by Rob Buyea
He held my gaze, then put his head back and closed his eyes.
“We’d better let him rest now,” Mrs. Woods said, placing one hand on my shoulder and the other on Scott’s. “Thank you for coming, boys. Seeing you has given him strength. I know it has.”
“Mrs. Woods, I want you to tell me the truth about how he’s feeling from now on. Good or bad,” I said.
She nodded. “Okay, Mr. Davids. I will. You have my word.”
Me and Scott left with his grandpa. I wasn’t sure how I was feeling until I noticed that Smoky was coming along with us. Believe it or not, that was the thing that gave me the most hope. That cat wouldn’t have left Coach if he wasn’t going to be okay.
Seeing Coach sick was scary. Seeing him perk up when Gavin gave him my play sheet and told him about our game wasn’t scary, but it was something that made Coach Magenta’s and Mrs. Woods’s eyes start watering.
“Both of you boys are secret weapons,” Grandpa told Gavin and me when we were getting ready to leave. “That was the most responsive I’ve seen Coach, so don’t be strangers around here, you understand?”
We nodded.
What I understood was that Coach liked our football stories, so I was going to do my very best to keep us winning—and part of that meant perfecting my secret-weapon role.
Coach Magenta introduced my big play the next day at practice. First she diagrammed it on the whiteboard so that we could see it, and then she had us try it. I was excited because it was a sneaky wide-receiver screen pass—and I was the sneaky component.
We lined up in trips right, which meant there were three wide receivers—I was one of them—spread out to the right of Gavin. On the snap of the ball the two bigger and taller receivers stepped forward and blocked the defensive guys covering them, while I took a step backward. Gavin did a quick one-step drop and then turned and fired a pass to me. I was supposed to take the ball and sprint down the sideline untouched because of the blocking in front of me—and because I was the fastest kid on the field. The untouched part was important, because I could suffer broken bones if I got tackled—and worse if I got hit by Stonebreaker.
It was a terrific play design. I had the running part down pat, but the catching thing was a different story. Coach Magenta was unaware that I still had cymbal hands. I’d only ever caught one pass in my life. I couldn’t catch a cold in a freezer.
“I can’t do this!” I yelled after dropping another one. “I’ll never be ready in time!”
Coach Magenta put her arm around me. “Maybe not for this weekend,” she said, “but that’s okay. You and Gavin need to start playing catch before and after practice every day. Do that, and you’ll be ready when the time comes. I know you will.”
“Good old-fashioned hard work,” I said.
“That’s right. That’s just what Coach would say.”
“I’m going to catch that pass when the time comes,” I said, “and maybe Coach will be here to see me do it.”
“I hope so,” she said.
* * *
—
The time for my secret-weapon play didn’t come during our next game because Justin protected the ball and never fumbled, and Mark did a great job coaching him from the sideline and giving him pointers. Gavin played awesome, too. He and Trevor hooked up for two more touchdowns. We went on the road and beat Lewisburg without any miracles.
The Titans had another blowout win behind Stonebreaker’s eight sacks, but the bigger news was that the days of wondering if a girl could coach football were long gone. The letters to the paper had stopped, the signs were disappearing from lawns, and the varsity coach wasn’t complaining anymore. He liked what he saw. There were still some people who thought Mrs. Magenta should go, but there was more cheering for us. And even though Coach and Mrs. Woods didn’t make it to our game again, Gavin and I knew they were cheering the loudest.
I was going to catch that pass when the time came.
NATALIE KURTSMAN
ASPIRING LAWYER
Kurtsman Law Offices
BRIEF #7
October: A Scary Idea
I asked Randi to accompany me to the Senior Center after hearing about Gavin and Scott visiting Coach. It was time we checked in on Agnes and Eddie again; plus I needed something to keep my mind busy—and the same was true for Randi.
By all standards, The Razzle-Dazzle Show was a hit, but if you asked me, we were falling into a rut. The show had started off making major buzz—taking on real issues and making a difference. We had tackled sexism and saved Scott from expulsion—things we could be proud of—but we had somehow fallen into the routine of doing sports recaps on Mondays and previews of upcoming matches throughout the week. Naturally, the guys liked that approach, but it wasn’t enough for me. It wasn’t groundbreaking—and that was the mission. I was not about to let The Razzle-Dazzle Show become one of those brainless sports reports that you find on that ESTN or whatever it’s called. That dumb jock network.
I had already dedicated next week’s shows to highlighting Nature’s Learning Lab, since we were going there in two weeks, but beyond that I still didn’t know what to cover. I was in search of something new. Something big and important. Whatever that turned out to be, I needed to find it soon, because this lapse had given a rather scary idea time to wake up.
Agnes and Eddie never failed to provide me with plenty to think about, so I hoped my visit with them would help lull that scary thought back to sleep. Instead, the exact opposite happened.
Randi and I found our friends in their new favorite spot, the recently renovated Community Theater. Naturally, that reminded me of Trevor, but I couldn’t afford to go soft, thinking of him now, not when Eddie was certain to be teasing me about him.
“Agnes, wake up! Look who’s here!” Eddie hollered.
Agnes, who’d been dozing in her chair, jumped. “You trying to give me a heart attack yelling like that?” she snapped. She wiped the drool off her chin and sat up straight. Randi and I were already giggling.
“What brings you two here today?” Eddie asked. “Need some boy advice, or are you looking for trouble? I can help you with both.”
“Ugh,” Agnes groaned, rolling her eyes.
Randi and I pulled two chairs over and sat down.
“Or are you checking on us because you heard about Coach?” Agnes asked, instantly changing the mood from fun to serious.
We didn’t know how to respond.
Agnes chuckled. “Well, as you can see, Eddie is as terrible as ever. I’m still stuck dealing with her, and Coach is getting a little better every day. So I guess you could say things are good here. How’re you ladies doing? How’s that knee coming along, Randi?”
“It’s a little better every day,” Randi answered, borrowing Agnes’s line.
“That’s good,” Eddie remarked. “You need to be able to run if you’re gonna keep up with Natalie when it comes to chasing the boys.”
Randi snickered, and I shook my head.
“Try dealing with this all the time,” Agnes said.
“It’s what keeps you young, you old biddy,” Eddie jeered.
“It’s gonna drive me to drink, is more like it,” Agnes retorted.
They had us giggling again after that exchange.
“We’ve heard from Grandpa and Scott that the football team is doing well, and it sounds like that Razzle-Dazzle Show of yours is a hit,” Agnes said, getting us back on track.
I wasn’t surprised that Scott had told them about football, but the fact that he’d also mentioned our show made me smile.
“It’s true,” Randi said. “Natalie would never say it, but she’s the mastermind behind our show. And the football team is doing better than well. They’ve won both of their games.”
“Olivia has those boys kicking butt just like I knew she would,” Eddie sa
id.
“Hopefully all those dumbos who were complaining about her are beginning to realize what they’ve got,” Agnes added. “Olivia’s far better than that thief you kids got rid of last year.”
And there it was. That scary idea was wide awake now.
“Uh-oh,” Eddie said. “Natalie’s got that look again. She’s thinking about something.”
“What is it, Natalie?” Agnes asked.
“Nothing,” I lied.
“You forget who you’re talking to,” Eddie said. “You’re thinking something. Now, spill it.”
There was no use trying to hide it. “You got me thinking about Mr. Holmes,” I said, coming clean. That was it. I was giving the idea life. Talking about it out loud was allowing it to breathe.
“Holmes,” Agnes scoffed. “What is there to think about when it comes to that terrible man?”
I shrugged.
“Natalie?” Randi pressed. “What is it?”
“Have you ever wondered why someone does something?” I asked.
“You mean like why Mr. Holmes would’ve stolen all that money?”
I nodded.
“Natalie, you went down that road last year. Why in heaven’s name would you want to stir the pot again?” Agnes questioned.
“Because I’ve been wondering about Mr. Holmes ever since I met his adorable little son, Robbie, at Kids Klub last spring. I’ve tried to stop thinking about him, but the question won’t go away. What if Mr. Holmes did the wrong thing for the right reasons?”
“There is no right reason for the way he treated Gavin or Gavin’s mother,” Eddie said, “and besides that, he’s in prison. It’s not like you can go and ask him.”
“I know,” I said. “We don’t need to keep rehashing it. Let’s play dominoes.”
I could see that Eddie and Agnes were skeptical, but they went along with my suggestion. The remainder of our visit was full of gossip and school talk over some friendly games. But inside I never stopped pondering if there was a way for me to talk to Mr. Holmes.
If Eddie met little Robbie Holmes, she wouldn’t be so quick to write off Mr. Holmes as an all-around terrible man. I was only talking about giving him the chance to explain his side of the story. That would almost certainly shake things up at Lake View Middle. That was exactly the kind of thing The Razzle-Dazzle Show needed to go for.
My only hesitation was out of concern for Gavin. Would pursuing this story cause him pain? That was the tricky part—but I could do some digging without him knowing.
I went with Natalie to the guys’ third game. I was laughing as soon as we got there. You should’ve seen Scott on the sideline, dressed in all that football equipment. He’s the only kid I know who could put that stuff on and somehow look smaller. He had to wrap athletic tape around his waist about a hundred times just to keep his pants from falling down. The only thing that might’ve been funnier—and scarier—would’ve been seeing him play in the game, but that never happened. Scott’s best position was as Stats Man. With his help, and Coach Magenta’s, the team put together another terrific performance and pushed their record to 3–0.
Gav played great again. I was happy for him because he worked really hard and deserved it, especially after all he’d been through last year. His game was a nice break from thinking about gymnastics and my upcoming trip to Jacob’s, but as soon as I got home, I was right back to worrying.
It wasn’t that I disliked Jacob. It was that Mom liked him too much.
NATALIE KURTSMAN
ASPIRING LAWYER
Kurtsman Law Offices
BRIEF #8
October: Research
According to my research, kids were permitted to visit prisoners as long as they were a direct relation, meaning a son or daughter of the inmate. If the child was under the age of eighteen, they had to be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. Special visits were a possibility, but only in cases of extreme hardship or extenuating circumstances, and such requests needed to go through the security department. I didn’t think my case would qualify, so I continued reading to see if I had any other options—I did.
I soon discovered the section pertaining to mail. Prisoners were allowed to receive mail, but all mail was subject to inspection before being delivered—except for that from a lawyer.
This was almost too easy.
Mark and I still weren’t talking. He came to practice every afternoon, and he stood on the sidelines during our games and did a great job helping Justin and cheering on the team, but we never talked, and he stopped coming in the mornings for The Razzle-Dazzle Show. His injury was the perfect excuse.
Natalie was too smart not to notice, and she was smart enough to know that I didn’t want to talk about it. She stayed silent on the subject, but pretending there was nothing going on wasn’t making me feel any better. I liked Natalie a lot and I wanted to hang with her, but I also didn’t want to be near her, because whenever we were together, I was on edge, waiting for her to bring up Mark again.
I felt it coming one day after school when we were walking together toward the lobby. I was on my way to practice, and she was getting picked up by her mother and going to her parents’ office.
“I need to ask you something,” she said.
My muscles tensed. “Okay.”
“Is your brother still helping out at Kids Klub? I’d like to go back.”
I exhaled. Thank goodness, I thought. But then my eyes narrowed. What was she up to?
“What?” she said.
“Nothing.”
“Then why’d you look at me like that?”
“That’s not what I was expecting you to ask. That’s all.”
“What were you expecting?”
“Nothing,” I lied.
“I thought so.”
How did she do that? She could see right through me. We never said Mark’s name, but we were talking about the same thing right then.
“So how about Kids Klub?” she said, letting me off the hook.
“Oh yeah. Brian still goes.”
“Do you think we could go with him?”
“We?”
“Yes, ‘we.’ I thought you’d come with me. And maybe Meggie and Gavin, too.”
I wondered if this was because Randi was going to be out of town and Natalie would be bored, but that wasn’t like her. She was up to something, but I wasn’t about to try questioning her. Grilling people was her strength, not mine.
“Friday would probably work,” I said. “We have a short practice because it’s the day before our game.”
“Perfect. Talk to your brother, and I’ll take care of Gavin and Meggie.”
“Okay.”
We were almost to the lobby when she stopped. Just all of a sudden stopped. Right in the middle of the corridor. “You know what, Trev? Now that we got that out of the way, there is something else. Mark’s at every practice and game, but he hasn’t come back to the broadcast. I don’t know what’s going on with you two, but you need to fix it—or else I will.”
My mouth hung open.
“Fix it,” she repeated. “And don’t forget to talk to your brother.” She patted me on the chest and turned and walked out the door. And when I say “walked out,” I mean walked out like somebody who’d just kicked some butt. And she had—mine.
I’d been worrying about her bringing up Mark and asking me more questions, but there’d been none of that. She’d skipped right over the asking and went straight to the telling.
But here was the issue. I knew what was going on with Mark, but I couldn’t say it—not to her. How could Natalie be so smart but not see that she was the problem? If you’re the problem, you can’t also be the solution.
If she tried fixing things, it would only get worse. I was screwed. It was another catch-22.
Mom and I stopped by Gav’s house on Thursday night so that I could wish him good luck on his game. The football team was 3–0, but this was going to be their first home game that I missed. I didn’t want to be superstitious, but that stuff comes with the territory when you frequently ponder destiny. I left Mom in the kitchen with Mrs. Davids and went and found Gav in his bedroom. We chatted about school, and then I mentioned my concern.
“Randi, stop. I love that you’ve been at our games, but you’re not the reason we’re winning.”
I was shocked when he came right out and said it like that, but he was right—and we both knew it. So then I told him the truth.
“Gav, I’m nervous about going to stay with Mom at Jacob’s.”
“I know, but everything is going to be okay,” he said. “The bad stuff has already happened.”
I nodded. I hoped he was right—but sometimes hope is not enough.
* * *
—
Mom and I met Jacob at the airport the next day. He was happy to see us. He gave Mom a big hug, and then he handed me a bouquet of flowers. That was really nice of him. Mom thought so, too. It was hard not to like somebody who was so thoughtful, but I had to proceed with caution. Mom’s heart was on the line.
We gathered our luggage, and Jacob took us to his house. I didn’t know beforehand, but we were staying at his place this time, instead of at a hotel. He had a large guest room for us. This was just as serious as I’d been fearing. “Concerning” didn’t describe the situation anymore. Not only was Mom’s heart on the line, but so was my destiny.
We didn’t stay long when we got to his home because we had to get to the gym. Dr. Pierce was meeting us there. We dropped our bags and grabbed a quick sandwich and headed back out.
Dr. Pierce was already at Svetlana’s when we pulled in.
“Hi, Randi. I don’t have long because I have an afternoon appointment, but I wanted to say hi and see how you were doing.”