Senior Year Box Set

Coach Mason moved me into the shotgun, so I had more time, and Phil and I hooked up for three straight completions. On the next play, I saw the safety had moved outside the hash marks. I gave Phil a hand signal. He ran the same route, and I pump-faked the pass, causing the safety to break on the ball. Phil dug in and sprinted straight up the field. I hit him with a pretty pass for the score.

Coach Rector flipped me off, to Coach Mason’s amusement.

I was glad when Coach Hope called it. The JV team was talking an awful lot of smack, and it wouldn’t be long before Tim or Yuri took someone’s head off. I was afraid it might be mine.

◊◊◊

When we were done, Cassidy came sauntering out onto the field. You could hear the collective groan.

“Miss me?” she asked with a big smile.

“No,” was their one-word answer.

She gave them an evil look.

“What did David say earlier? Let’s get this party started!” Cassidy said and then proceeded to show us we weren’t in as good shape as we thought we were.

Cassidy had learned how the Marine Corps turned young boys into men. She created what she called sixty minutes of hell as an exercise routine to get athletes at Lincoln High in shape. There were a couple of levels to her program. We were getting to the top level because even I was sucking air. I’d pushed myself all summer to be in shape for baseball and now football. Wearing pads and doing this routine was nuts.

“Cassidy!” her dad barked when he saw players dry-heaving on the sideline.

“Daddy, David hasn’t thrown up yet,” Cassidy complained.

“Well, shit,” I said, and I poked my finger down my throat.

It didn’t take much to get me started. That seemed to satisfy Cassidy. I found Tim and Wolf standing on each side of me.

“Thanks, man, I thought she was going to kill us,” Wolf said.

◊◊◊

I was wiped out when I got home. All I wanted to do was play with my boys and then get to bed early. As I walked in the back door, Duke greeted me, and I heard crying babies in the kitchen.

“Thank God!” Peggy said when she saw me. “Take yours and get him to settle down. He set Little David off.”

“Hey,” I said in the deepest voice I could.

For some reason, that seemed to almost always get his attention. He looked up at me with those big blue eyes and thought about crying again, so I pulled him to my chest and rocked him. Little David was still howling.

“Want to trade?” I asked.

“Please,” Peggy almost begged.

We did the awkward baby exchange, and I lifted Little David’s shirt and blew a raspberry on his tummy. His eyes blinked in shock.

“Who’s my good boy? You are.”

I gave him a little bounce, and he settled down into my chest. I think he was asleep in an instant. By this time, Coby was snoozing too.

“They missed their naps,” she said with a weary expression.

“I’m guessing someone else missed their nap,” I said. “I’ll put them into their playpen and cook dinner.”

She gave me a kiss and then helped me get them sorted out. I expect if Duke could have gotten in with them, he would have. He got as close as he could and lay down.

I opened the refrigerator and found that there was goat marinating in an olive oil, garlic, and herb mixture. I fired up the grill so it would be hot when Dad got home. He could grill the goat better than I could. I decided I wanted potatoes au gratin. There was also lettuce from the farm, so I could make wilted lettuce to go with it.

Mom came in as I was putting the potatoes in the oven.

“The boys are asleep in the living room. They didn’t get their naps today.”

“Where’s Peggy?”

“Upstairs sleeping. She looked worn out.”

“I’m sure she is. She had to handle them on her own for the past few weeks,” Mom explained.

“She could have gotten help. Right off the top of my head, I can name about five people who would love to babysit. I know Mrs. A is always complaining she doesn’t see them enough,” I said.

“I’ll talk to Peggy. She thinks that she should do it all herself. She looks at it as her job.”

“I guess,” I said, and then changed the topic. “What’s the deal with you changing all my classes?”

“Because I can.”

Someone was spoiling for a fight. I figured I would let my dad walk into this mood and make a hasty exit after dinner.

“What, no comment?” she prodded.

“Nope.”

“Holy cow, you are growing up. Greg still falls for that one,” Mom said.

“Alan is being a dick again. He hid my football gear and assigned me a tiny locker.”

“Do I need to talk to his parents?” Mom asked.

“Nope. I had Jeff film it. I can’t wait to see how he talks his way out of it when it’s shown on TV.”

“You really shouldn’t do that. I thought you were going to see if you two could work things out.”

I wished I didn’t tell my parents everything. They seemed to use it against me at the most inconvenient times.

“Can’t I just be immature and get him back?”

She just shrugged. She would probably do the same thing. My phone rang, and I saw it was Cassidy.

“What’s up, Buttercup?” I asked.

“Your girlfriend got into a fight and has been suspended for three days.”