War of Mars: Jinks Montreal 4

by Beth Hoyer

on his face when interviewed “I asked to comment about Jinks Montreal blocking Glastonbury’s field goal attempt later resulted in both teams declared State Champions.”

  He reads as the coach speaks “I and my team are lucky to be declared co-state champions with Wethersfield.” doesn’t say more than that by walking off away from the news people.

  A camera view switches to catch the coach grimacing of pain on his face with his back to the news reporter and their camera.

  Jinks frowned thinking to he “I’m wonder what caused the coaches to make faces like that?”

  As the news broadcast changes to the news reporter interviewing several people in the crowd on their reaction to the declaration of both teams being co state champions.

  He frowns seeing that the people don’t look happy by repeating the Glastonbury coach’s comment along with some of the people saying it when referring to Wethersfield along with a “no comment” when further asked to explain their comments.

  Jinks feel like he’s seen enough with the broadcast goes to the desk unstopped to pull out his homework and does it feeling relieved that his Mom is deaf for he won’t have to hear the news broadcast for it bothers him.

 

  Jinks remember the next day while at home lolling in the living room watching the U.S.A. news hears his Mom come in ignores her to hear the TV mentioning sports.

  Jinks listens with full detail only to feel his mood popping as they mentioned “The Connecticut State Championship football game resulting in a tie between two teams.”

  Jinks watches feeling disgusted as they show clips of the game along with himself catching the field goal attempt ball which he listens to them analyzing “The catch as a new move ever done in football history whether its high school or not.”

  Jinks feel disgusted shuts off the TV to lean back folding his arms with a glare on his face.

  His mood plummets as his Mom shows him the headline in a major state newspaper in the sports saying “Montreal’s rare catch!”

  Jinks read the additional headline talking “Jinks Montreal catching a field goal attempt ball.”

  Jinks feels further disgusted sets aside the newspaper feeling like the attention should be on the team and not focused on him.

 

  Jinks remember going to school on Monday feeling dread of facing the student body and his football teammates. He finds that the student body hasn’t changed their behavior towards him but notices some of the people staring at him with awe in their faces and eyes while in the hallway between classes. He finds his football teammates are ignoring him when he’s in the hallway between classes and figures that the bullying stopped to his relief.

  Jinks recall going to a school rally for the basketball team in the gym being late for it detained by teacher Travis after class who wanted to talk to him about the State Championship title game that made him uncomfortable and not very talkative with the teacher doing most of the talking. He stood in the room as the teacher talked and heard the phone rang followed by teacher Travis getting up to answer the phone with an annoyed expression on his face.

  Jinks heard “Travis here. What the depths do you want now? I’m busy with a student.”

  He frowned at the teacher’s question as Teacher Travis gave up a harrumph before hanging up the phone.

  He stared at the teacher who spoke to him “Aw get your butt to the gym if you’re not serving detention so move it.”

  Jinks obeyed grabbing his backpack and slinging it on and went out of the room. He took a route to the gym room to hear silence from there which confused him. Frowning he yanked open one of the double doors to see the gym crowded with students and teachers that cheered seeing him which made him feel embarrassed as his football team grabbed him and hoisted him on their shoulders taking him further into the room.

  Jinks sighed as he was put down next to the school principal Edwards who spoke in a microphone “Here he is Jinks Montreal the hero of the school!”

  He felt himself feeling more embarrassed shrugged as he saw a man next to the principal holding a plaque award in his hands as Edwards continued to speak “As voted by the coaches in the High School football league, Jinks Montreal is now the league’s Most Valuable Player!”

  He heard cheering sounds as the man holding the award handed it to him and stood forcing himself to smile brightly as another man holding a camera flashed it at him.

  Jinks recalled his Mom after school showing him the newspaper with the title “Montreal voted MVP.”

  He figured that MVP stood for ‘Most Valuable Player’ after reading the article detailing him being voted for the award by the High School coaches in the league.

  Jinks sighed from the memories running in his mind to hear multiple meows and felt pressure on his lap which he jerked himself from the reverie to look down and saw two cats appearing to be almost adults sitting on his lap both tummy sitting while facing different directions. He stared at the cats to sense that they were both female and examined their coloring and markings with his eyes. He saw one cat was mostly in different shades of gray with tiger like stripes on her sides and had a look of a mask on her face with white fur on the rest of her face. He examined the other cat seeing some whiteness on the cat along with shades of tan and grey splotches on her fur. He sighed feeling them give off rumbling vibrations that told him they were purring. Jinks stiffened as he sensed a presence at the door to spot Victoria standing there with a hand covering her mouth with laughter in her eyes. He frowned as she removed her hand while struggling to frown despite still having the laughter look in her eyes.

  He stared at Victoria with a frown who spoke with a hint of laughter in her voice “Meet Tiger and Willow and aren’t they cute sitting on you?”

  He frowned to stare at Victoria who burst out laughing before cutting her laughter short with a frown on her face.

  Jinks spoke pointing with a finger with a free hand “This one is Willow.”

  He indicated the cat with tan and grey splotches on her fur seeing Victoria nod her head.

  He added “This one is Tiger and what’s with the names?”

  Jinks stared at Victoria who spoke “Oh Tiger got her name from her fur while Willow is after a character in a favorite book of mine.”

  He nodded his head and spoke “Victoria, you going to school tomorrow right?”

  He saw her frown with a frown in her eyes as he continued to speak “Go to school Victoria. You need it to learn about Shadan and how to live in it.”

  He heard a groan noise from Victoria as he added “Believe me I feel like I still don’t know much about Shadan at this time despite going to school too many years ago. So go to school Victoria and learn. Maybe you could share what you learned with me if you like.”

  He saw her nod her head before leaving the room leaving the door ajar. Jinks sighed and adjusted the book till he was at the first page and began reading it page by page. Sometime during his reading he felt a cat get off his lap ignored the sensation and felt the remaining cat on his lap adjust her position before becoming still with breathing felt. He read the book till he reached the page involving him to hear a throat clearing noise which he looked up to spot Victoria standing in the door way. He frowned looking with a questioning look on his face.

  Victoria spoke “Its quite dinnertime now. Won’t you come and join me?”

  He placed the book down on the table next to the chair then stiffened feeling the cat still on his lap to look down seeing it was Willow appearing to be asleep.

  He looked up at Victoria who spoke “Oh don’t worry she’ll get over being waked up.”

  He sighed and forced himself to get up moving the cat off his lap who gave up a loud meow in an annoyed tone while landing on her four paws on the rugged floor.

  He stared at Willow who arched her back and heard Victoria speak “Dad, come on.”

  Jinks sighed and followed Victoria out of the room to the dining room to spot a cup of strawberry milkshake on the
table for him to drink and next to it was a tray full of nourishment for Victoria. He sat down and drank the strawberry milkshake as Victoria ate the food showing that she had a hungry appetite. He leaned back once done to stare at his daughter eating the food who ignored his staring.

  Jinks sighed and mentally thought “Should I bother telling her some details about my past?”

  He heard from Lance “Only if you think it’s necessary.”

  He groaned softly and saw Victoria staring at him with a questioning look on her face while eating her food.

  He spoke “Finish your dinner and I’ll mention what I’m thinking.”

  He saw her look away to stare at the table while continuing eating her food followed by drinking from a cup all the contents before sitting back to stare at him.

  Jinks sighed and spoke “Come on I’ll show you in the library. There’s a book there I want to show you with something in it worth your time.”

  He saw her nod her head as he got up hearing her get up following him to the library. Inside he picked up the book he was reading and handed it to her.

  Jinks spoke “Take a look at it and tell me what you think.”

  He sat down in an armchair as Victoria went to sit and examined the book with a hint of being bored on her face.

  Jinks recalled the page where he was featured in spoke the page number and added “Check out the page and tell me what you think.”

  He watched Victoria’s face for her reaction seeing her open the