by J. C. Allen
Christy shrank back into her seat, pointing to her chest and squeaked, “Uh, me?” hoping he had made a mistake.
“Yes, dear, you. I think you have questions that are probably more interesting than facts about stuffy old farts in sheets, don’t you?” he challenged.
Christy, bolstered by a new confidence born of adolescent superiority complex, stood and firmly stated, “Yes, as a matter of fact, I think I do!” and took up residence right beside the admired elder.
“Well,” she started, “we’ve heard about Julius Caesar and whoeverus maximus and all that stuff and it’s really no different than any other empire or government that ever existed, is it?”
Anderson raised a caterpillar eyebrow and pulled up a knee, rested his elbow on it, then his chin on his fist. She watched him carefully, guessing he was going to chastise her for her thoughts. “Please, explain, Christy. I like where you’re going with this!”
She relaxed and smiled, “OK. Well, it seems every government oppresses its people or is corrupt or even evil. Like our own—”
A chorus of cheers welled up instantly at those words.
“But, there are still people like us — I mean normal families and stuff. Were there normal families then? Of course there were! We just never hear about them. Everyone couldn’t live in palaces and have servants to do everything for them. What did the normal moms and dads do? What did the kids do?”
A prissy girl in the back stood up, dressed in an outfit that belonged on a runway, not in middle school. “Yeah, what did the kids our age wear? All we know is what the royalty wore.”
A large boy stood up then, “What did they eat?”
Others joined in, “What was school like?”
“Did the kids play sports?”
“Where did the kids hang out?”
“Were the kids of normal families forced to marry strangers too?”
The questions kept coming and Mr. Anderson stopped them for a few seconds while he asked Christy to go to the chalkboard and start writing them down. This went on for several minutes until they had over thirty questions scribbled hastily by a happy Christy.
“OK, class, let’s try to answer all of these questions. This weekend, I want each of you to pick a question and write it down. Christy, you go first and mark off the question you want to answer.”
“I want to know if the kids played sports,” she said easily as she marked through the question.
Kaylie stood up immediately and volunteered, “I want to find out what the kids our age wore.”
A few kids later, Alex stood and said, “I want to find out what kind of houses normal people lived in.”
There were 24 students, 32 questions. After they had each selected one Mr. Anderson spoke, “Everyone, write down the remaining eight questions. If you can answer any of them I will give 25 bonus points each.”
A boy in the middle asked, “Where do we find the answers? It’s definitely not in our book!”
“Hmmm…” Anderson pondered, “You could use this fancy Internet you kids play around on all the time now… books, whatever. I’ll be lenient on this. I’m sure some of these answers will be very difficult to dredge up. I know I’ve never seen the answer to quite a few of these myself. I’ll make a deal with you all though, OK?”
Everyone nodded warily, waiting for the deal before answering.
“You can print or copy any information you find on your topic; this does not have to be an essay of your own words unless you want it to be. But!” he paused to get their attention, “if you cannot find any information on your particular topic, I want you to first show me where you looked to prove you actually made an effort to find the answer in at least three sources. Then, if you like, you can make up the answer — use your imagination to tell us whatever you think it might be. When done, leave it to me to guess whether you made it up or not. Does that sound fun?”
“Yeah!” they all cheered.
A boy on the left side of the room stood up and asked, “When are these reports due?”
“Some of you may be ready by Monday, so we’ll start then. But you best be finished by at least Friday. This assignment is mostly for fun, but I believe we all have a chance to learn a great deal by it, including me. Does anyone want to do the assignment I had originally planned for today?”
The same boy was still standing and asked, “Um, what assignment was that?”
“I’m so glad you asked! It was going to be an essay of at least one thousand words on the processes and regulations of how the Roman Senate proposed and passed laws.” He smiled broadly, “Anyone want to do that instead?”
Complete silence.
The bell then rang and the kids all started to get up. Mr. Anderson quickly stopped them, “I expect some of you to be ready by Monday, and there will be ten bonus points for all who are. OK, dismissed!”
There was a huge buzz about the homework; all the kids were completely energized by it. Mr. Anderson grinned broadly, enjoying their sudden enthusiasm in history as they all walked past him, smiling and talking about the great Roman Empire.
The girls went to their next classes. At lunch, the subject came up again, when Christy asked, “How are we going to find the answers to the questions in History class?”
Alex answered, “I’m checking the Net first, but dad has a bunch of books about Rome, too—”
Kaylie interrupted her, “I’m just going to ask your dad. He did so much research for that game he’s making, he has to be able to—”
“You always ask Alex’s dad, cuz you have a crush on him!” Christy teased her.
Kaylie blushed, “I do not! He just knows everything about the stuff I’m interested in. He reads the same books; he’s into the same games, movies, music—”
Alex put her hand up, “Don’t kid us, girl. You spend half your time at my house hanging over his shoulder drooling on him.”
“I do not! We just get along well! I can talk to him about anyt—”
“Cut it,” Christy said. “You kiss Alex’s picture of him every time you enter her room!”
“Well! That picture is just yummy…”
“Gross! That’s my dad, Kay!”
“Yeah, but he’s only fifteen in that picture, not ancient like he is now — he wasn’t your dad then,” she stuck out her tongue defiantly.
“God! Do I drool over your dad?” asked Alex.
Christy answered for her, “Kay’s dad is bald and fat. Definitely not drool material.”
“Good points,” Alex said.
Kaylie stuck out her tongue at both of them this time and went back to eating. They finished lunch and went through the rest of their classes.
After the last bell of the day, they all met at the bike rack.
“Are we all meeting up at my house tonight?” Alex asked.
“Yeah, my practice doesn’t start until after 4:30 today though,” answered Christy.
“I’ve only got ten minutes to get to the field for soccer practice, but you know I’ll be over afterwards. See ya there,” Kaylie said, trotting off to the field house next to the soccer park as Christy and Alex mounted up and rode off in opposite directions.
Chapter 5 — Practice Makes Perfect
Kaylie ducked into the field house and changed into her practice uniform, emerging with her shoes and socks in hand and bookbag over her shoulder. She ran across the ground barefoot and sat down to put on her shoes just in time to join the other girls in warm-up stretches.
“Girls, it’s Friday — do you want a short practice?” the coach asked. They all said yes, except Kaylie. Kaylie loved to practice as much as playing.
“OK, we’ll play one half. If everyone puts out enough effort, we’ll quit then.”
The whole team cheered, minus Kaylie, of course, and went off to the field as the coach passed out red net jerseys to half the girls to distinguish teams.
Kaylie watched as the coach handed her co-captain a jersey, as well as most of the other starting players. Kaylie di
dn’t get one. This will be fun she thought. I’ll be playing against the entire starting lineup with the subs. Challenging.
“Red gets the ball first,” the coach yelled as she handed it over to a girl with a red jersey. With whistle in one hand and stopwatch in the other, she made eye contact with both captains and blew the whistle.
The girls quickly got into position and threw in the ball. Kaylie held back a bit at midfield, waited for the right moment, then broke for the ball after the second pass and intercepted it, running the other way full speed. She noticed one of her team running just as hard ahead on the other side of the field and tapped the ball way out in front of the girl, who met it perfectly in stride. Kaylie kept on running for the goal. The other girl punched the ball ahead of her and kept running forward with no enemies around, but closing in fast.
By then, Kaylie had caught up to her, running parallel toward the goal, and the girl punted the ball directly in step with her. The goalie came running out to try to stop the pass, but it was too late. Kaylie kicked with her right foot and connected perfectly with the ball, knocking it past the goalie’s diving arms and into the back of the net. Her team gathered around her and cheered, taunting the starting players.
Kaylie scored three more goals before the half ended, making the final score five to one. The coach was pleased with the effort and told them to hit the showers, making the red team run a mile. Kaylie liked to be in shape and would usually run with the losing team, but today she figured it would be just as good to run to Alex’s house, which was a mile or more. She grabbed her bookbag and jogged off instead of joining the others in the showers.
Christy arrived at gymnastics class 45 minutes early; she had nowhere else to go. She went into the dressing room and pulled her favorite red, white, and blue Olympic team replica leotard over her body, and casually strolled into the gym to do some warm-ups, checking to see if any apparatus was available to play on while the younger kids were practicing. She found a couple of unused floor-level balance beams and went over to goof off on them.
After stretching, she mounted one and bounced, pranced, flipped, and flopped back and forth across it. She liked to see how long she could continue to stay on, trying harder things each pass: handstands, cartwheels, flips, back flips, twisting back flips, leaps, turns; she wasn’t missing a thing. She finally got tired, and her chest was pumping hard, so she simply stretched out and laid down on it. A new record, she smiled to herself, satisfied. After resting a few minutes and regaining some energy, she got up and did a walkover, back handspring, and double back flip off the end of the beam, sticking the landing with only a slight wobble. She then sprawled out on the mat, face down in a split, and watched the other kids.
Eventually, the coach came over and asked if she would like to assist some of the younger girls until her practice started. “Sure!” she chirped and popped up to help.
Christy helped the other girls on the floor exercise until her coach arrived, 25 minutes later. He put her through ninety minutes of grueling work on the uneven bars, vault, and floor. She was sweating profusely, but her smile glistened even more than her skin, until her coach told her practice was over. She often stayed after practice and played on the equipment for an hour or more, but it was already well past 6:00 and she wanted to ride to Alex’s house before it got dark, so she headed to the dressing room. She peeled off her leotard and literally wrung the sweat out of it. She decided to put it in a plastic bag, along with four others, and wash them at Alex’s house. She only had six of them in her locker at the gym. She took a quick shower, dried off, dressed, and then headed out.
Anna met Jessie outside the elementary school and they ran to the track, where the other kids were already warming up. She was always late for practice because she was responsible for taking Jessica with her. Her coach understood and allowed her tardiness every day. Jessie would usually go out onto the track and play in the sand in the long jump pit, but today she opted to sit on the bleachers and watch. Every other day except Friday, she would have dance class and Rick would pick her up during practice.
Anna hurried into the girl’s locker room and climbed into her tankini track outfit and joined the others on the field.
The team had a track meet the next day, so the coach didn’t want them to work too hard, mostly having them practice on sprints and techniques. Jessica watched Anna practice handing off the baton for what seemed like a hundred times.
At 5:30, after she practiced the long jump a few times, the coach called them all to the high-jump area to discuss event assignments for the meet. Jessica went to sit beside her cousin.
Anna was pleased at first: she was entered in the 100 meter run, 200 meter run, 100 and 200 relays, and then… high jump!
She hopped up quickly, “Coach!?” She put her hands on her hips, “What do you mean, high jump?” and stared angrily, awaiting an answer.
“You’re in high jump tomorrow Jenkins,” the coach said dismissively.
“But, uh, coach... I’ve never even tried high jump. Shouldn’t I be in the long jump?”
“Becky Sanders is our long jump; she won the state meet last year at it. She’s a senior, too—”
Anna stomped her foot in protest, “But I can jump a foot further than—”
“Jenkins!” The coach blared, “Get over here, now!”
“Ugh!” she huffed as she tromped over to the coach.
Coach Simmons was a lot cooler when she arrived, “Jenkins, I’m the coach, right?” he asked.
“Uh… yeah, of course you are, but—”
“Becky will win the long jump against the team we face tomorrow, but they have a girl who jumps 4’8” in the high jump, and ours can only jump 4’2”… but I know you can go much higher. Meanwhile, we have three girls who can beat their best long-jumper… do you see what I’m getting at, Jenkins?”
Anna stared blankly, considering all he had said.
Simmons sighed, “What I’m getting at is we can have two wins and a complete sweep in the long jump or one win in the long jump and second in the high jump. That’s more points for the team, isn’t it? And the way I see it, that’s just enough to ensure victory, which is what I’m supposed to do, right?”
“Yes sir,” Anna slumped in defeat.
“So what are you worried about? Heck, you might even like it! You’re gonna set the state record in the long jump before you leave here girl, but tomorrow you’re going to help the team win. OK?”
She smiled halfheartedly, “Uh, yeah, of course!”
“OK. Go sit down and stick around after we’re done.”
“OK coach,” she obediently went back to sit beside Jessica.
Coach dished out the rest of the assignments for the meet and dismissed everyone. He then walked over to the high jump bar and set it. He turned to Anna and motioned her over. “That’s 4’6”, Jenkins. What do you think?”
She smirked and backed up about ten feet. She blasted off and dove right over, head first, rolling off the mat. “Yeah, looks easy enough!” she giggled.
Shock registered on his face. “That was actually 4’l0”. And, uh, don’t you even know how you’re supposed to jump this… Here, let me show you.”
Coach had quite an impressive beer gut, but he was still in amazing shape otherwise. He put his clipboard on the ground, paced off a few feet, and ran a semi-circle toward the bar. He came alongside it, planted his right foot, and heaved his body up backward, arching his back at the top and flipping his legs up and over, landing on the mat halfway upside down. “Try it that way.”
Anna’s eyes opened wide, she could remember seeing others doing it that way but she never paid attention before. She tried once and ran into the bar on her way up. She was discouraged, but the coach urged her to try again. The second time she hit the bar with her arm before going over. Then she started to get the hang of it and cleared it easily two times.
The coach was stunned again, “You’re not even arching your back — can you try that?”
“That’s why you flip your legs over at the end; that will carry you over. Just put your hands up to catch your fall. Here, let’s move it up so you have to do it right to make it over.”
He put it up to 5’2”, then changed his mind and selected two more inches of height.
Anna hit her butt on the bar three times in a row. This is perfect, the coach thought, she would have to do it correctly now to succeed. He showed her a few more times how to do it properly, knocking the bar down twice himself. He was at his limit as well, but the technique was what he was teaching so it didn’t matter to him at all.
Jessie was half asleep on the far corner of the thick pad when Anna finally cleared the height and awoke her with a scream of jubilation, “I did it!” she yelled over and over, “I really did it!”
“Great job!” the coach praised. “Let’s do it a few more times, and then you can head for the lockers.”
She cleared it two more times, and he moved it up again. She cleared 5’8” on her second try.
“That, Ms. Jenkins, is our state record!” he revealed.
“What?” she gasped in amazement.
“Yeah, and you just learned a few minutes ago. I think you’re ready for tomorrow, don’t you?”
“Uh, yeah, wow. I guess so!”
She waved at Jessica to come with her to the locker rooms then shouted at the coach, “Hey coach! I still like long jump better, in case you have any goofy ideas!”
“I’m already thinking about taking you out of the 4x200, Anna. I think we can still win that without you, and put you in both. But not this week, OK?”