"You were a lightning bolt," said Cecil.
"I didn't win," I said.
"Hey, this is your first go around out here," said Sam. "You didn't even use blocks."
"Are we going to, one day?" I asked.
"Of course."
"During math class we can practise."
Cecil burst out laughing. "I like your attitude."
The next race I had to do was the 200 and Sam explained how I couldn't leave my lane and how I had to run halfway around the track.
I lined up and went on the word GO. I kind of liked the curve as it made me feel as if I was in a race car going around a corner and using a steering wheel. I didn't run beside the boy who tripped me, but I ran fast again and I crossed the line in second place.
Mr. Rossi only made us do that one once and he said he would compare all our times because parents were coming to pick up kids and there wasn't enough time.
"Great job, again," said Sam. He held up his hand for a high-five.
Usually, I high-fived him after basketball but now he was high-fiving me.
"How are you feeling?" Sam asked me.
"Good."
"Would you like to run once around the track as fast as you can? Mr. Rossi wants to get a ballpark time for you for the 400 metre. I know you've done a lot today, but you're nailing it. Are you okay to do one more?"
"I guess so."
"Are you tired?"
"I can run once around." I saw all the parents and wondered where my mom was. "When is my mom coming?"
"Soon," he said. "If she comes in time, she can watch you."
"Okay," I said.
Mr. Rossi had me line up kind of where the 100 ends, like in the middle of the track. "So, just go once around," he said. "As fast as you can."
"I can go fast?"
He smiled at me. "Yes, you can. So far you've gone really fast. I've been impressed. Give it everything you've got."
I lined up, got in my crouch, and when he said GO, I took off and ran.
After running around the first bend, I got really tired and had to slow down a little. This was hard because no one was running with me. My heart beat really fast. And my legs felt like they were on fire.
I looked forward. I was running straight now, and I went past the halfway mark or what I thought was halfway. My legs were still burning. I had to keep running. That's what I was supposed to do.
Now, the next bend was close. So close. One more bend and then I could run straight again. I rounded it. Pretended I was steering a car around it. Going fast. Air flying through my hair.
Then I had a straightaway. I could see Sam at the finish line. And my mom and Declan and Mary! I tried to take longer strides and increase how fast I was going.
"Go, Stuart, go!" Sam yelled. That made me go even faster.
"Go, Stuart!" My mom yelled too. And so did Declan and Mary.
I crossed the finish line and slowed down. My heart was beating like a machine gun going off. Boom. Boom. Boom. Over and over.
My mom came over to me and walked with me.
"Stuart, that was wonderful," she said.
"My heart is beating like an automatic machine gun and feels like it's going to send a bullet right out of my shirt," I said.
"That's because you ran so fast," she said. "Randy said you would do well at this, but I didn't know how well."
Mr. Rossi came over to me and said, "That was really good, Stuart. With a little training you could have a decent 400 time. I'm pleased."
"Really?"
"Really." He smiled at me. "See you tomorrow after school."
"Oh, he'll be here," said my mother. Then she turned to Sam. "That is if Sam is willing to help him."
"I'm on it," he said.
CHAPTER TWELVE SAM
"He's a natural." I pointed to the track. Stuart's mother had come to pick him up and had brought Declan and Mary.
"He's halfway through the 400 right now," I said. I took a quick glance at my phone where I was timing him. "I've got him at a great pace." Mr. Rossi was also timing him and that would be the official time.
"Wow," said Mary, as she watched him. "I'm impressed. Look at him go." Mary was obviously pregnant. She looked huge.
"How come he's running by himself?" Declan asked.
"He's running for time," I said, keeping my eyes on Stuart as he ran through the halfway mark, heading toward the last bend. "Here he comes around the last corner!"
"Go, Stuart!" his mother yelled. Mary joined in and so did Declan. Soon they were all yelling for Stuart and he grinned (not sure how he could when he was running full tilt) as he crossed the finish line.
Mr. Rossi snapped his stopwatch, and I took my phone over to compare times.
Stuart now walked with his hands on his hips, head down, trying to catch his breath. His family surrounded him, telling him how great he had done. I watched him and something inside me expanded, like my heart was going to burst out of my skin. He'd worked hard, like really hard. Harder than I ever imagined he would or even could.
Mr. Rossi nodded at me as he showed me the time on the watch. "Not bad," he said. "Not bad at all. He's never practised and he had to run the other races at full tilt before running this. I'm impressed. One minute, five seconds. I bet he could get that time down to a minute flat if he trained and tapered. That would be pretty incredible for someone his age and size."
"Wow, that is fast," I said. "When I was his age, I was never below 60 seconds."
Stuart's mother came over to Mr. Rossi.
"Hello," she said, holding out her hand. "I'm Stuart's mother and I want to thank you so much for allowing Stuart to be part of the program."
"I'm happy he's here." Mr. Rossi shook her hand. "He did well today."
"I'm so glad to hear that," she said.
"I think he's going to be an asset to our school team," said Mr. Rossi. Then he glanced at me. "Sam has agreed to be with him, so that will keep him focused."
He gestured for Stuart (who was still with Declan and Mary) to come over.
All three of them walked over to us. Mr. Rossi patted Stuart's shoulder. "Make sure you have a hot bath tonight. You ran a lot today."
"I run a lot every day."
"Maybe that's why you're fast," said Mr. Rossi with a smile. "Wish all my runners were like you. Make sure you stretch too."
"I can help him stretch," said Declan. "I read all kinds of fitness magazines."
"Sam stretches me," said Stuart. He held up his hand and I high-fived it.
"Declan can help you at home, Little Man," I said.
"Mary can't," said Stuart. "Her stomach is way too big to even bend over. She's having a baby."
"I can see that," said Mr. Rossi with a little grin. He turned to her and said, "Congratulations."
"We should get going," said Stuart's mother. "Let Mr. Rossi go home."
I helped Stuart gather his things and then we all walked to his mother's car.
"Why did you all come?" he asked his family.
"We were out shopping to buy a few things for the baby," said his mother. "And Declan needed a new pair of pants for work, so he tagged along."
"For work? You got a job?" Stuart asked Declan. "Like a real job?"
"I'm going to work at Best Buy every Saturday," Declan said with pride in his voice.
"Best Buy!" exclaimed Stuart. "You'll be surrounded by video games all day. I want a job. Maybe I can work there too."
"Stuart, I think this track and field will be enough for now," said his mother, putting her arm around him. "Maybe when you're older. Let's just focus on one thing, okay?"
"Okay. If I run in a real meet, will you come watch?"
"Of course!" His mother squeezed his shoulder. "All of us."
When we got to their car, I said goodbye and gave Stuart yet another huge high-five. That had to be…how many this afternoon? His mother in turn thanked me over and over, which got a bit embarrassing. I hadn't really done that much. Stuart was the one who ran.
<
br /> As I walked home, I pulled my phone out of my pocket, wanting to tell someone about what had gone down at the track-and-field practice. I thought about sending something to Elma but, crap, she was my sister. Lame or what?
There was one person who I really wanted to tell. Bethany and I had exchanged numbers at the I Can Play event so that she could share the information on the Special Olympics practices with me. We had texted about that. But that's it, that's all.
Should I text her about this? Could I? She would understand how amazing the afternoon had been. Sure, Cecil was there and thought it was cool, and Stuart's family had shown up. But I wanted to tell her because it had been her idea.
I kept walking, tossing my phone from one hand to the next. A text would be nothing really. Just a text. About Stuart. More walking. More talking to myself. I wished I had a photo to send of Stuart. But I didn't take any. I'd been too immersed in his practice to take photos.
More walking. Come on, just send a text.
Finally, I got up the nerve.
Stuart had a great track and field practice thx for suggestion
I pressed send then stuffed my phone in my jacket. I hadn't taken more than five steps when my phone pinged. With fumbling hands, I yanked it out of my pocket, almost dropping it. I stopped to read the text.
that's so amazing
Thumbs flying, I typed: coach wants him to run in school meet
Wow when
soon end of next week
cool you should come to Special Olympics this week check out the track and field
might be too much for him? maybe just I should come
Good excuse to see her again. I waited for her answer.
Perfect. just you come he can come after his meet
I breathed a sigh of relief. She wanted me to come. Me! I hurried to send the next message.
k when where
She gave me the details (Friday night at the university indoor track) and I was about to pop my phone back in my pocket when I heard bike brakes screeching behind me.
"Yo, dude. You're in la-la-land." Cecil circled me on his bike, wearing a stupid grin on his face. "Who ya texting that you can't walk at the same time?
I shoved my phone in a pocket and started walking. "My mom."
"Seriously? Your mama makes you smile like that?" He popped his bike up, doing a wheelie. "I don't believe you." The bike popped back down, and he hopped off without missing a beat.
I shrugged. "It's not like I'm popular these days."
We walked in silence for a few steps, his bike sounding as if the chain could use some oiling. Finally, he spoke. "Hey, what you did for Little Man today was cool."
"Two-way street, bro."
****
For the next two days, I met up with Stuart after school and we headed out to the track to practise. I had made up programs which I discussed with Mr. Rossi, and together we tweaked what Stuart needed to do. Online programs helped me create his workouts. Stuart liked some of the stuff we did but not all of it, that was for sure. His attention span was limited.
"You said we could work with the blocks," he said on Thursday. He crossed his arms across his chest and scowled at me. "I'm not practising today unless we do the blocks." He planted his feet and held his stance. There was no way he was going to budge. I knew that look.
"Mr. Rossi doesn't think you need blocks."
Rossi wanted us to work on his fitness for a bit more before introducing the blocks. He even suggested that we might ditch the blocks altogether for the school meet and have him run without since he had joined late.
"You said I could try them. I don't want to do boring stuff again."
"Okay, okay," I said. There was a part of me that was worried I wasn't making the practices fun enough. He loved the racing but not the repetitive stuff.
"I'll see what I can do," I said. "Let's go talk to Mr. Rossi."
"I have to pee," he said.
"Okay. Go ahead. Meet me out at the track."
He nodded and turned to head back into the school.
I hustled out to the track, as in jogged, sort of. I talked to Mr. Rossi and explained the situation. He agreed but suggested we work alone, somewhere quiet to keep Stuart's focus.
About five minutes after talking to Mr. Rossi, I started to get worried. Where was Stuart? Had he left? Had he forgotten where we were to meet? Crap. I scanned the field, thinking maybe he'd stopped to talk to Cecil. But I couldn't see him. I headed to the back doors of the school, the ones we'd come out of, but he wasn't on his way back. My heart started thumping. Sweat popped out on my brow. Restroom. Maybe he was still sitting on the can. I rushed inside and checked the closest restroom, calling his name. No answer. No feet under the stalls either.
I hustled back outside. Where was he? I called his name. Once. Twice. Third time was like a loud croak. My heart sped up and was now hammering inside me. My stomach felt sick. I called out again.
My throat felt as if it was closing in on me. I almost couldn't breathe. How could he disappear so quickly? I'd only been gone seven, eight minutes, max.
I was about to turn around and head to the track area when I heard a familiar sound. That car! Coming from the street at the side of the school. I turned to see the blue car inching down the street away from the school. Where were the cops? I scanned the streets. Gone. Probably left just after three, when school ended. Had Stuart gone with him again?
Suddenly, Stuart appeared from around a big clump of shrubs, walking toward me.
"Where were you?" I asked, shaking from head to toe.
"I had to pee," he said.
"You should have gone in the school." My voice wobbled.
"Too far," he said. "I wanted to go behind that shrub."
"Was that Donatello's car I heard?
"I don't know no Donatello," he said.
"Okay, Donny."
"I dunno." He shrugged.
Did he hear the car? Did he not hear the car? I didn't want to push this or scare him or…send him running away, instead of running with the track team. I stared at him as he looked at his shoe and kicked the dirt. Was he lying to me?
"Wasn't Donny," he said.
Stuart wouldn't make eye contact with me. Okay. He was lying. "Little Man," I said. "Stay away from him. He could get you in a lot of trouble." I paused for a second. "Look at me," I said. When he did, I pointed to the track. "Mr. Rossi says it's okay for you to use the blocks. Want to get started?"
"Okay." His face lit up.
We walked back to the track and I picked up a set of blocks. Then I moved us to a quiet area. My hands were still shaking when I set the blocks up on the grass. After I showed him what to do, he practised over and over. He liked doing it too; this repetition was something he could focus on. He would burst out like a madman. His excitement calmed me down.
After around fifteen minutes, I said, "We should go check in with Mr. Rossi."
"Can I show him how good I am?"
"Sure," I said.
As we walked out to the track area, I kept searching for Dunn's car but it was gone. Stuart's parents needed to know about this. Out on the track, the runners were doing a fast-run/slow-run drill around the track.
"Can I do that?" Stuart asked.
"I don't see why not." Personally, I thought he should integrate with the other runners. After all, the school meet was only a week away. I talked to Mr. Rossi on Stuart's behalf and he was okay with him giving it a whirl. I took Stuart aside and talked to him.
"You have to listen for the whistle," I said. "When it blows, you run as fast as you can. When it blows again, you walk. You might go around the track a few times with this drill."
He nodded. "Okay."
He set up with the other kids and I watched closely to make sure no one was tripping him or talking down to him. I also watched that he listened. And he did. When the exercise ended, he came over to me.
"That was more fun than stretching," he said.
"You did great."
"Lots of them."
Mr. Rossi blew his whistle and called everyone in. I stood with Stuart who stood behind the group, barely able to see over everyone's heads. All the time that I had played sports, I had stood in the front of the pack to show the coach I was keen. Even though Stuart was the smallest kid in the group, he hung back, like that was his place. It was all I could do not to push him forward, but I didn't want to make a scene.
Mr. Rossi talked about the school meet, and how he would put up a sign-up sheet and how each runner got to pick up to three events. I already knew that Stuart would be able to handle the 100, 200, and 400. We would look for the sign-up sheet together, but he needed to fill in his name for himself, so it would give him a sense of ownership. Like, this was his thing.
I made sure I walked Stuart to the front of the school and waited with him until his mother came to pick him up. I kept looking up and down the street for any sight of Dunn, but he didn't reappear. I didn't want to alert Stuart's mother in front of him.
Stuart pointed to his mother's car, which had just pulled up. "There's my mom."
"Great work, today," I said. "Remember, no practice tomorrow. It's Friday. And we'll sign you up for three events tomorrow morning when the sheet goes up. I'll text your mom and get her to drop you off early so we can do that."
A Time to Run Page 11