissant.  He turned right from the school parking lot, onto New Halls Ferry Road.  He continued until the road intersected with Lindbergh and turned right onto it.  A few miles later, he turned left onto New Florissant Road and a few blocks down this road, he turned left into the parking lot of the Old Ton Donut Shop.  He went inside, ordered a Boston crème and a chocolate Long John donut and a cup of coffee.  It was his first cup of coffee ever. He took the items and sat at a table near the front window.  He chose the Boston crème donut first, took a bite and felt the ooze of the crème fill his mouth.  He picked up the coffee, sipped the hot brew, and stared out of the window.  It was starting to rain and the lights reflecting off the parking lot shimmered and sparkled as the raindrops splashed and splattered on the pavement.

***

  “You left me for a donut?” Janet exclaimed as her head left his chest as they danced to look up at him.

  “I guess so,”  he smiled.  “I did go home after that and talked to my Mom.  She got me to talk to a shrink about it.  The shrink got me to talk to my Dad, too.”

  “I didn’t know that,” Janet returned her head to his chest as they continued to sway together.  “It must have been scary.”

  “Nah, I needed to tell someone what I was feeling.”

  “I wish it were me you told.  I really liked you back then and when you  didn’t come back to the dance, I was scared.  I was so glad when you were at the bus stop the next Monday, but it wasn’t the same.”

  “I know.  I wish I would have talked to you.  I have been afraid to get involved in relationships since then.  I don’t know why,” he admitted.

  They danced in silence for a few minutes.  The music changed again to the Moody Blues “Nights in White Satin”.  A cheer rose from the room that suddenly felt crowded with people as they flocked to the dance floor for the slow dance classic.  Gary and Janet continued in heir close embrace as they listened to the lyrics.

“Nights in white satin, never meaning to end.

Letters I’ve written never meaning to send.

Beauty I’ve always missed with these eyes before

Just what the truth is I can’t say anymore

‘Cause I love you. Yes, I love you. Oh, how I love you.

Gazing at people, some hand in hand

Just what I’m going through, they can’t understand.

Some try to tell me, thoughts they cannot defend

Just what you want to be, you will be in the end.

And I love you.  Yes, I love you.  Oh, how I love you.  Oh, how I love you.

Nights in white satin, never meaning to end

Letters I’ve written, never meaning to send…”

  Janet lifted her head again and looked at Gary and said, “I was just thinking that maybe we didn’t give us a chance.”

  Gary stopped dancing and they stood looking at each other in the middle of the dance floor.

  “You want to go out with me?” Gary asked.

  “Sure, why not?” Janet shrugged her shoulders.

  Gary thought about the distance between them; Wisconsin to Missouri, forever single to married and divorced, no kids to two boys, and he smiled.

  “Why not?”

  She smiled and stepped back toward him.  He bent down and kissed her as the music began to play “Joy to the world, all the boys and girls…”

The End – September 12 – October 17, 2020

Jim dropped Gary off at his home after the game and when he entered his home, his mother, brothers, and sister, let out a big cheer and came rushing to him.

  “That was a great game!” Chris said as he beat him on his back.  His sister Katelyn, hugged him, grinning with pride, and his little brother Mark jumped up and down.  His mother stood a little behind her children, grinning ear to ear.  She finally approached him and said, “Very good Gary.  Two in one day.  I believe that is six for the year now.”

  Gary nodded to her as he broke away from his siblings and approached her.

  “Where’s Dad?” he asked her.  The room went silent and the siblings disappeared  from sight.

  “I told him what he missed,” Julie stepped toward him.

  “And?” Gary asked her.

  “He went to his room,” Julie informed him.  “Why don’t you go talk to him?”

  “It won’t matter.  Nothing I do matters except to become him.”

  “Become him? She stepped still closer to her oldest son.

  “He wants me to be the football player he couldn’t become,” Gary revealed to her.

  “What?’ she whispered.

  “Why else was he making such a big deal to start today.  Guess what?  I didn’t start today, and I still played and intercepted two passes and he wasn’t even there to see me do that!”  Gary started to walk past her to go upstairs to his room.  “I will make him sorry for that.”

  “Gary!” Julie raised her voice causing him to stop in his tracks.  He didn’t turn around to face her.

  “I have to get ready for the dance.  I have a date,” he said and raced up the stairs to his room.

  Thankfully, his brother, Chris, was not in their bedroom and Gary walked straight to his dresser.  He opened the top drawer and pulled out a small medicine bottle that he “borrowed” from the bathroom medicine cabinet.

  “Yes, I will make him feel sorry.”

***

Katelyn picked up the phone as it completed its third ring, “Hello.”

  “Hello.  Katelyn this is Janet.  Can I speak to Gary?” the voice on the other end asked her.

  “I just saw him leave with a corsage in his hand, sister, “Katelyn told her.

  “Sister?” Janet asked, confused.

  “You are his girlfriend, aren’t you?” Katelyn explained with a question.

  “I am his girlfriend not his wife.  Thanks, I will talk to you later,” Janet returned the phone to its cradle.  She walked back into her living room to join her parents who were waiting with a camera to officially document the event.  She sat on the couch and wondered where he was because he was late.  A car turned into the driveway and the car lights flashed across the front windows.

  “He’s here!” her father exclaimed, and Janet sighed with relief.

***

The gym was transformed to embrace the “Out of the Universe” theme.  Cardboard cutouts of rocket ships, meteors, and, of course, comets were falling from the ceiling.   Beneath the flying Hawk, a half-moon rose from the floor to its talons, complete with craters and shadows.  The Art club did an awesome job.  A local cover band was rocking to “Lion Sleeps Tonight” when Gary and Janet walk into the gym.  The gym was packed with people and the refreshment table was set along the left of the room and the stage area and band were on the right.  Gary immediately spies the DB Club gathered at the far side of the refreshment line.

  “There they are,” Gary yelled to Janet as he started walking toward them.  He was wearing his letter sweater, white shirt, and tie with matching black pants.  Janet was wearing a gold dress completing their combined school themed ensemble.  She wore a black and gold corsage on her wrist.  They held hands as they approached the group.

  “Does this feel funny?” she asked him as they got closer to his teammates.

  “Does what feel funny?” he asked her.

  “Holding hands,” she pulled him to a stop.

  He looked in her eyes and said, “Not to me.  Not tonight.”

  She smiled back and they continued on.

  “I don’t believe it, “Rick started in.  “You actually agreed to come to the dance with him.”

  “I did,” Janet said, smiling brightly at the group.  Smitty was standing with his arm around his girlfriend, Ann, the cheerleader with the blond hair and virtuous figure.  Andy was standing by Marie Himm, his date for the evening, who was holding a cup of fruit punch in her hands.  Rick and Tim were holding punch cups, too, and were standing next to each other.  Jonesy was still missing from the group.  The young men were all dressed like Gary, sporting their Letter sweaters, white shirts, black ties, and matching black pants.

***

Janet interrupted his story, set her wine glass on the table, and took his hand as she rose to her feet, “Let’s dance.”

  He didn’t say a thing but followed her on to the dance floor.  She didn’t speak to him as she turned to face him.  The music surrounding them was Grand Funk Railroad’s “We’re an American Band” but she looked into his eyes and hugged him, placing her head on his shoulder.  They began a slow dance together swaying softly to the upbeat tempo of the music.  She raised her head and looked at him.

  “Let me tell you what happened next,” she began.

  “How you came to save me, you mean?”

***

  Janet had left Gary with his friends to talk to some of her friends and was returning to the group carrying two cups of punch.  Gary wasn’t with them.

  “Hey, where’s Gary?” she asked them.  “I got him some spiked punch.”

  “Spiked punch?” Tim asked fully alert now.

  “Yeah, my friends told me the punch bowl at the far end was spiked so I wanted to give it a try,” she explained and asked again.  “Where’s Gary?”

  “I think he said he had to go,” Smitty answered her.  “I assume he went to the bathroom.

  Janet handed both cups to Tim and walked to the exit of the gym that led to the hallway to the locker rooms.  As she entered the hall and was passing the hallway restroom on her left, the door to the Men’s room opened and Dan emerged from inside.

  “Hi Dan,” Janet paused and asked him “Is Gary in there?”

  “No, he’s not,” he said to her and walked toward the gym.

  Her eyes followed him, and she spun in a half circle, wondering where Gary went.  She spied the door to the locker room and boldly pushed it opened and went inside.  She paused inside rethinking her decision when she heard a noise deeper in the room.  She decided to continue into the room.  As the hallway ended, the room brightened, and she was looking at rows of lockers with benches in front of them anchored to the floor.  Straight ahead was a door to an office with a large window looking into it.  To the right was a long row of lockers and at the end of it was another door with a nameplate above proclaiming “Varsity Lockers”.  The noise repeated and she turned toward the varsity locker room.  She walked cautiously and when she arrived at the end of the row of lockers, she looked to her left to see another open room.  It was filled with tables surrounded by cabinets mounted on the walls.  That room opened into another room where on the floor leaning against the far wall was Gary.  She turned to walk toward him.  She entered to first room, looked to her right and on the wall, letters painted on it proclaimed, “Tape Room”.  She continued and stopped at the doorway into the room where Gary sat.  To the right were three sinks, three upright urinals on the far wall and three stalls across from the sinks.  To the left was the entrance to the shower room.  Janet looked down at Gary.  On the floor, at his right-hand side, stood an open medicine bottle.

  “What’s going on, Gary?” she softly asked him.

  His head was still buried in his hands before as he replied, “I have had enough.”

  “Enough of what?” she continued walking toward him.

  “Enough of this,” he looked up at her with tear stained eyes.  “What are you doing here?”

  “I was missing you, so I came to find you,” she stopped in front of him, looking down.  “You are my boyfriend, you know.”

  He smirked, “Even that doesn’t matter.”

  “What do you mean?”  Janet said as she walked beside him, placed her back on the wall, slid down and sat beside him.

  “I had a pretty good game today, didn’t I?”

  “It seemed so to me,” Janet agreed.

  “But my Dad didn’t think so.  In fact, he came and left before I even did anything.”

  “So?”

  “So?” he looked at her. “So?  All he wants is for him not to pay for my going to college.  I don’t even know if I want to go to college.  ‘Are you starting?’ he asked all week.  ‘There will be scouts there and this is your last chance to get a scholarship for college.’ he said all week. ‘If you aren’t starting, I will not watch you play.’ He said all week.  Well, I am going to show him.”  Gary picked up the pill bottle.  “He will know it was because of him because these are his pills.”

  “Really?  I thought you were better than that,” Janet spoke quietly but firmly.  “Have you taken any yet?”

  Gary looked at her and set the bottle down on the floor.

  “Good,” she took the bottle from the floor and rose to her feet.  She walked to one of the stalls, emptied the bottle into the toilet and flushed it.  She returned to him and tossed the empty pill bottle at him.  “You are so much better than that or so I thought.”

  She left him where she found him on the floor and walked out of the room.

To be continued…

Gary was on the front porch waiting for Jim Thompson to pick him up to begin the game day routine.  Jim used his parent’s station wagon to pick up the players from Spanish Lake, most of them anyway.  Actually, there were only four, Jim, Ron Lumberjack, Dan Masters and Gary.  Gary’s mind wasn’t on the game.  It was and it wasn’t.  He was reliving the argument he had the night before with his father about playing the game.  No, about starting the game; this stupid football game.  His father made it out like this was his only shot to go to a college.  He hadn’t even thought about going to college much less a specific one.  He recalled saying to his father that he wasn’t him and he was never going to be him.  When he finally noticed that his mother and sister were crying, he gave up and went to his room and went to bed.

  A car horn briefly bleated to bring him out of his reverie, and he looked up at the Dodge station wagon waiting for him at the bottom of the sidewalk.  He grabbed his gym bag, got up from his seat, walked down the hedge lined sidewalk and got in the back seat next to Ron.

  “Hey,”  Ron said.  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, why?”  Gary answered as he buckled his seat belt.

  “You looked weird,” Dan said from the front seat.

  “Getting ready for the game,” Gary said as Jim put the car in gear and pulled away from the front of his house.

  The game day ritual included breakfast at the Ponderosa Steak House near the corner of Lindbergh and New Halls Ferry Road just down the street from the high school. The restaurant opened early for a pre-game meal of a sirloin steak, baked potato, and drink for $5.00.  The team gathered in the parking lot and waited for the coaches to show up promptly at 9:00 a.m.  Gary stood with the D-Backs and their conversation was never about the upcoming game but intentionally about something else.  Today’s topic was, of course, who they were taking to the Homecoming Dance.  Smitty, Nick and Andy were dating cheerleaders and they had been for a long time.  Jonesy and Rick decided not to take anyone but to go alone in order to dance with and talk to anyone they wanted.  Gary was taking Janet and was receiving grief because he not only was taking her to homecoming, but it was their first date.

  “But your first date, man,” Jonesy was admonishing him.  “I know you have been friends for a long time and, frankly, inevitable, that you would be going out, but your first date?”

  “Wait,” Gary responded in surprise.  “Inevitable?  What does that mean?”

  “Oh c’mon, Gary, you know you two were going to get together sooner or later, right?”  Smitty chimed in.  “Everyone else knew.”
  “The coaches are here,”  Tim announced.

  “I’m hungry,” Rick started to lead them to the entrance of the restaurant.

  Gary watched them walk in front of him, stepped in line behind them and said to himself, “I didn’t know.”

***

Gary sat in his gold game pants, a t-shirt, black knee-length socks, and tennis shoes at his locker among other people that were coming and  going out of the room.  Some of them were in the process of getting their ankles taped while others were getting dressed for the game.  Dan Masters walked into the room holding a football.  He, too, was dressed identically to Gary.

  “Are you ready?”  Dan tossed the ball to Gary.

  “Yep,” Gary stood and tossed the ball back to him.

  The pre-game ritual was continuing as Gary and Dan exited the locker room to go into the gym.  At 11:00 a.m. on the day of every game, Dan would warm-up by throwing the football to Gary, and only to Gary, in the gym.  There never was any talking and they started ten yards apart.  Dan would point behind Gary to indicate to him to back up at ten-yard increments until they were approximately 50 yards apart.  After several tosses at that distance, Dan would point to the left and to the right for Gary to run in that direction and he would throw him the ball as he ran.  Back and forth, he would run and catch the ball until Dan would throw his final toss in a high arc indicating to Gary that he was done.  Dan would wait for Gary to jog to him and together they would return to the locker room.

  Game time was 1:00 p.m. and at high noon, the special teams, kick-off, and punt team members, would gather at the exit to the practice field.  Kenny the kicker led them outside and down the sidewalk to the track and football field.  They would clap in a three-step cadence of clap-clap, “Hawks!” as they walked toward the field.  The McCluer Comets were already on the field lined up in neat rows performing their pre-game activities. 

  Once they were on the field, Gary went with the kick-off and punt returners behind the field goal posts to catch Kenny’s field goal kick attempts.  He took his turn catching and running a short distance before tossing the football back to Dan who was practicing holding the ball on the ground for Kenny.  He ran to the back of the line and scanned the crowd gathering in the stands.  His parents sat in the same spot  behind the bench about 12 rows up and he saw that both of his parents were already there.  He was surprised to see his father.  His mother was talking to someone sitting next to her, but his father simply sat, upright, on the other side of her.  He watched as his three siblings sat behind them carrying little red and white boxes of popcorn.

  In front of him, Kenny moved away from Dan and was preparing to kick a few punts.  Gary and the receivers moved their line from behind the field goal posts to stand and wait beside them.  Ken took a step forward, swung his right leg and kicked a high, spiraling football toward them.  Tim settled beneath it, caught it, and ran with the ball back to Kenny.  He repeated the motions and the ball was heading toward Gary.  He dropped a step backward then jog forward and caught the ball on the run.  He returned it to Kenny and jogged back to the rear of the line behind Tim.  In the distance, he heard the rhythm of clap-clap “Hawks!” as the remainder of the team was leaving the school building to join them.  The Marching Band who was waiting in the end zone at the far end of the field began to play the fight song.  The Special Team squad ran to the center of the field and began to match the cadence of their approaching teammates, clap-clap “Hawks!”  and the chant is overshadowed by the music of the band.  The two parts of the team met in the center when the fight song ended and the clap-clap “Hawks!” was the only thing heard and that chant was picked up by the people in the stands.  The cheerleaders shook their pom-poms to the beat and the sound of “Hawks!” seemed to echo all around the field. 

  Dan, one of the captains yelled “One!”

  Clap-clap “Hawks!”

  Ron, the other captain yelled “Two!”

  Clap-clap “Hawks!”

  Dan yelled “Three!”

  One final clap-clap “Hawks!” and the crowd cheered, and the team spread out and continued their pre-game warm-up drills.

***

  The Hawks lost the coin toss and the kick-off team lined up as Kenny placed the football on the tee.  Gary jogged to his place at the end of the line, turned, and glanced up to find his family  sitting in the bleachers.  His father was there, and he thought maybe his father would stick around and watch the game.  He returned his attention to the field of play and waited for the referee’s whistle to indicate the start of the game.  The whistle blew.  Kenny approached the ball, swung his leg, and kicked the ball downfield.  Gary began his sprint down the field.  The ball flew to the far side of the field and the receiver caught the ball and began to run back toward him.  He saw a lane at a good angle through the mass of players before him and he ran toward it.  The ball carrier was looking away from him when Gary lowered his head and reached out to tackle him.  As he latched on to him, another teammate joined the tackle, and the ball carrier went to the ground.  A whistle blew and everyone on the ground rose to their feet and some, like Gary, jogged to the sideline.

  Gary continued running through the line of players on the sideline and came to a stop next to Steve Strange, the backup tight end, who Gary stood with during games.  They started standing together during games when the season began and continued to do throughout the season.   Superstition is real.

  “Nice tackle,”  Steve told him.

  “Your welcome,” Gary replied as he removed his helmet from his head.

  “Jackson!” Coach Simon yelled.  “You stand by me today!”

  “Well, I got to go,” he called to Steve as he placed his helmet back on his head and jogged to stand by his defensive back coach.  On the field, the Comets were spreading out and Gary’s defensive teammates were matching them.  When the ball was snapped, Rick ran through the line of scrimmage in a blitz.  The Comet quarterback calmly avoided him and threw the ball to their running back out in the flat.  He was immediately tackled, and a whistle blew stopping the play.

  The second play was a running play to the fullback up the middle and the play was immediately stopped, setting up a long third down play.

  “Jackson go out there for Rick and tell them to play a zone, three deep,” Coach Simon told him.  Gary ran unto the field yelling “Rick! Rick!” who ran off of the field.  he joined the defensive huddle.  Smitty was just making the defensive call of “61”.

  “Three deep zone,” Gary added as the eleven players clapped in unison and spread out to wait for the Comets.

  They came out in a spread offense, splitting out their ends and setting up their flanker in a slot to Gary’s left.  Andy ran to stand in front of the flanker, and it was his job to follow that player wherever he went on the field.  Gary ran to cover the left side of the field, Smitty stayed in the middle, and Tim stayed on the far right.  The ball was hiked to the quarterback and he dropped back as the receiver in front of him cut across from Gary’s zone to Smithy’s and the flanker ran straight up the field, turned, and suddenly ran to his right into Gary’s zone.  Andy was a step behind him trying to keep up and Gary ran to his left to stay in front of the receiver.  The quarterback decided to throw the ball at that moment to that receiver.  Gary decided that he had a good chance to catch the ball before the receiver and sprung into action.  He reached for the ball at the same time the receiver was stretching to catch it.  Gary got hold of it first and started running back across the field but only got about three steps before he was tackled.  Interception!

  The crowd was cheering and yelling as Gary ran off the field receiving slaps to the top of his helmet from the offensive players as they passed him on the field.  He ran to the end of the bench and grabbed a paper cup from the water cooler.  Before he filled it with water, he glanced up toward his family only to find that his father was missing.  His mother and his siblings were going crazy with their applause, screaming, and waving at him.  Gary crumbled the paper cup and threw it on the ground, turned and sat down on the bench.

  Gary played most of the second half and it was during this time, he made the play his friends love to talk about him.  The Comets star quarterback, Steve Parker, was having a bad day.  The Hawks defense strategy of stopping Steve Parker and, ultimately, stop the Comets certainly worked in this game.  Gary was now playing free safety as there was no doubt the Hawks were going to win their homecoming game and Smitty was given the rest of the day off.  The Comets were passing the ball on just about every play.  It was third down and twenty yards to go for them to receive a first down, when they spread out their formation and the Hawks were playing a total zone defense.  Just like in his earlier play, the flanker headed to Gary’s left and the split end ran across and straight up the center of the field.  The teammate in front of Gary was Ron who was in front of the potential receiver and Gary was immediately behind him.  There is absolutely no way the “star” quarterback would try to pass the ball to this receiver as he was completely covered by Ron and Gary, but Steve Parker did.  Gary very easily jumped in front of the receiver and intercepted his second pass of the day.

  “Go Gary!”  Ron yelled as Gary ran past him, looking at a clear field to the end zone.  He churned his legs a little harder as he angled his run toward the flag on the far left of the end zone.   He was getting excited that he might get a touchdown when he was fifteen yards away from it.  He was at the ten-yard line when he found himself running along the sideline.  He was at the five when he felt someone grab at his shoulder and he yanked himself forward.  The effort caused him to get off balance and he jumped toward the end zone and he heard the whistle blow.  He jumped to his feet and tossed the ball to the referee who placed the ball about a half yard from the end zone line.  He was just short of a touchdown.

  The crowd was in a frenzy when he left the field and Dan came up to him on his way out onto the field and said, “Don’t worry!  We got this!”  Gary stood on the edge of the line of players, next to Steve, and watched Dan take the snap from center, put his head down and scored the touchdown.  He turned away from the field and looked up at the stands toward his family who were standing and cheering him on.  Janet had joined them and was cheering, too.  His Dad missed it – the best game he ever played.

To be continued…

Gary stepped off the final step of the stairway from his upstairs room.  He was wearing the black football jersey with the gold trim around the neck and sleeves.  The gold color matched gold number ‘40’ was placed on the center of his chest and back.  He walked into the kitchen and found his mother in her usual spot at the stove.  He sat at the table with his back to her and picked a piece of bacon form the platter in front of him.

  “Mom,” he bit down on the bacon, “Why does it matter to him that I play football?”

  His mother stopped stirring the eggs she was scrambling, removed the pan to the side of the burner, and turned around to look at his back.  “I don’t know.  Why does it matter, honey?”

  “I mean, it only a game, right?” he asked looking up to the window.

  Julie stepped to him, bent down, wrapped her arms around her oldest child and whispered in his ear, “Right.”

  “What’s going on?” Ron interrupted the moment between mother and son.  Julie stood to face her husband on the landing to the basement and leaned toward him to kiss him.

  “Nothing is going on,” she said as she returned to the stove and continued working on the eggs. “And good morning, Ronald.”

  “Hello,” Ron said as he stepped to the bench seat across from Gary.  “How are you today, Gary?  I see you are wearing your jersey to school.”

  “Yes.  There is a pep assembly today.  It is the beginning of homecoming weekend.”

  “I believe this will be your last one, too.  Are you going to the dance?”  his father asked as he retrieved a piece of bacon from the platter.

  “Yes,” Gary answered as his mother placed plates of scrambled eggs in front of each of them and sat beside him.  “We all are kind of required to go.”

  “Are you taking a date?” his mother asked as she, too, crunched a piece of bacon in her mouth.

  “Well, actually,” he said as he put a forkful of eggs into his mouth and he smiled at his Dad. “I am.”

***

The hallways of the school were decorated in black and gold streamers and plastered with posters that said, “Beat the Comets!” and “Go Hawks”.  His locker, and all the senior’s lockers, were covered in black and gold trimmings.  Gary spun the combination lock embedded in the door to begin the process of opening it.  He placed his gym bag into it and grabbed his English book to include with the two books he was already carrying then slammed the door shut.

  “Jacksonski!”  Gary heard the familiar voice of Jim O’Brien, a friend from the Congress neighborhood.

  “O’Brien!” he yelled his answer.  ‘Jacksonski’ is an inside joke between the two of them when they shared their first beers one summer night at the Larimore Swimming Club parking lot.  They made up a genealogy story that his father, Ron, and his father’s father came across the ocean as immigrants and changed their family name from Jacksonski to Jackson in order to begin their new lives in the good old USA.  Gary gave him a wave and cut across the hallway to the stairwell to head up to the second-floor classrooms.

  He had English third hour, the hour before lunch, and it was on the second floor across from Janet’s locker.  He was on his way to leave the book in her locker.  She was still there when he arrived, and she looked at him.

  “Wow,” she smiled at him.  “I just saw you on the bus.  Is this beginning to be a thing, Gary Jackson?”

  “I don’t know,” he told her as he handed her the English book. “Can I leave this book in your locker?”

  “You avoided my question,” she took the book from him and placed it on the shelf in her locker and closed it.

  They turned back to the stairway Gary had just come from and continued their conversation.

  “What do you mean by “Thing”,” Gary asked her.

  “Oh, I don’t know, an item,” she said as she readjusted her books from her right arm to her left.

  “An item?  I thought we didn’t want to risk our relationship,” he paused to let her go slightly ahead of him as they entered the stairwell and start to descend the stairs.

  “I am still considering that.  How do you feel about being my boyfriend?” she asked him back.

  “I’ve never been a boyfriend before.  What would I have to do?”

  Janet stopped in the middle of the stairs and looked at him.  She reached up and placed her hand on his cheek and said to him, “You would be a nice boyfriend.”  She turned and continued down the steps.

  “What does that mean?” he said as he followed her.

***

The pep assembly occurred during fifth hour as the entire student body filled the bleachers in the gym.  A microphone was set up and stood before two rows of seven chairs set up on the basketball court beneath the Hawk painted on the wall.  Those chairs were for the seniors that were on the football team.  The rest of the team would sit on the first two rows of bleacher seats to the right of those chairs.  Another row of chairs was set up to the left for the coaches and administrative staff of the school; the principal and assistant principals representing each school, B, C, and D.  Teachers sat with their fifth hour classes as they walked in and filled the bleachers.  The Marching Band was already sitting in the bleachers and were playing the school’s fight song over and over.  The cheerleaders were hopping and performing in the middle of the court.  As the gym was filling up with students and teachers, the football team and their coaches were in the locker room.

  “I will introduce our two captains, Dan and Lumberjack,” Coach Stiller continued to tell them. “and you guys will take turns to say how we are going to beat the Comets tomorrow.  Then I will introduce the rest of the Seniors  and , when called, you stand and wave.  After they are introduced, everyone run to the middle of the court and huddle together and start our chant, rocking the huddle and when I count three on my hand, we will have one final Go Hawks and run back to the locker room.  Got it?”

  The team all nodded in response.  Gary couldn’t help but hear the sound in the gym on the other side of the wall.  The band was playing, and he heard the murmur of the crowd crescendo its sound to match the band.  He heard the muffling of someone talking through the microphone.

  “Okay,” Coach Stiller said to them.  “Let’s line up, seniors last, and go to the gym.  Don’t go in until I say.”

  They followed his instructions and exited the doorway that enters into the hallway to the gym.  They crowded in the hallway and waited.  All the coaches except for their head coach went into the gym and when they did, the crowd exploded with cheers in anticipation of seeing their team.  Coach Stiller turned to them and yelled at them one last time, “Remember, follow me and then run to your designated seats after we take a lap around the court when we enter the gym.  Let’s start the chant – slow and building.  Daniel get it started!”

  “Go Hawks,” Dan starts the chant, clapping with each claim. “Go Hawks…Go Hawks…”

  The team began to chant with Dan, slowly building momentum.  Gary noticed the crowd outside the hallway got quiet.  Then he heard them begin to chant with the team.  The big bass drum followed the beat of the chant, slowly getting louder and faster.  Coach Stiller raised his arm and turned and led them out into the room.

  The gym erupts as they ran onto the court.  The cheerleaders were in the middle of the room, jumping and cheering, cartwheeling, and spinning as Coach Stiller led them in a quick jog around the edges finally leading them to one end of the court.  The Seniors went to their chairs and the others to their places in the bleachers.  Everyone was standing and the band was playing but everything suddenly went still, in anticipation, when the coach stepped toward the microphone stand.

  “Hello Hawks!”

  A cheer rose and the bass drum thumped.

  “Are you ready to burn some Comets!”

***

  Friday practice was called Special Teams Day and the players wore only shorts, jerseys, and helmets.  It was mainly light running and special tram drills.  The field goal team set up at one end of the practice field and worked on long snaps as Kenny Mack kicked his field goals.  He was a soccer player who was talked into playing on the football team to only kick the football and he was good.  In practice, he could kick the ball through the uprights from 60 yards away but in a game, so far, his longest field goal was 43 yards.  Kenny was also the team’s punter.  Friday really should have been called Kenny Day.

  Because Kenny couldn’t practice field goals and punt the ball at the same time, at the other end of the field, Jim Thompson, the fullback and back-up quarterback, was throwing footballs in high arcs simulating punts to the punt receiving team.  Kenny would practice punts later.  Gary was taking his turn at catching them and running the ball behind the defense practicing blocking patterns to the left and then to the right.  There was little talking on Special Teams Day.   A whistle blew and the team ran to the sideline except for Kenny, who dragged his sack of footballs and orange tee to the center of the field.

  “First team kick-off team!”  Coach Stiller yelled and eleven players ran to the center of the field.  “D-Backs go catch the kick offs except for Tim and Rick, you two come here!”

  Gary ran to the end of the field along with the other three defensive backs and took his place to get ready to catch the kicks.  The kick-off team spread out with Kenny in the middle and five players on each side of him.  He placed a football upright on the orange tee and walked backward about five yards and one step, two steps, to his right and he raised his right arm.

  “Remember, no tackling,” Coach Stiller reminded them and blew his whistle.

  Ken began to stride toward the ball, slow at first then a little quicker.  He finally placed his left foot beside the tee, swung his right leg and struck the ball.  It rose from the tee., spinning head over heel higher and higher until it reached the top of its arc and started down toward Gary.  He waited, not taking his eyesight off of the ball, and he heard the stampede of running feet heading his way.

  “Go left!’  Smitty yelled at him as he placed his right foot a bit behind his body and raised his arms to form a cradle.  The ball settled in his arms and he immediately ran to his left as a body whizzed by him on his right and within three steps, he was surrounded by other members of the kickoff team.  The whistle blew again.

  “Do it again!  Jackson run down with the kickoff team and, Rick you stay there!”

  Gary ran down the field with the other members and lined up on the very end to the left of Kenny on the kickoff team.  His job on the kickoff team was to run directly to the receiver to be the first one to tackle him.  He watched Kenny as he performed his ritual, place the ball on the orange tee, walked back five yards, turned, and raised his arm.  The whistle blew and the ball was kicked, and Gary raced to get to the receiver first.  He was the second one to the player with the ball who ran away from him and the whistle blew.

  “Do it again!  Jackson stay and Smitty come back!”

Gary turned where he stood, catching his breath, and waited for the kick-off again.  He shook his head.  He ran a lot on Special Team Day.

***

  They had finished with supper and the entire family waited in their seat because it was Grocery Store night.  Every Friday, Julie would ask everyone what they wanted for supper the following week and then she and her husband would go to the grocery store.

  “Chris?” Julie asked him as she had already solicited responses from the others.

  “Hmmm, how about Shepherd’s Pie?” he volunteered.

  “You know better,” his Mom set down the pencil she was using to make the grocery list.  “Your sister doesn’t like Shepherd’s Pie.”

  “I know and it isn’t fair.  You always say we can choose whatever we like, and I like Shepherd’s Pie but because of her, I never get to have it.”

  Julie looked at him, waiting, until he conceded.

  “All right!  I give up, once again!  I chose pork chops with scallop potatoes.”

  “Okay, Ronald,” Julie said as she finished adding the ingredients to her list.  “I will be ready in five minutes.”  She rose and went into the kitchen to check her refrigerator and cabinets for additional grocery items to add to the list.

  Gary and his siblings rose from their chairs to carry dishes to the kitchen.

  “So Gary,” his father slowly said aloud.  “Are you starting tomorrow’s game?”

  Gary turned back toward him and sat down.

To be continued…

Janet watched Gary as he paused and grew quiet.  She had been turned to face him and she leaned closer to him.  She reached out and took his hand in hers, patiently waiting before she softly spoke to him, “Hey, it’s all right .  You don’t have to go on.”

  “It’s okay,” Gary whispered to her.  “I don’t know why that bothered me so much.  That day.”

  “That day?” she whispered back.

  “Yeah, that was the day I began to think that it didn’t matter what I did, it wasn’t going to be enough for him.  He was making it difficult to have fun.  At least at the time, in my teenage mind, it seemed a big deal,” he explained to Janet.  “Hey, do you need another drink?”

  “Are you kidding me?  I am too into the story,” she laughed quietly with her hand still on his arm with her eyes still looking at him.

  Gary smiled at her and shook his head.

  “So tell me about Thursday,” she prodded him.

  “Okay,” he leaned closer to her.  “Thursday…”

***

  Gary cut across the hill at the front of the house avoiding the three steps to get to the street before the screen door closed at the entrance to his house.  It was still dark but as he walked onto Burgos toward the bus stop.  He walked in the middle of the street with head bent down looking at the road in front of him.  He was carrying the gym bag that held the two books he had brought home and the clean practice uniform his mother dutifully had washed last night after he had disappeared to his room.  Burgos joined Barcelona Avenue and Valencia Avenue as they merged together, and Burgos ended.  He turned right onto Valencia and followed it to his destination at Larimore Road.  He wasn’t the first one at the  bus stop on the corner beneath the street sign, Janet was there.  She was sitting on the ground, Indian style with a blue stocking cap pulled down over her ears and her jacket was wrapped tightly around her.

  “You cold?” Gary asked as he stopped next to her and dropped his bag on the ground at his feet.

  She looked up at him with a stern look on her face, revealing a string of long curls that fell alongside her face. 

  Gary had always liked her.  He met her when his family moved into this neighborhood at Sunfish Pond.  Sunfish was a small pond that was attached to Spanish Lake.  The pond was located in the woods behind the neighborhood.  It was the place to go to fish and swim in the summer and to ice skate on in the winter.  He met her that first time at a summer swim party.  Calvin Black, his next-door neighbor, introduced him to Sunfish Pond and, that summer day, the two of them decided to go for a swim.  As they broke through the woods, he saw her swimming in the water.  Calvin knew her right away and called out her name.  She swam toward the two of them and the first words out of her mouth were “Who’s this?”

  At the bus stop Gary smiled at her before he answered her question.  “I guess so,” he final said to her. 

  She buried her head back into her coat.

  Gary carried on anyway, “Hey, are you going to the homecoming dance?”

  Her head emerged from her coat and she looked up at him with a curious look on her face.  “Why?  Are you asking?”

  He shuffled his feet and looked down the street before he answered her. “I guess I am.”

  Janet rose from her seat and stepped closer to him, crossed her arms in front of her, and asked him, “Why?”

  “Well,” he took a step back from her.  “I have to go so I thought I might as well have fun if I asked you instead of not having fun going with the football team.”

  “Really?” she smiled at him. “I’m more fun than football?”

***

Thursday football was simply called Scrimmage.  The offense and defense played football against each other.  It was Gary’s favorite day of the football week because he played nearly every play, never leaving the field.  The team ran a Super Lap, did calisthenics and stretching, and got right into playing football.  Gary to have fun and to release his frustrations of his everyday grind of living.  Sometimes he focused on school or people who made him mad and with every tackle he made, he felt a little better.  Today he was tackling his father.  He didn’t understand why his dad was making such a big deal about him starting Saturday’s game.  Gary knew he wasn’t ever going to be good enough to play college football.  He was simply too short and a lightweight at five foot seven, one hundred and forty pounds.

  Stan Bennett, the wide receiver, was walking out of the school onto the practice field with Gary.  Steve wore the number 13 on his jersey.  He wasn’t at all superstitious.

  “How’s it going, Jackson?”  he asked him.

  “Oh. It’s going,”  Gary replied as the two of them walked side-by-side, holding their helmets at their side.  “I am looking forward to today.  I have a lot of frustration to get out of me.”

  “Really?  You do that, too?”  Steve asked him.

  “You do that, too, huh?  You always seem so cool,” Gary replied in surprise.

  “Why do you think I am so cool?” Steve laughed.  “You know what I find the most challenging thing to do at football practice?  Getting by you.  I can get by the other DB Backs and our opponents’ defensive teams pretty easily but not you.  I believe you have made me better.  I am going to help you out today.  Get ready for it!”

  Gary stopped walking as Steve turned to walk backwards and pointed at him.  Gary pointed back at him indicating that the challenge was accepted.

  The way the scrimmage was run is for the first team offense would practice their plays against the defensive team pretending to be the opponents’ team.  Halfway through practice, the first team defense would go against offensive simulating the opponents’ offense of the week. 

  Gary was playing the free safety of the Comets’ defense, the defensive back that was positioned in the middle of the field.  The first play was a running play, the quarterback, Dan, faked to the fullback who pretended to have the ball and run up the middle, but then he tossed the ball to Paul Baker, the star, who was running to Gary’s right.  Gary’s eyes were focused on Paul and started running toward him when – Wham! – he was hit in the chest and he went down to the ground.  Steve got off of the top of him when the whistle blew, and he offered his hand to help Gary up off the ground.  He took it and when he was standing upright, Steve said, “You weren’t ready.”

  On the next play, Dan took the ball from the center, turned and tossed it to the already running Paul, who again was running to Gary’s right but this time Gary saw the right tackle pull out and run back to his left so he started running toward him.  He looked at Paul and saw Steve run from his position on the right behind Paul and catch the ball being tossed at him.  Gary now knows what it was happening.  The play was called a reverse because the play began going one way and was coming back toward where it started.

  “Reverse!”  he yelled and his defensive teammates reacted and began to go after Steve.  Gary side-stepped someone who tried to block him and jumped in front of the tackle who had been his cue by running back to his left.  He put his head across the bigger player’s body and reached for Steve’s hips in order to tackle him.  The tackle ran into him, but it wasn’t enough to stop Gary from wrapping his arms around Steve and spinning him to the ground.  The whistle blew and it was Gary helping Steve up off the ground.

  “Oh, I am ready,” he said to Steve as they both returned to their respective huddles.  He heard Steve laugh as he entered his huddle.

  “Way to go, Jackson!” Coach Simon yelled at him as he arrived at his huddle.  “Let’s line up the same, boys.  Ready!”

  “Break!” the eleven players yelled and clapped in response to the coach and left the huddle to line up at the line of scrimmage in the same positions as the play before.  The offense responded the same way, clapping in unison, as they broke from their huddle and hustled to the line.  This time they lined up in their familiar “I” position, with the fullback, halfback, and flanker, Paul, behind Dan, the quarterback. 

  “Down!” Dan called out and the linemen placed their forearms on their knees.

  “Set!” Dan called out again and the linemen planted their right hands forward on the ground in front of their right legs.  Gary and the defense tensed and readied themselves for the play to begin. 

  “Hut one!“ Dan called and the halfback, the player in the middle of the “I” formation, started running toward Gary’s right.  Gary took one step in that direction.

  “Hut two!”  the air around Gary grew quiet and still.

  “Hut three!”

  The center snapped the ball back into Dan’s outstretched palms and sprung forward.  Dan started striding back as his linemen stood up from their position to protect him from the onrushing defensive players.  Gary saw this and immediately started to run backwards and began to look around to see who was running where and, at the same time, watched Dan’s head and his eyes.

  Out of the corner of his eyes, to his right, Gary saw Steve run straight up the field and then suddenly turn and run toward him.  Dan’s head started to follow Steve as he stopped and drew his arm back getting ready to throw the ball.  Gary knew then what was about to happen, so he placed his left foot firmly on the ground and pushed himself to start running toward Steve.  After he had taken two steps, Dan had released the ball and it was arcing toward Steve.  Gary pumped his legs harder and just before the ball reached Steve, he cut in front of him and caught the ball.  Interception!  The whistle blew immediately, and everyone stopped running except Gary, who ran with the ball toward the end zone before he finally stopped.

  “Touchdown!” Gary called out as he raised his arms in mock celebration as he jogged back to the huddle.  He tossed the ball back to Coach Simon who simply smiled at him and said, “That’s what I am talking about!”

***

  Gary stepped onto the activity bus as the sky was beginning to darken.  Inside were a few of his teammates who were stretched out on their seats.

  “Nice practice Gary/”

  Gary looked down to see that it was Jim Thompson, the team’s fullback who complimented him.  He lived on a street at the back of his neighborhood and he usually was a quiet person.

  “Thanks, Jim.” Gary replied.  “I hope it gets me into the game on Saturday.”

  “Oh, I think you will be in the game,” Jim responded to him.  “I will go out on a limb and predict that you will get two interceptions.”

  “Two, huh?  That would be fun,”  Gary said as he continued deeper into the bus.

  A few seats beyond Jim, he paused to stare at the person sitting there.  It was Janet staring back with a smile on her face.

  “What are you doing here?”  he said as he sat in the seat across from her.

  “Riding the bus home,” she answered him.  “Aren’t you doing the same?”

  “I meant why are you on the bus?” he asked her in a different way.

  “I decided to finish my homework at school and ride home with you,” she said as she leaned back against the wall of the bus and lifted her feet to the seat.

  “Ride home with me?” he did the same, so they were facing each other with their feet on their seats.

  “I need to know something from you, Gary.  Are you asking me to be your girlfriend when you asked me to homecoming?’

  Gary thought about the question she had asked him before he responded. “Do you want me to be your boyfriend?”

  “I don’t know,” she squinted at him for a few quiet moments.  “Let me think about it.  We have been friends for a long time, and I don’t know if I want to risk that.”

  “What about homecoming? Are you still going with me?”

  “I said I would,” she smiled at him.

***

  His father avoided talking to Gary that night. 

  The only thing on Gary’s mind was the disappointment he would be to his father because he knew he wasn’t going to start the game on Saturday.  He finally decided to go to bed to stop thinking about it, so he trudged into the main bathroom to perform his nightly ritual.  He opened the medicine cabinet door to retrieve the toothpaste tube.  The tube was on the top shelf of three and on the bottom two, several bottles of prescription medication.  He reached for the toothpaste, pulled it out, and closed the door.

To be continued…