by Nancy Star
I am well aware that not all players adhered to our new focus-boosting Pre-Game Silence Period before our last competition. I hope the debacle of that game has convinced all players that this new policy is worth the effort!!!
Safety Update: As you know, Safety is my Paramount Concern. Therefore, beginning today, no player or player’s family member is to speak about team business with any player or family member of any player on any team in our league or any league or anywhere at any time!
Envy Update: Envy is the unavoidable result of the hard efforts of a team such as ours. This is always true on teams where a high level of play has been consistently attained! Therefore, if you suspect someone of envy and are unsure whether or not it is appropriate to speak to that person, please check with me at once! My door is always open!!!
Winter Training Update: Winter training will commence the day our fall season ends! We will continue our Saturday scrimmages with the boys, and because we no longer have Sunday games, we will have Sunday scrimmages as well! All players must continue to be vigilant about attendance at all practices and scrimmages!!
Reminder: Outdoor training will only be canceled when there is snowfall greater than one inch!
Details regarding Specialty Clinics, which will be available Monday through Fridays for all players—No Exceptions!!!!!!!—will be coming shortly.
Exciting Update: The Winslow West Soccer-Plex Opening Exhibition Game is finally here! Local celebrities will be on hand!!! Game time is 10 a.m. this Saturday. All team members are to report to the Winslow West Soccer-Plex no later than 8 a.m. in full uniform, hair tied neatly back (Bailey!!!).
Good Luck to One and All from Winslow West!!!
Forty-two
The rain was coming down like a scrim, turning the afternoon sky dark gray. Annie checked the weather forecast. The chance of thunderstorms over the next two hours was high.
She called Marilyn to find out if practice would be canceled.
“Canceled?” Marilyn said. “No. But don’t worry. The girls will have a great time. They love playing in the rain.”
Annie turned on the news. A weather warning scrolled across the bottom of the screen.
“Maybe you should skip practice today,” Annie told Charlotte.
Charlotte shook her head. “I can’t. Winslow gets really mad when someone misses practice. He makes everyone else work twice as hard and then he tells everyone who’s to blame.”
“I’m sure he wouldn’t do that if you just missed one practice,” Annie said. “Besides, I thought you weren’t even sure you wanted to stay on the team.”
“I’m giving it a chance,” Charlotte said. “Like you asked me to. Come on. We have to go. The only thing worse than missing practice is if you’re late.”
They found Winslow in his normal spot, at the top of the rise. It was raining even harder now, but the players were doing their stretches, backs pressed flat into the muddy grass.
Charlotte ran over and took her place. Winslow made a show of checking his watch, taking a small pad out of the pocket of his anorak, and scribbling a note.
Annie’s spine stiffened. She walked over. “Can we talk for a minute?”
Winslow peered out from his hood. “I am coaching. I do not talk to parents while I’m coaching.” He took a step away, clapped his hands, and called the girls in.
“Thank you for leading our stretches, Shelby,” he said. “Evelyn, please lead the team once around the field. Charlotte, I’ll need two additional laps from you.”
Annie walked over to a group of parents who were watching, huddled under an oak tree to keep dry.
“Is it safe to run on the field when it’s this wet?” Annie asked.
“They love it,” Marilyn said. “Shelby keeps falling down on purpose so she can roll in the mud like a puppy. Last time they played in the rain she came home—I swear to God—with muddy teeth.”
The other parents laughed.
Annie heard a distant rumble. “What was that?”
“Probably thunder,” said Marilyn. “Can you believe it’s warm enough to thunder in November? Is this global warming or what?”
“Aren’t they going to get off the field?” Annie asked.
“Because of one thunder?” Marilyn said. “That’s funny.”
It wasn’t funny to Annie. She walked toward the girls.
“Where are you going?” Marilyn called.
By the time Annie reached the perimeter of the field the girls were glancing at the sky as they ran.
“We’re leaving,” Annie told Charlotte as she passed her. “This isn’t safe.”
Charlotte nodded. She wanted to go.
“We’re leaving,” Annie called over to Winslow. “It’s not safe to be here when it’s thundering.”
“The storm is miles away,” Winslow called back. “It’s probably in Pennsylvania.”
“We’re going home,” Annie said. She had to yell now, to be heard above the wind and rain.
Winslow yelled something back, but Annie couldn’t hear it. She took Charlotte’s hand as they ran to their car.
“Thanks, Mom,” Charlotte said as they drove home.
Annie smiled. “Anytime.”
Forty-three
POWER POINTERS—November 2nd!!! News of the Day
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!!!! READ AT ONCE!!!!
It Has Come To My Attention That A Small Number Of Parents Have Been Voicing Concerns About My Safety Policy As Regards Lightning!
Please Note: All parents with concerns about this or any other matters should share their concerns with me and not jabber among themselves on the sidelines. Sideline jabbering does not solve problems! It causes them! As of today, all sideline jabbering is prohibited!!!!!!
League Lightning Policy:
The Mountain Ridge Travel Soccer Board Policy on Lightning is as follows:
During a storm, all fields are to be cleared immediately upon the second strike of lightning. To determine a storm’s potential for danger, the club uses the following well-known formula:
To figure out the distance of the approaching thunderstorm, divide the seconds from the second flash to the second crash by six. Due to the fact that an approaching thunderstorm is at its most dangerous when one mile away, and that a storm travels one half-mile per minute, a storm five miles away will arrive in roughly ten minutes, giving plenty of time for even the slowest runner to evacuate the field. This conservative formula does not include all the storms that travel at the above speed but then stall and never, in point of fact, arrive at all.
Note: The Mountain Ridge Travel Soccer Board Policy on Field Evacuation says No Player is ever to be left on the field during a Board Certified Evacuation.
Anyone wondering if I follow the above policy need only look inside my vehicle, which was the site of yesterday’s field evacuation for four of our players.
The girls enjoyed the evacuation, particularly the part where they painted the tan upholstery in my vehicle brown with mud taken from their cleats and hair. A mud bath was also applied to all windows. Anyone wishing to see the mud in my vehicle must do so immediately as I have asked the girls responsible (Jolie, Bobbi, Gwen, and Dinah!) to clean the upholstery and windows directly following this afternoon’s makeup practice drills.
Good Luck to One and All from Winslow West!!!
Forty-four
Gerri offered everyone a drink.
“Forget the drinks,” Peggy Ann said. “It’s late. I have three kids who need to get to bed waiting for me at home. You said this was an emergency. Why don’t you just get to the point.”
“We all have somewhere we’d rather be,” Gerri said. “I’m going to turn the meeting over to Brian King. In addition to being a new parent on the Asteroids—and let me say how fortunate we are that Heather has decided to join our team—Brian is also a Mountain Ridge police officer. Brian?”
Officer King stood up, cleared his throat, and crossed his arms. “Gerri asked me to talk to you tonight because there are some problems going on
with the Power right now. I don’t know how many of you are aware of the situation. The reason I wanted to talk to you all is that Winslow West has been saying some things I think you need to know.”
“What kind of things?” asked Peggy Ann.
Even the parents who didn’t like to waste their time discussing the Power’s business leaned forward in their seats to hear the answer. Most of the parents knew Brian from around. He was a genial guy. But he was dead serious now.
He cleared his throat again. “Winslow called the Mountain Ridge Police Department two days ago to report several incidents of what he called terrorism on the soccer field. At that time, he told a police officer that he believes the perpetrator of these so-called terrorist acts is a disgruntled member of the Asteroids.”
“He’s accusing our kids?” Chip said. A vein on his neck began to bulge.
“Actually,” Gerri said, “he’s accusing us.”
“Of what?” Mona asked.
“Vandalism and terrorism,” Brian said. “The first incident, as some of you know, was dog excrement on the field. The second incident was holes in the field. This last time, the sidelines were reconfigured in the middle of the night.”
“That’s just plain weird,” Chip said.
“I wanted everyone to be aware of this,” Brian continued, “because Winslow has requested that the Mountain Ridge Police Department bring the Asteroids in for questioning.”
Peggy Ann stood up. “I’m calling my brother. He’s a lawyer. Maybe I can get him to come over here. Where’s the phone?”
“Hold on,” Brian said. “There’s no need to panic. No one is coming over to arrest you. If Winslow was even a little bit smarter, we might be in a pretty ugly situation right now. But luckily that’s not a problem.”
“What do you mean?” Peggy Ann asked as she sat back down.
“For one thing,” Gerri said, “if Winslow were smarter, Brian’s daughter would not have been cut from the Power this fall. I want to say again that I think Heather is one hell of a player and we are socca-lucky to have her on our team.”
“Do we have a lawyer, Roy?” Maura asked her husband.
Roy didn’t answer. He was sitting very still, concentrating on everything that was being said.
“You don’t need to call a lawyer,” Brian said. “No police officer is going to turn up at your house because of this. Winslow has no basis for his suspicions. And to be honest, he does not have a lot of admirers down at the station house.”
“What do you mean?” Mona asked.
“I mean there are one or two young cops with little kids who Winslow thinks are in his pocket. But there are a lot more guys whose kids, over the years, have been treated very badly by him. I’m talking about cops whose kids have been overlooked, kicked off teams, lied to, and just plain treated like crap. And these are people with long memories.”
There was a long silence.
“So who do you think is vandalizing the fields?” Mona finally asked. “Teenagers?”
“That’s probably who it is,” Roy said. “Drunk teenagers.”
“Could be,” Brian said. “But I don’t think so. I’ll tell you my personal belief—which, I might add, is shared by most of my fellow officers.”
Heads nodded vigorously, urging him on.
“There’s only one person who has a reason to bother to do these things because there’s really only one person who would benefit from it. And that’s Winslow himself. Because think about it. The Winslow West Soccer-Plex Opening is coming up and it’s perfect advertising. I can just hear him—‘I love the fields in this town but I’m sure we can all agree that at the current time they are no longer secure.’ Winslow’s new indoor facility, however, will be completely secure.”
“It’s so obvious, he should be embarrassed,” said Peggy Ann.
“It’s sick is what it is,” Chip said. “Hey, I have an idea. Roy—can you fix up the toilets in the Soccer-Plex, so that the next time Winslow flushes, one of them explodes in his face?”
Everyone laughed, except for Roy and Brian.
“Listen, folks,” Brian said. “We can’t make jokes like that anymore. We need to conduct ourselves above and beyond reproach. You know what we really have to concentrate on doing?”
“What?” asked Peggy Ann.
“Nothing,” Brian said. “Absolutely nothing. I’ve seen people like Winslow before. I know what makes them tick and I know what makes them crack. I promise you, if we do nothing, it will drive him out of his mind. And there is no more satisfying punishment than that.”
When the meeting was over, everyone left energized, hyped up, and smiling.
Except for Roy.
Forty-five
The windshield wipers were on high but did little to improve visibility.
“Can you see the road?” Charlotte asked from the backseat.
“Yes,” Tim said.
“How can we have a barbecue in the rain?” Charlotte asked, after a moment.
Tim turned up the defroster. “You know how Uncle Hank is. He probably hired half a dozen workers this morning to install special awnings over a brand-new rainproof barbecue pit he had built just for the occasion.”
“What is the occasion, anyway?” Annie asked.
Tim shrugged. “All Hank said was that he has news, and it’s big and good and he wants to tell us in person over a rack of ribs.”
As they pulled into Hank and Trissy’s driveway, the radio weatherman announced it was a record-breaking seventy-one degrees with a ninety-percent chance of severe thunderstorms.
“Did you hear that?” Annie asked Charlotte. “The thunderstorms are going to be severe. Your practice will be canceled today for sure.”
“Winslow won’t cancel because of a weather report,” Charlotte said. “He told us the rule is he has to wait for a flash and then count to the crash, remember?”
They got out of the car. Trissy welcomed them into the house.
“Your cousins are downstairs watching a movie,” she told Charlotte.
Charlotte ran to the lower-level media room. Tim and Annie followed Trissy into the Adirondack-camp-style family room.
Despite the unusually warm temperature, several carefully arranged logs were burning in the fireplace. Soft jazz played from hidden speakers. Thermoses of tea, coffee, and cocoa were set out on a mission-style buffet table, along with trays of small sandwiches, skewered shrimp, chicken satay, and cheese. On a second table were bottles of cream soda, root beer, tonic water, wine, vodka, scotch, gin, cognac, small ramekins of pudding, and two large platters of doughnuts.
Thunder rumbled.
“That’s good,” Annie said. “Charlotte is definitely off the hook for practice now.”
“You probably should call Winslow and check,” Trissy advised. “In case one thunder isn’t enough.”
“I have to pull her off that team,” Annie said. “She seems so unhappy.”
“Who isn’t?” Trissy asked.
Something in Trissy’s voice struck Annie as odd.
Tim didn’t seem to notice. “Where’s my brother?”
“Liquor store,” Trissy said.
Annie eyed the drink table, which was stocked with enough top-shelf choices for a small wedding. “What is he getting?” she asked.
“Away from me,” Trissy said. She laughed at her joke, then poured herself a tall glass of tonic water. “He thinks I drink too much, but let me tell you, I am stone cold sober now.”
She took a swig of her tonic. “I hate to steal Hank’s thunder—and Tim, I’m sure you already know this. But, what the hell. Here’s the news flash. Hank asked you two to come over so he could tell you he’s leaving. As in moving out. As in abandoning hearth and home.”
“What?” was all Tim could manage.
“I thought he asked us over because he wanted to tell us some good news,” Annie said.
“Right.” Tim nodded, happy for that to be cleared up. “That’s what he said. He’s got really good news.�
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“How adorable. That must mean he thinks you’ll agree that it’s really good news that he’s leaving me and the kids to move to Tortola.”
“What?” Tim asked. “Where?”
“The beautiful island of Tortola,” Trissy said. “To live with a younger and less interesting version of me. Come on, Tim. You must know this already. The whole office knows.”
Tim shook his head. “I don’t know anything about this.” He struggled to jam the information into his brain.
“You know what my favorite part is?” Trissy said. “The new me owns a hotel in Tortola, and Hank wants us to do a partial ownership deal with her. Hanks says her hotel is very wow and now and today.” Trissy let out a laugh. “Isn’t that great? She has a wow hotel. Wow!” She sat down, kicked off her expensive shoes and put her feet up on the wide leather ottoman.
Annie noticed that both her cashmere socks had holes in the heels.
“I get it,” Tim said. “It’s a joke, right? An April Fool’s joke?”
“It’s November,” Annie pointed out.
“The joke is Hank thinks I would agree to this,” Trissy said. She twirled her large diamond ring so that the stone faced her. She studied it for a moment. “Do you think he forgot that Hot Holidays was my father’s business? Or do you think he’s just hoping I forgot?”
She didn’t wait for an answer. “I haven’t worked out all the details with my lawyers yet, but here’s the basic idea. I’m going to have Hank removed from the company. He’s not going to fight it, because practically speaking he’s already living in Tortola with Wow Woman and he doesn’t want to give that up.”
“Is that why he’s been away so much?” Tim asked as random facts began to come together in his mind.
“You got it,” Trissy said. “And every time I brought it up he changed the subject to you. It’s actually been a very good diversionary tactic. I’ve spent a lot of time worrying about the two of you.”
“We’re fine,” Annie said.
“I can see that.” Trissy got up and poured herself another tonic. “So here’s the million-dollar question. I think you are the perfect team to take over Hot Holidays. What do you think?”